VAULT GUIDE TO THE TOP 50 CONSULTING FIRMS
Vault Inc.
TOP50 CONS FIRMS VAULT GUIDE TO THE
TOP 50 CONSULTING FIRMS
© 2002 Vault Inc.
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TOP50 CONS FIRMS VAULT GUIDE TO THE
TOP 50 CONSULTING FIRMS
© 2002 Vault Inc.
TOP50 CONS FIRMS VAULT GUIDE TO THE
TOP 50 CONSULTING FIRMS
DOUGLAS CANTOR AND CLAY RISEN
© 2002 Vault Inc.
Copyright © 2002 by Vault Inc. All rights reserved. All information in this book is subject to change without notice. Vault makes no claims as to the accuracy and reliability of the information contained within and disclaims all warranties. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, for any purpose, without the express written permission of Vault Inc. Vault, the Vault logo, and “the insider career networkTM” are trademarks of Vault Inc. For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, contact Vault Inc., P.O. Box 1772, New York, New York 10011-1772, (212) 366-4212. Library of Congress CIP Data is available. ISBN 1-58131-165-6 Printed in the United States of America
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thanks to everyone who had a hand in making this book possible, especially Todd Kuhlman, Marcy Lerner, Ed Shen and Rob Schipano. We are also extremely grateful to Vault's entire staff of writers, editors and interns for all their help in the editorial and production processes. Vault also would like to acknowledge the support of Matt Doull, Ahmad Al-Khaled, Lee Black, Eric Ober, Hollinger Ventures, Tekbanc, New York City Investment Fund, Globix, Hoover's, Glenn Fischer, Mark Hernandez, Ravi Mhatre, Carter Weiss, Ken Cron, Ed Somekh, Isidore Mayrock, Zahi Khouri, Sana Sabbagh, and other Vault investors, as well as our family and friends. In order to ensure that our research was thorough and accurate, we relied on a number of people within the consulting firms that we profiled. A special thanks to all of the recruiting managers, public relations executives, marketing professionals and consultants who graciously provided feedback whenever we needed it. To the 1,100-plus consultants who took the time to be interviewed or to complete our survey, we could never thank you enough. Your insights about life inside the top consulting firms were invaluable, and your willingness to speak candidly will be a great service to job seekers and career changers for years to come.
Vault Guide to the Top 50 Consulting Firms
Table of Contents INTRODUCTION 1 A Guide to This Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 How We Wrote This Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
VAULT PRESTIGE RANKINGS 7 Ranking Methodology - Consulting Top 50 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 The Vault 50 · 2003 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 Prestige Rankings by Practice Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
OVERVIEW OF CONSULTING
15
The Scoop
What is Consulting? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 Industry History and Trends: 2002-2003 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 Consulting Categories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26 Getting Hired
Breaking In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31 The Resume/Behavioral Interview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34 The Case Interview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37 Guesstimates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41 Brainteasers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44 Featured Employers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47 Featured Recruiters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49
VAULT TOP 50
51
1 McKinsey & Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52 2 The Boston Consulting Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .62 3 Bain & Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .72 4 Booz Allen Hamilton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .82 5 Monitor Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .92
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Vault Guide to the Top 50 Consulting Firms Table of Contents
6 Mercer Management Consulting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100 7 IBM Global Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .106 8 Deloitte Consulting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .112 9 Accenture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .120 10 Gartner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .130 11 A.T. Kearney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .136 12 PwC Consulting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .142 13 KPMG Consulting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .152 14 Cap Gemini Ernst & Young . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .160 15 Marakon Associates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .168 16 Hewitt Associates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .176 17 Mercer Human Resource Consulting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .182 18 Towers Perrin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .186 19 Electronic Data Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .192 20 The Parthenon Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .200 21 Roland Berger Strategy Consultants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .204 22 L.E.K. Consulting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .212 23 DiamondCluster International . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .220 24 Computer Sciences Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .228 25 Oliver, Wyman & Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .234 26 Watson Wyatt Worldwide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .242 27 Sapient Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .246 28 American Management Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .254 29 Kurt Salmon Associates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .262 30 Stern Stewart & Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .270 31 Mars & Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .274 32 Hay Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .280 33 Grant Thornton LLP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .284 34 Charles River Associates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .288 35 ZS Associates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .294 36 Perot Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .300 37 Dean & Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .304 38 Andersen's Business Consulting Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .310 39 PRTM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .320 40 PA Consulting Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .326 41 Keane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .332 CAREER LIBRARY
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42 First Manhattan Consulting Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .336 43 Logica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .340 44 The Corporate Executive Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .346 45 Swander Pace & Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .350 46 Commerce One Global Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .354 47 Aon Consulting Worldwide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .358 48 Aquent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .362 49 Value Partners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .366 50 Greenwich Associates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .370
BEST OF THE REST
375
Computer Task Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .376 First Annapolis Consulting, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .380 First Consulting Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .384 Haverstick Consulting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .388 Integral . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .394 Lante . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .398 Sibson Consulting (Segal) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .402 Technology Solutions Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .406
APPENDIX
409
Industry Buzzwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .411 Index of Consulting Firms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .417 About the Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .421
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Introduction You’re probably reading this book because you’re interested in a career in consulting. Well, you’ve got your work cut out for you — landing a consulting job is a tough assignment. Even during the boom years of the 1990s, the supply of job applicants far outweighed the demand; in today’s economy, the degree of difficulty has increased exponentially. Indeed, getting in the door at top firms can be a herculean challenge, even if you are armed with an impressive GPA, a degree from one of the finest colleges or universities, and the ability to stay cool and collected under intense pressure. Every year, tens of thousands of resumes flow into the recruiting departments at top firms, but only a handful of the candidates receive an offer letter. So how do you get past the front gate? How can you improve your chances of receiving an invitation to the big party? The answer hearkens back to an age-old piece of advice: do your homework. Consulting recruiters won’t hire you just because of your high grades or top-tier schooling or extensive volunteerism. These things matter, but they won’t get you the job. You need to do your homework. Consider this book a starting point for all of your research, whether it be industry-related or about a specific firm. In it, you will find two general types of information. First, we give an overview of the consulting industry and some insight into the workings of the hiring process. Second, we provide in-depth profiles of the top consulting firms. Each profile is the result of painstaking research and detailed feedback offered by consultants within the firms. This year marks the second time we have ranked consulting firms in order of their prestige. We surveyed more than 1,100 practicing consultants, asking them to give a rating of each firm with which they were familiar. There are definite advantages to working at a firm with a great reputation — such firms often attract a higher caliber of clients and projects. Addionally, consultants at very prestigious firms often find their future job prospects to be brighter. But remember that prestige should be just one reason to choose a firm — though for many consultants, it is the biggest reason.
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Vault Guide to the Top 50 Consulting Firms Introduction
A Guide to This Guide If you’re wondering how our entries are organized, read on. Here’s a handy guide to the information you’ll find packed into each firm profile in this book.
Firm facts • Locations: A listing of the firm’s offices, with the city of its headquarters bolded. For firms with a relatively small number of offices, all cities are included. • Practices Areas: Official departments that employ a significant portion of the firm’s consultants. Practice areas are listed in alphabetical order regradless of their size and prominence. • Uppers and Downers: Good points and bad points of the firm, as gleaned from associate interviews and surveys, as well as other research. Uppers and downers are impressionistic perceptions and are not based on statistics. • Employment Contact: The person, address or web site that the firm identifies as the primary avenue to receive resumes or to answer questions about the recruitment process. Sometimes more than one contact is given.
The Buzz When it comes to other consulting firms, our respondents are full of opinions! We asked them to detail their opinions and observations about firms other than their own, and collected a sampling of these comments in the first-ever version of The Buzz in the Vault Guide to the Top 50 Consulting Firms. When selecting The Buzz, we included quotes most representative of the common outside perceptions of the firms, even if in our opinion the quotes did not accurately or completely describe the firm. Please keep in mind when reading The Buzz that it’s often more fun for outsiders to trash than praise a competing consulting firm. Nonetheless, The Buzz can be a valuable means to gauge a firm’s reputation in the consulting industry, or at least to detect common misperceptions.
The stats • Employer Type: The firm’s classification as a publicly traded company, privately held company or subsidiary.
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Vault Guide to the Top 50 Consulting Firms Introduction
• Stock Symbol: The stock ticker symbol for a public company. • Stock Exchange: The exchange on which a public company’s stock is traded. • Chairman, CEO, etc.: The name and title of the leader of the firm. Sometimes more than one name, or the name of the head of the firm’s consulting business, may be provided. • No. of Employees: The total number of employees, including consultants and other staff, at a firm in all offices (unless otherwise specified). Some firms do not disclose this information; numbers for the most recent year the information is available (if at all) is included. • Revenues: The gross sales (in U.S. dollars) the firm generated in the specified fiscal year(s). Some firms do not disclose this information; numbers for the most recent year the information is available (if at all) is included.
The profiles The profiles are divided into three sections: The Scoop, Getting Hired and Our Survey Says. • The Scoop: The firm’s history, clients, recent firm developments and other points of interest. • Getting Hired: Qualifications the firm looks for in new associates, tips on getting hired and other notable aspects of the hiring process. • Our Survey Says: Actual quotes from surveys and interviews with current consultants of the firm on topics such as the firm’s culture, feedback, hours, travel requirements, pay, training and much more. Profiles of some firms do not include an Our Survey Says section.
Best of the rest In addition to profiles of the Top 50 firms, we’ve also included information on a selection of consulting firms that did not make the list this year.
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Vault Guide to the Top 50 Consulting Firms Introduction
How We Wrote This Book Though the consulting industry is growing more complex all the time, we have made every effort to make the Vault Guide as straightforward as possible. Here’s what you need to know before proceeding.
What a difference a year makes If you read the 2002 Vault Guide to the Top 50 Consulting Firms, you might notice that this year’s edition features a different list of firms. Where did firms from last year’s edition go, you ask? Some vanished altogether. For example, Cambridge Technology Partners (No. 23 in prestige in 2001) and iXL (No. 48) were gobbled up by other companies and no longer merit mention as independent players. Others were hit very, very hard by the dotcom implosion. This is especially true in the case of e-consultancies like Scient (No. 28 last year), Razorfish (No. 29) and Viant (No. 42). But to be fair, it wasn’t just the newbies who fell out of favor. Arthur D. Little, the world’s oldest management consulting firm and No. 16 in the 2001 Top 50, recently ended its 116-year run by going bankrupt and selling its assets piece by piece. ADL’s fate is a good indication of the state of the industry. A lot can change in a year. Indeed, while the top few firms remain the same from last year, there has been considerable movement throughout the rest of the prestige rankings.
The consultant’s dictionary Consultants just love to use jargon. Not so Vault. We have done our best to eliminate any references to “paradigms,” “thought leadership” or “maximizing value propositions.” Nor will you read any word that has been transmogrified into a different and improper part of speech. People do not and should not “synergize” anything, and the word “impactful” does not even appear in the Oxford English Dictionary. Most importantly, we have cut out the thousands of mentions of the phrase “work hard/play hard” from consultants’ descriptions of their firms’ corporate culture. If you’re interested in brushing up on the latest consulting vocabulary, we suggest you consult the Industry Buzzwords section at the end of this book.
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Vault Guide to the Top 50 Consulting Firms Introduction
Quotes in this guide The topic of quotes from our employee surveys and interviews brings up another key point: The opinions expressed in this book do not necessarily reflect those of every employee at a given firm. However, you can be confident that what you read in the Vault Guide is the consensus view among that firm’s consultants. We surveyed and interviewed a large number of people — compiling copious amounts of statistical data on various qualityof-life categories to assist us — to come up with the most accurate picture possible of life at the Top 50.
For detailed 40- to 50-page insider reports on top consulting firms like McKinsey, BCG, Bain, Deloitte Consulting, Accenture and more, get Vault Employer Profiles. Go to http://consulting.vault.com. Make sure you're prepared for your case interviews. Get case frameworks, strategies, tips, and detailed step-by-step analysis of actual cases used in interviews with the Vault Guide to the Case Interview and the Vault Case Interview Workbook. For one-on-one coaching, use Vault Case Interview Prep. Go to http://consulting.vault.com.
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TOP50 CONS FIRMS THE VAULT PRESTIGE RANKINGS
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Vault Guide to the Top 50 Consulting Firms The Vault Prestige Rankings
RANKING METHODOLOGY — CONSULTING TOP 50 The 2002 Consulting Survey is Vault’s most ambitious to date, with more than 1,100 consultants rating the top 50 consulting firms around the world. Our goal was threefold: gather informed feedback from consultants at top firms, analyze the results using criteria relevant to job seekers, and condense the results into an accurate, objective and useful career guide. After creating an online survey addressing issues such as work hours, compensation and diversity, to name just a few, we defined our targeted survey population. Using knowledge obtained from prior Vault surveys, conversations with consulting professionals, and new industry research we compiled for 2002, we approached top consulting firms and asked them to distribute the survey to their consultants. 1,107 consultants took Vault’s survey, giving us a detailed, insider’s perspective on life at the industry’s most prominent firms. Additionally, we asked each respondent to rate the consulting firms on a scale of 1 to 10 based on prestige. They also made brief comments on other firms, sharing their perception of each firm from the outside. (These impressions are represented in the book as The Buzz). Vault collected all of the survey results and averaged the score for each firm. For objectivity’s sake, consultants were not allowed to rank their own firms. The firms were then ranked in order, starting with the highest average prestige score to determine the Vault Top 50. We understand that there are problems inherent in any prestige ranking. However, we found that the rankings typically paralleled conventional wisdom — with a few interesting exceptions. Remember that in the Top 50, Vault is not ranking firms by profit, size, lifestyle or quality — we are ranking the most prestigious consulting firms based on the perceptions of currently practicing consultants at peer firms.
For detailed 40- to 50-page insider reports on top consulting firms like McKinsey, BCG, Bain, Deloitte Consulting, Accenture and more, get Vault Employer Profiles. Go to http://consulting.vault.com
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The Vault 50 • 2003 [ The 50 most prestigious consulting firms ] RANK
FIRM
SCORE
RANK 2002
HEADQUARTERS
1
McKinsey & Company
8.654
1
New York, NY
2
The Boston Consulting Group
8.119
2
Boston, MA
3
Bain & Company
7.563
3
Boston, MA
4
Booz Allen Hamilton
6.747
4
McLean, VA
5
Monitor
6.343
8
Cambridge, MA
6
Mercer Management Consulting
6.28
6
New York, NY
7
IBM Global Services
6.031
13
Somers, NY
8
Deloitte Consulting
5.936
10
New York, NY
9
Accenture
5.932
5
New York, NY
10
Gartner
5.766
9
Stamford, CT
11
A.T. Kearney
5.728
12
Plano, TX
12
PwC Consulting*
5.713
7
New York, NY
13
KPMG Consulting
5.446
14
McLean, VA
14
Cap Gemini Ernst & Young
5.394
11
New York, NY
15
Marakon Associates
5.08
21
New York, NY
16
Hewitt Associates
4.772
15
Lincolnshire, IL
17
Mercer Human Resources Consulting
4.747
18
New York, NY
18
Towers Perrin
4.741
20
New York, NY
19
Electronic Data Systems
4.687
19
Plano, TX
20
The Parthenon Group
4.68
30
Boston, MA
21
Roland Berger - Strategy Consultants
4.655
38
New York, NY
22
L.E.K. Consulting
4.591
25
Boston, MA
23
DiamondCluster International
4.459
34
Chicago, IL
24
Computer Sciences Corporation
4.111
26
El Segundo, CA
25
Oliver, Wyman & Company
4.1
40
New York, NY
* Acquisition by IBM announced July 2002
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Vault Guide to the Top 50 Consulting Firms The Vault Prestige Rankings
RANK
FIRM
SCORE
RANK 2002
HEADQUARTERS
26
Watson Wyatt Worldwide
4.066
27
Washington, DC
27
Sapient Corporation
4.06
22
Cambridge, MA
28
American Management Systems
3.992
41
Fairfax, VA
29
Kurt Salmon Associates
3.981
37
Atlanta, GA
30
Stern Stewart & Company
3.905
24
New York, NY
31
Mars & Company
3.902
39
Greenwich, CT
32
Hay Group
3.839
31
Philadelphia, PA
33
Grant Thornton LLP
3.818
36
Chicago, IL
34
Charles River Associates
3.747
45
Boston, MA
35
ZS Associates
3.698
NR
Evanston, IL
36
Perot Systems
3.642
35
Plano, TX
37
Dean & Company
3.623
43
Vienna, VA
38
Andersen's Business Consulting Practice
3.582
17
Chicago, IL
39
PRTM
3.535
44
Waltham, MA / Mountain View, CA
40
PA Consulting
3.518
NR
London UK
41
Keane
3.493
NR
Boston, MA
42
First Manhattan Consulting Group
3.421
33
New York, NY
43
Logica
3.413
NR
London, UK
44
The Corporate Executive Board
3.328
NR
Washington, DC
45
Swander Pace
3.143
NR
San Francisco, CA
46
Commerce One Global Services
2.973
46
Pleasanton, CA
47
Aon
2.816
49
Chicago, IL
48
Aquent
2.815
NR
Boston, MA
49
Value Partners
2.7
NR
Milan, Italy
50
Greenwich Associates
2.63
NR
Greenwich, CT
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Vault Guide to the Top 50 Consulting Firms The Vault Prestige Rankings
PRESTIGE RANKINGS BY PRACTICE AREA In addition to overall prestige, Vault also asked consultants to rank firms in terms of the prestige of three general areas of business focus: strategy, information technology and human resources. Consultants were allowed to vote for up to three firms as the most prestigious in each practice area. These charts indicate the rankings in each of the practice areas, as well as the total percentage of votes cast in favor of each firm. (As long as at least one consultant voted for more than one firm, no firm could garner 100 percent of the votes; if every consultant had voted for three firms, the maximum a firm could have received would be 33.3 percent.)
Strategy Consulting RANK
%
RANK 2002
1
McKinsey & Company
30.68
1
2
The Boston Consulting Group
23.84
2
3
Bain & Company
14.18
3
4
Booz Allen Hamilton
8.25
4
5
A.T. Kearney
3.32
6
6
Accenture
2.9
5
7
Monitor Group
2.87
7
8
Deloitte Consulting
1.76
8
9
Mercer Management Consulting
1.34
7
KPMG Consulting
1.18
11
10
12
FIRM
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IT Consulting RANK
FIRM
%
RANK 2002
1
Accenture
29.73
1
2
IBM Global Services
18.42
2
3
Electronic Data Systems
9.00
6
4
PwC Consulting*
6.72
3
5
Cap Gemini Ernst & Young
5.97
4
6
Deloitte Consulting
5.16
5
7
KPMG Consulting
2.94
7
8
Computer Sciences Corporation
2.89
9
9
Sapient Corporation
2.65
11
American Management Systems
2.56
10
10
* Acquisition by IBM announced July 2002
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Vault Guide to the Top 50 Consulting Firms The Vault Prestige Rankings
Human Resources Consulting RANK
FIRM
%
RANK 2002
1
Towers Perrin
18.24
2
2
Hewitt Associates
17.16
1
3
Hay Group
9.51
5
4
Watson Wyatt Worldwide
8.82
4
5
Mercer Human Resources Consulting
8.33
3
6
Mercer Management Consulting
6.08
7(tie)
7
Deloitte Consulting
3.43
7(tie)
8
Accenture
3.33
8
9
PwC Consulting*
2.84
6
Cap Gemini Ernst & Young
2.06
10
10
* Acquisition by IBM announced July 2002
Want to know in detail what consultants think about top firms? Get detailed breakdowns of Vault's 2003 prestige rankings by school (undergraduate and business), location, practice area and more with the 2003 Vault Consulting Firm Survey Corporate Research Report. Go to www.vault.com/consultingsurvey
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TOP50 CONS FIRMS OVERVIEW OF THE CONSULTING INDUSTRY
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The Scoop What is Consulting? A giant industry, a moving target Consulting is an industry without a fixed identity. Not only do firms rebrand themselves nearly every year, but areas of specialty (or “practice areas”) within the firms change frequently as well. The market for consulting services is similarly dynamic. With constantly shifting corporate needs, mergers and recessions, and with new industries on the make, the demand for consulting services is as unpredictable as the stock market. The term “consulting” can mean many things, most of which involve the giving of professional advice. One “consults” a business the same way one advises friends or family in need. When seen through that lens, it is clear how fundamental consulting is to business. Most people, however, are mystified by the actual job, the day-to-day responsibilities, the work itself. And why wouldn’t they be? Consulting terminology is notoriously unclear to most literate humans. Terms like strategy, process and change management are vague and ambiguous and only meaningful, it seems, to insiders who know how to decode them. So what exactly is consulting? For starters, consulting is not about walking into a client site, throwing down your briefcase and saying, “Look at the inefficiency. It’s everywhere! Have you no shame?” Spotting a client’s problems is only half the battle (Most people with a fair amount of common sense and an outsider’s perspective could spot a client’s problems just as quickly.) The job of the consultant, therefore, isn’t just about knowing what’s wrong, but figuring out how to make it right. Solutions are the hard part, and not because they are in short supply. Good consultants never lack solutions, but implementing even one of them in a corporate environment can be a major undertaking fraught with political and operational obstacles. That is key to consulting: getting past the corporate obstacles. Overcoming institutional inertia. And working with a client team that takes your involvement personally, because your involvement implies that they needed outside help.
Hire the consultants, fast Companies hire consultants for a number of reasons. But whatever those reasons are, they’re bound to be compelling — because consultants are very Visit the Vault Consulting Career Channel at http://consulting.vault.com — with insider firm profiles, message boards, the Vault Consulting Job Board and more.
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costly. Given travel expenses, hotel bills and project fees, per-hour prices for consultants can easily climb into the $500-per-hour range. Every consulting project springs from a client’s need for help, or at least the kind of help that short-term, internal hiring can’t solve. Some clients, for example, need to overhaul their entire IT infrastructure, yet they’re out of touch with the latest back-end systems, or they don’t have the staff resources for such a large project. Other clients may be merging, but they lack any experience with post-merger staffing procedures, and they need a neutral party to mediate. Some clients may need an outsider’s perspective on a plant shutdown. Consultants get hired for political reasons too. Particularly in Fortune 500 companies, launching big projects can be very cumbersome. In order for a single dollar to be spent on such a project, most companies require senior executive approval. And without a major consultancy attached to the project, approval can be hard to attain. But once a consulting firm steps into the picture, everyone involved has plausible deniability in the event that the project fails. Second, even if a giant project gets the green light, there’s no guaranteeing it will be implemented. The reason? Simple bureaucratic inertia. Senior executives lose interest. Lower-level managers move on to other, more pressing issues. In short, companies lose their focus. By bringing in consultants to oversee large projects, companies ensure that someone is always keeping his eye the ball. And in many cases, the correct solution may be quite evident to many, but having it confirmed by an outside party makes implementing a plan politically much easier. In the era of downsizing, consultants have another political use. Companies with an itch to fire a percentage of their workforce often like to bring in consultants. When the consultants recommend a workforce reduction, the company can fire at will, gratefully blaming (some might argue hiding behind) their hired guns for the downsizing. There is, of course, the ever-present (and most important) motive for hiring consultants. Money. Consultants whose suggestions don’t make (or save) money are quickly shown the door.
All about the skill sets Consultants focus their energies in a wide variety of practice areas and industries. Their individual jobs, from a macro level, can be as different as one could imagine. While a supply chain consultant advises a client about
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lead times in its production facility, another consultant is creating a training protocol for a new software package. What could be more different? Despite the big-picture differences, however, consultants’ day-to-day skill sets are, by necessity, very similar. All consultants generally need to be wellversed in client management tactics. All consultants must be comfortable with spreadsheets, not to mention long, often last-minute presentations (Excel and PowerPoint expertise is essential to the job). All consultants need to have plenty of analytical ability, a preference for teamwork, and a passion for planning and implementing mammoth corporate initiatives. And all consultants need to be prepared to pull the occasional all-nighter, because clients pay a lot of money and don’t want to hear “Geez, we really tried to make it, but, um, it’s going to be late.” Nothing can be late in consulting. Consultants are a back-room breed of professional. In joint projects with their clients, they do much of the work and can expect little to none of the recognition. All consultants must deliver bottom-line value, and may spend countless hours huddled in cramped spaces to do it. The consultant’s job, aside from mastering strange subjects quickly, is to create presentations, write code, design extremely intricate new processes, and sometimes simply sit down with a senior client executive and give a progress report. Sometimes, what an average consultant does is even lower in profile: coding in a newly learned computer language, trying out PowerPoint skills to compile presentations, writing memos, and completing other fairly routine tasks. In any case, the boundaries of the job are virtually limitless. Each project carries with it a new task, a new spreadsheet configuration, a newly developed type of sales conference or an entirely new way of thinking about business. The client, meanwhile, stands by and watches you work. Are you lightning quick? Does your fancy degree actually translate into solid deliverables? Are you twice as good as current employees? You’d better be, because you’ll probably cost at least twice as much!
Want more inside information on consulting careers? Get the Vault Career Guide to Consulting, with day-in-the-life profiles, career paths, salary information and more, at http://consulting.vault.com
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Industry History and Trends: 2002-2003 A brief history of consulting People have traded wisdom for pay since the dawn of time. Nonetheless, consulting as big business only came into being around the start of the 20th century. The first consultants drew from their engineering backgrounds to conduct time- and motion-type projects for their clients. When James “Mac” McKinsey, a University of Chicago professor, established his “accounting and engineering advisors” firm, he offered a proposition similar to consulting. Over time, he developed a unique, integrated approach for his clients, which he called his “General Survey.” Instead of hiring traditional engineers, McKinsey recruited experienced executives and trained them in a framework of analysis. The new approach considered goals, strategies, policies, organization, facilities, procedures and personnel. In the late 1950s, a number of other consulting firms emerged with focused strategies and novel frameworks. The most notable innovator, The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), followed work with a semiconductor manufacturer client and developed the experience curve. This idea proposed that declines in most industries were directly correlated to cost as a function of cumulative experience. BCG later extended its original concept by developing the growth share matrix, a tool that assesses a company’s attractiveness within an industry.
The present day Consultants and their clients are in a state of constant flux.. The typical client now requires more sophistication from its consultants’ in-house skills and is more demanding in its consulting projects. For example, some clients use their own in-house strategy groups and have clear ideas of what their business means and the direction in which to head. This increased sophistication means a number of new developments in the industry, which in turn will impact your decision to enter the field.
Specialization Many consulting firms now specialize. Until relatively recently, the conventional wisdom at firms like McKinsey was to develop generalists who 20
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applied their learning across industries and geographies. That strategy is evolving. Clients increasingly demand that consultants come in with prior knowledge of their industry. While most of the larger firms still hire generalists, they now ask consultants to specialize earlier in their careers. They also tend to hire industry experts who might follow different (and possibly accelerated) career tracks than typical MBAs.
Implementation Many clients no longer want to pay for mere strategic musing. Hence, many strategic consulting firms are beginning to ensure implementation of their recommendations. As a result, consultants are more well-rounded, with systems consultants seeking more strategy assignments and strategy consultants taking on e-business work. Still, differences prevail — strategy consultants lack powerhouse information technology skills, and systems players have a hard time convincing clients they can come up with innovative strategic solutions. But the success of strategy/systems hybrids like Booz Allen Hamilton suggests that convergence adds a successful competitive advantage — which means more competition for all consulting firms. Web consultancies, much in vogue prior to the turn of the millennium, had an especially difficult time convincing clients that they had the same implementation capabilities as larger and more established competitors. Coupled with the downturn in the U.S. economy, such difficulties led to the demise of most firms of that ilk.
Cyclical nature Consultants like to estimate future revenues for other industries. Meanwhile, speculation abounds about the consulting industry’s own revenues. Up until the latest market swoon, consulting revenues had grown by an average of 16 percent each year and are still expected to grow at an equally brisk pace (taking into account occasional dips) over the next decade. Aggressive penetration of emerging markets by corporations (where consultants assess new markets) and rapid changes in client industries (privatization, IT changes and globalization) are responsible for the marked growth in consulting. As the ultimate service industry, consulting depends heavily on the prospects of large corporations. Though global recessions create many issues consultants can address, companies tend to cut outside costs (including consultants) when budgets are lean, which makes consulting companies vulnerable to layoffs and cost cutting.
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Nevertheless, consulting will never disappear. During economic downturns, consulting firms frequently attract distressed clients that need advice to cope with their fiscal situations. Additionally, previous tough times have forced consulting firms to expand their client rosters to include smaller companies. Entrepreneurial and middle-market consulting now makes up a large part of consulting revenues, and many firms dedicate entire departments to these groups. Many consultancies have teamed up with venture capital firms — or created VC funds of their own — to launch startup companies, to which they also provide business strategy and other advice. This practice was more in vogue during the dot-com boom of the late ’90s (remember that?), but certain targeted ventures are still being made.
Open trading Consulting firms traditionally have shunned the idea of going public — but this too is changing. In October 2000 the U.S. arm of global HR consultancy Watson Wyatt underwent a public offering. Then in February 2001, KPMG Consulting completed a successful IPO, raising hundreds of millions of dollars as part of its separation strategy from parent company KPMG LLP. Fellow Big Five firm Accenture, considered to be the largest management consultancy in the world, upped the ante five months later by raising about $1.7 billion. Since then Hewitt Associates and PwC Consulting (now Monday) have jumped on the IPO bandwagon.
Hello goodbye When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one consulting firm to dissolve the political bands which have connected it with another, the result can be a very public declaration of independence. Perhaps the most notorious divorce was that of Accenture and Arthur Andersen, a drama that appeared in the news beginning in December 1997 and did not end until 2001. But while Accenture and the de-Arthured Andersen waved goodbye, other firms have said hello. Some mergers have been of the mega variety, such as those between Price Waterhouse and Coopers & Lybrand in 1998 and Cap Gemini and Ernst & Young in 2001. But the industry has also seen smaller players joining forces in recent days. At the end of 2000 Atlanta’s Kurt Salmon Associates merged with San Francisco-based Swander Pace, combining two of the leading consultancies specializing in the consumer goods and retail industries. And in January 2002, The Segal Company acquired fellow human resources consultancy Sibson Consulting Group from Nextera Enterprises for $16 million and future considerations. Some of the 22
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mergers have been the product of companies in other industries attempting to create new consulting divisions or augment existing ones. Some recent examples include software company Novell’s July 2001 purchase of Cambridge Technology Partners and the December 2001 acquisition of Renaissance Worldwide by Aquent, an IT staffing firm.
Scandal rocks the industry On headline-grabbing development that has the entire consulting industry reeling is the Enron/Andersen scandal. Here’s the short version for our cavedwelling readers: Enron, a large Houston-based energy company, long held a reputation as a great American innovator and a stock market darling. However, due to a shadowy history filled with poor investments, an unnecessarily complex fiscal structure and other questionable managerial decisions, the company very publicly fell apart in 2001. Enron eventually was forced to lay off thousands of employees and to undergo the largest Chapter 11 bankruptcy in U.S. history. Meanwhile, in early 2002, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Justice Department began conducting criminal investigations surrounding allegations of fraudulent financial reports and manipulation of energy markets. Waist-deep in the scandal was Andersen, Enron’s auditor. Andersen was indicted by the DOJ in March 2002 when it came to light that the firm had destroyed thousands of Enron documents and assisted the company in covering up losses and other dubious financial dealings. Three months later, a federal jury found the firm guilty of obstruction of justice. Granted, Andersen’s misdeeds lay with the accounting side of the firm, and with a small number of people working out of one office at that. In the court of public opinion though, the resulting stigma potentially could rub off on anyone even remotely associated with the scandal. Who is likely to be affected? There is of course Andersen, whose consulting arm, while not accused of any wrongdoing, garnered millions in fees from Enron. The Big Five firm’s sea of troubles has been well documented and continues to make headlines on a daily basis. Then there is McKinsey, a longtime Enron adviser and former employer of the now-notorious Jeffrey Skilling, the Enron executive primarily responsible for engineering many of the company’s shady reporting practices. Finally — and most importantly for anyone trying to get a job in the field — there is the entire consulting industry in general. In a March 2002 Vault poll, 45 percent of respondents believed that the Enron affair would make companies completely reevaluate their need for consultants. For now, consulting firms have yet to experience the full fallout
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from the whole debacle. But for the people trying to break into those firms, it is at best an unhappy circumstance.
Splitting up Another consequence of this saga has been a push to create greater separation between professional services firms’ auditing and consulting businesses. The SEC and equivalent regulatory bodies outside the United States are considering stricter rules to avoid potential conflicts of interest. The SEC has in the past encountered a tremendous amount of resistance from accounting firms, which fear losing some of their most lucrative sources of revenue. Indeed, according to The Times of London, auditing firms’ ability to offer consulting services would have been outlawed years ago had it not been for “fierce lobbying from the accounting industry.” Regardless, after paying lip service to such proposed rules for some time, all of the Big Five firms have now attempted in one way or another to split up their operations. Selling consulting divisions or spinning them off as distinct companies has become de rigeur in the industry of late. These moves have advantages of their own — separating their consulting operations has enabled firms to create new and innovative brands, while a successful public offering can raise money for acquisitions or expansion into new industries and regions (as well as snare new recruits with the lure of stock options).
Layoffs abound Even more central to the state of the consulting industry in 2002-2003 is of course the condition of the economy. Consulting firms have taken a huge hit since the market went south, seeing declining demand for services (especially in the technology sector) and declining fees. To put it in perspective, in his March 28, 2002 Inside Consulting newsletter, Consulting Information Services president Tom Rodenhauser says he has spoken with “one veteran consultant [who] says he’s currently billing at 1990 rates.” Coinciding with these developments has been a sharp decline in the consulting job market. Many firms have cut back or eliminated their campus recruiting efforts, and others have instituted overall hiring freezes. In addition, a large number of new undergraduate and MBA hires who planned to come on board after graduation have seen their start dates pushed back by a year or more, or rescinded altogether. The economy also has affected many consultants already ensconced in their firms. Few firms have been immune to the pink slips, from IT services giants 24
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like IBM Global Services to white-shoe strategy shops like The Boston Consulting Group. While this is hardly news at this point, it is no less depressing for lifelong consultants who find themselves out of a job or newly minted MBAs who have seen their six-figure salary offers rescinded. If there is any consolation at all, it is that the industry now appears to have weathered the worst of the storm. We can see, perhaps, the first glimmerings of the industry recovering after two years of economic turmoil and media scandal, with layoffs tapering off somewhat and billing hours beginning to rebound.
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Consulting Categories The types of consulting that firms offer can (roughly) be divided into four general categories: strategy, information technology, e-consulting and human resources. These categories often overlap, and most firms offer multiple areas of consulting. Clients now hire one firm, not several, to formulate overall strategy, review operations’ efficiency, implement conjoining technology solutions, and get online.
Strategy consulting Strategy consulting aims to help a client’s senior executives understand and face the strategic challenges of running their company or organization. Strategy consultants work with the client’s most senior management, since senior management sets a company’s strategy and long-term plans. Historically, strategy consulting firms made their recommendations, presented a “deck” (a report detailing the issues and recommendations), and then walked away. Increasingly, however, clients expect the strategists to stick around to implement their suggestions. Consequently, more consulting firms now tout their “implementation” capabilities, which address many areas of a client’s internal operations. (Operations consulting is often considered a separate field unto itself, but it continues to become more and more intertwined with strategic services.) These operations include, but are by no means limited to, customer service response times, inventory backlog costs, product quality and distribution efficiencies. Examples of typical strategy consulting engagements: • Analyzing why a clothing retailer generates lower sales per square foot than its competitors • Positioning a snack manufacturer to enter China, determining types of snacks most wanted, and assessing the market’s willingness to pay for snacks • Streamlining the equipment purchasing process of a major manufacturer • Working with a newly merged commercial bank to increase its customer response efficiency
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Leading strategy consulting firms include: • Bain & Company • Boston Consulting Group • McKinsey & Company • Monitor Group
Information technology consulting Information technology consultants (also called “systems consultants”) work with corporations and other clients to understand how they can best leverage technology for the organization. They design custom software or networking solutions, test for system and program compatibility, and ensure that the new system is properly implemented. Most IT consultants, by definition, boast sharply honed technical skills. But no one says you absolutely need to know how to rewire a router for maximum communications efficiency. IT solutions must be implemented as an overall part of a business solution. Otherwise, clients are sure to scream for costjustification and/or to fire their IT department heads for wasting money when solutions fail. Examples of typical IT consulting engagements: • Testing an investment bank’s vulnerability to hackers • Converting a commercial bank’s mainframe system into an Oraclebased client-server environment • Implementing a firewall for a retail chain’s e-mail and customer service servers • Upgrading a large law firm from WordPerfect to Word • Troubleshooting on a major SAP software installation Leading information technology firms include: • Accenture • American Management Systems • Computer Sciences Corporation • Electronic Data Systems
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E-Consulting How can you quickly change any term in standard English vernacular into a dirty word? Just put an ‘e’ in front of it. Truly, the business world has done a complete 180 from just a few years ago when it paid blind homage to all things Internet. But while the outlook for the future of the Net may have changed dramatically, e-consulting — solving problems connected with online business and electronic commerce on a widespread basis — remains an important and viable enterprise. Traditionally, e-consulting began as web consulting, which involved mostly front-end design work: programming, graphic design, and prototypes of company web sites. With the rapid proliferation of dot-coms in the mid- to late-’90s, consulting companies found that they needed to offer a wider range of services: e-commerce, B2B, valuations, branding, marketing and so on. Eventually it became apparent that clients wanted entire e-commerce operations created from scratch. The days of boutique dominance in this sector are over. After tremendous competition for market position, it appears that larger, more traditional firms with more capital at their disposal have gained the upper hand. Large firms are making it very difficult for pure-play e-firms like Razorfish and iXL Enterprises, particularly after the stock market took its toll (though the blue chips have had their own difficulties over the last two years). Given the nature of their chosen medium, e-consultants must be adaptable and dynamic to stay competitive in the market. Many once-promising upstarts on both the consulting and client sides have long since gone under. So tread carefully — while the consulting industry has learned many tough lessons in its relatively short history, e-consulting still remains a field fraught with a whole host of risks. Examples of typical e-consulting engagements: • Transforming a department store to an online shopping site • Creating online catalogs for a mail-order company • Advising a mutual fund company on how to provide its clients with access to account information online
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Leading e-consulting firms include: • Sapient • DiamondCluster International • Lante
Human resources consulting The best business strategies, the most up-to-date technologies and the most streamlined operations mean nothing if no one can put them into place. Hence, human resources consulting has become a huge business. Increasingly, companies conclude that investing in their human capital pays off. HR consultants maximize the value of employees while placing the right people with the right competencies. This kind of HR consulting, also known as organizational development or change management, is one of the hottest consulting fields. Clients hire HR consultancies as part of departmental or organizational restructurings, systems implementations, and ongoing initiatives and studies (e.g., diversity and work-life balance). HR consultants also provide technical advice. This advice involves mostly number crunching, and those who excel at it are generally known as actuaries. Their number crunching often focuses on restructuring benefits packages and valuating compensation structures, among other technical assignments. Actuarial consultants must pass many certification exams throughout their careers to remain eligible to practice their trade. Examples of typical human resources consulting engagements: • Bringing together the cultures of merged companies by developing or altering work cultures • “Managing relationships” to ensure focus on customers and open communication • Building “competencies” through better and more efficient training programs • Fostering employee creativity through “process innovation” • Counseling and processing laid-off employees and assisting them in finding new jobs • Creating or updating a new division’s benefits package • Reviewing and revising a law firm’s compensation structure
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Leading human resources consulting firms include: • Hewitt Associates • Towers Perrin • Watson Wyatt Worldwide • Mercer Human Resource Consulting
Want more inside information on consulting careers? Get the Vault Career Guide to Consulting, with day-in-the-life profiles, career paths, salary information and more, at http://consulting.vault.com
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Getting Hired Breaking In Getting your foot in the door Historically, consulting firms focused on a relatively small number of undergraduate and graduate institutions when recruiting for associates and analysts. That changed a bit during the dot-com boom, when talent-hungry firms broadened their list of schools in search of candidates. (The lists of schools at which IT-focused firms recruit were already fairly broad, as those firms tend to pay greater attention to candidates’ skills and certifications than school brand name .) And while the job market has once again tightened up, recruiters remain aware that many qualified people can be found outside of their standard channels. Consultancies have also begun to consider candidates with non-traditional advanced degrees, such as MDs or PhDs. This makes it easier to get on the radar screen if you come from a less traditional background or a college outside of their traditional recruiting list. Firms may also be receptive to a wider range of backgrounds when it comes to offering internships. Indeed, doing an internship (at any level) is one of the best ways to get into the field, especially when the economy is bad. One 2001 MBA grad tells us that his classmates “who did an internship at one firm [the previous summer] were more likely to get full-time consulting offers — even at other firms. It was because they had proved that they wanted to do consulting.” And while competition for any kind of consulting position remains high, there are ways you can increase your chances of being selected for an interview.
Schmoozing Good networking skills are important throughout your career, but these skills are immensely helpful in opening doors at your firms of choice. Begin by seeking out several contacts to obviate a cold call to your target companies. Consulting firms sometimes arrive on campus the evening prior to interviewing rounds for cocktails and dinner. Although these events are usually open house, some are invitation-only functions. If you do not hold an invitation, call the company’s event administrator, express your interest in the company, and ask for an invitation. Nine times out of 10, companies gladly extend invitations to those who show genuine interest.
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Vault Guide to the Top 50 Consulting Firms Getting Hired
If consulting firms don’t typically recruit at your school, you have to work harder. Find a contact within the firms you are targeting — be it an alumnus, a colleague who worked there prior to school, your mother’s best friend, or anyone else. Then ask the contact for an informational interview. Use the informational interview for two purposes: to get an “in” on the recruiting process and to learn more about the company prior to your interviews. Recruiters generally favor candidates endorsed by someone already working in the firm. The more people you know in a particular organization, the greater your chances of success. Schmoozing involves more than just networking. When networking, you seek out people to help you on a single mission, without necessarily considering your ability to help them. Schmoozing, on the other hand, involves developing longer-term relationships for both parties’ benefit. You begin these relationships with the goal of productivity — you are seeking a mutually beneficial outcome. You find people with whom you can exchange ideas, favors and political assistance. Through schmoozing, you find people who will support you even when you do not need it. They actively get involved in your life, and vice versa. It’s an invaluable skill to develop, no matter what your profession.
Are they hiring? Despite your best efforts, the firm of your dreams may be in the midst of a hiring freeze. In the last year or so, many firms also have delayed or rescinded job offers to candidates from top undergrad and MBA programs. It is important to find out which firms have had such HR difficulties. (This book is chock full of such information.) Other firms have taken pains to avoid layoffs. Once you have weighed these risks and decided you still would like to work at a given firm, that’s when it’s time to prepare for the interview process.
The interview process The most valuable asset of any consulting firm is its human capital. (That means you.) Before clients see presentations, reports or results, they see consultants. Before clients work with products or services, they work with the people. Consequently, consulting firms purposefully make their interviews intense and lengthy to measure your intellectual, physical and emotional stamina.
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Consulting interviews fall into two types: the behavioral interview and the case/problem interview. The former determines the extent to which you fit the consultant profile and the firm’s culture. The latter tests your problemsolving skills and displays your thinking patterns to the interviewer. To an extent, both types of interviews also reveal how well you deal with stressful real-time challenges.
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The Resume/Behavioral Interview Interviewers first want to determine if you have the “intellectual horsepower” (brains) and “quantitative and analytical ability” (math and logic skills) to be an asset. You must also be able to think “out of the box” (creatively) to come up with innovative ideas and approaches. While your resume provides structure for the interview, be sure your side of the conversation provides more than a regurgitation of the resume’s key points. Focus on the same skills you underscored in your resume, but use different examples of teamwork, leadership, confidence and technical skills. A succinct description of past school or work projects that highlight your skills “gives the interviewer something to hold on to,” according to one consulting interview veteran. Meanwhile, show your interviewers that the examples on your resume do not constitute the entirety of your abilities. Interviewers take on the responsibility of shaping their firm’s culture and/or ensuring compliance with firm standards. Generally, consulting firms want smart, ambitious, hardworking, dedicated and analytical people with pleasant demeanors. During the interview, pay attention to what you say and how you say it. Listen carefully to the questions. Too many people lose points by answering the questions incorrectly, incompletely or inappropriately. Craft your answers so that they are logical and structured. Provide relevant examples. Speak in complete sentences, and do not go off on tangents or trail off midway through a sentence. Also, watch your fillers: “you know,” “um,” “like.” Ensure that your elocution is articulate and reflects your education. Some specific skills and qualities that interviewers look for: • Leadership skills, to lead consulting and client teams and to promote their ideas • Teamwork, to work with other consultants, clients and vendors toward solutions • Analytical skills, to crunch numbers and work through information in a logical manner • Presentation skills, to communicate findings to fellow consultants and clients alike • Creativity, to solve problems and think “out of the box” • Thick skin, for those times when your work is criticized • Personality and sense of humor, to defuse stressful situations
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During your interviews, remember these specific points: • Never express uncertainty or insecurity about your skills or give the interviewer any reason to question your confidence or abilities • Refrain from revealing your dislike for travel or your attachment to home • Avoid getting defensive or sensitive when answering tough questions, including, “What kinds of people do you have trouble getting along with?” or “Tell us about your shortcomings.” During your interview, be prepared for some version of the “airplane test.” The interviewer imagines sitting next to you on an eight-hour flight across the Atlantic. He or she decides which is more preferable: conversing with you for more than 30 seconds or faking sleep throughout the whole flight to avoid you. To pass the test, show genuine interest in something outside the business realm or crack a joke. Just be sure to choose a topic that presents you as mature, insightful and interesting, and make certain that the topic is tasteful, amusing and noncontroversial.
Behavioral questions Consulting firms use behavioral interview questions to measure “softer” attributes. Behavioral interview questions ask you to reveal how you behave in particular situations, be it at work or in a personal situation. Firms using behavioral interviews believe a candidate’s responses reveal a lot about his or her personality and skills. They also believe the firm can project future behavioral patterns based on the past. Some consulting firms use behavioral questions almost to the exclusion of more traditional consulting case questions. To prepare, practice answering frequently asked behavioral questions until you can answer them smoothly.
Practice behavioral interview questions When asking behavioral questions, your interviewers first listen to your answers at face value and then assess your thinking process (ingesting the question, processing the answer, assembling the words and presenting the answer). They also use their assessment to project the likelihood of your future success.
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1
What position do you normally take on a team?
Extremes never paint stable pictures. Avoid portraying yourself as an obsequious follower or a tyrannical dictator. Consulting firms want people (especially neophytes) who ask questions, make contributions and get their points across. They want someone who neither passively receives information nor commandeers the entire case team.
2
Why have you chosen to interview at our firm?
Consulting involves a lot of research. Show off your skills here. Explain your interest in a strategy firm (or change management, or whatever) and relate your interest to what you know of the firm. Include what you want to gain from the firm and what you believe you can contribute. State why the firm stands in a good position to accomplish your goals and how the firm can benefit from your contributions. Demonstrate your abilities to conjoin data from separate sources into a single analysis.
3
What is the worst mistake you’ve ever made?
This mistake should not involve an egregious lapse in judgment along the lines of: “It was really stupid of me to violate parole.” Instead, describe a valuable lesson you learned (and one that preferably occurred some time ago). Remember to include your lesson and why the lesson still proves valuable to you even today. “I remember when I didn’t fully research buying a car, and I ended up buying a car that looked good but cost me thousands in repairs. I’ll never fail to do my homework again.”
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The Case Interview Consulting interviewers use case interview questions to test your analytical ability, reasoning skills, confidence and knowledge of business concepts. Case interviews simulate live scenarios to test the quickness of your mind and confirm the skills you claim on your resume. You must discuss hypothetical situations based on information provided to you and make assumptions based on commonly known facts. Even if you have no background knowledge of the case, you must still address the question thoughtfully under pressure. The interviewer cares more about how you arrived at your answer than if you answer correctly, so be sure to explain your thought process as well. Case interview questions fall into three broad categories: business cases, guesstimates and brainteasers.
Business cases If you are interviewing with a strategy consulting firm like Bain, count on plenty of cases during the interview process. Put very simply, case interviews are problem-solving exercises. While some interviewers draw on recent realworld experience to pose the case, you are not expected to have advanced industry knowledge. The interviewer is more interested in checking out your thought process and assessing your analytical ability, creativity and poise. Some companies present cases as written documents to be read and prepared. But usually the interviewer describes the key facts and issues of the case before asking the candidate for an analysis. Some firms (e.g., Monitor) ask you to solve a case as part of a team with other job applicants. The case usually consists of a business scenario and a question about it. For example: “A foreign company with extra cash on hand wants to enter the American fast food market. What would you tell them?” While every case is different, follow the tips below to improve your chances of cracking it without too much difficulty.
Case tips • Before jumping into an answer, ask the interviewer a number of questions to gather vital information about the case. (Imagine your interviewer as a corporate client presenting this case to you. Ask the client plenty of questions before attempting to provide advice.) Your interviewer answers you with pieces of information to help you Visit the Vault Consulting Career Channel at http://consulting.vault.com — with insider firm profiles, message boards, the Vault Consulting Job Board and more.
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formulate new questions and, ultimately, your case recommendations. (At the same time, avoid tiring your interviewer and recognize when you have asked enough questions.) One recent interviewee cautions: “Consulting firms are looking for people who will think carefully before answering; this is very important in the case interview. Don’t say the first thing that comes to your mind, even if you’re certain about it. If you’re trying to choose between appearing to be slow and appearing to be a cocky idiot, choose the former.” A good question to ask is about best practices in the industry. Find out what other companies in this industry do when facing the same issues. • Avoid making assumptions without checking them with the interviewer or, at the very least, stating that you are making an assumption. If your case concerns a vehicle manufacturer, for example, you might simply assume the client is General Motors when it is actually John Deere. • After gathering all the information you think you need, start formulating your recommendations. If you like using standard frameworks, remember to use the appropriate one. Run the framework through your mind to ensure you are not forgetting a vital area of analysis. For instance, Porter’s Five Forces model might help you analyze a market situation and identify all of the areas of potential threat. Based on the model, you can recommend the company’s market strategy. • If you are unfamiliar with frameworks, say so and proceed as logically as you are able. Voice your analysis — why and how you come to your questions and conclusions is also important. • After giving your recommendations, point out possible flaws and assumptions in your thinking. • Speak and reason aloud during your case interview. Your thought process is more important than your ultimate conclusions; your interviewer must hear your reasoning and the logical steps you are taking to reach your conclusions. • Always bring paper and a reliable pen with you to any consulting interview. You might want to take notes during the case interview (and for any guesstimates or quantitative brainteasers your interviewer might throw at you). Asking your interviewer for paper and a pen during the interview gives the impression that you are disorganized and unprepared.
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• No matter what, never show any signs of being flustered in a case interview. Your composure before your client (or lack thereof) is a key factor in your evaluation.
Sample qualitative case question A major film entertainment company wants us to assist them in building a distribution network for home video. They want to know whether they should build their own distribution network or continue to contract with third parties. Start by asking your interviewer some basic questions: • What are other entertainment companies doing? • What are the current costs? • Does the company have the staff and resources to create its own distribution network? • Of the major entertainment companies producing videos, do most distribute through their proprietary supply chain or through third parties? • What is the client’s current cost of distribution through its contractual partner(s)? • Has the client considered building its own distribution network before retaining us? If so, what were its findings? • Does the client have a dedicated functional staff assigned to the project? If so, what functional areas do they represent? After establishing some basic facts, get more detailed. Your interviewer might allude to certain avenues to discuss or shut down others. If the interviewer confirms the company has enough staff to handle setting up its network, stop delving into the ramifications of reassigning personnel. If, through questioning, you decide staying with a third-party distributor makes the most sense, ask the next logical question: Should the company stay with its current distributor or choose a new one?
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Vault Guide to the Top 50 Consulting Firms Getting Hired
• Who are possible alternative partners? Who uses them? • Could you characterize the relationship between the client’s distribution partner and the client? Is there a possibility of retaliation on the part of the distribution partner if the client severs its ties to this party? • How many weeks of supply are currently in the distribution partner’s pipeline? • How receptive are the client’s accounts to changing distribution partners? Can it be shown that a client-owned supply chain would be more efficient or valuable to the accounts? • Does the client have any financial interest in the distribution partner that might have to be eliminated? When you feel ready, make a recommendation.
Make sure you're prepared for your case interviews. Get case frameworks, strategies, tips, and detailed step-by-step analysis of actual cases used in interviews with the Vault Guide to the Case Interview and the Vault Case Interview Workbook. For one-on-one coaching, use Vault Case Interview Prep. Go to http://consulting.vault.com.
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Guesstimates In guesstimates, your interviewer generally asks you to estimate the market size for a product or service and observes your reasoning process. The key is not necessarily to get the right answer, but to show your ability to tackle a problem logically, approach assumptions sensibly, and perform simple calculations quickly without a calculator.
Guesstimate cracking tips • You receive little real data (though you will not need to know much beyond basic population figures for the United States). • For use in your analysis, assume the United States has 270 million people and 25 million businesses. (Consider rounding up to 300 million, as long as you inform your interviewer that you are doing so.) • Make reasonable assumptions, with rounded, easy-to-work-with numbers (difficult numbers might throw off your calculations), and go from there. • Remember that you are expected to use a pen and notepad to work through your calculations. • If certain figures escape you, like the population of Brazil or the circumference of the globe, ask for them. Avoid stumbling your way through an answer based on inaccurate assumptions. • Talk through your steps aloud as you go through your calculations. • Remember that guesstimates, like cases, also involve elements of creativity and problem solving. For example, when asked, “How much change would you find on the floor of a mall?” ask, “Is there a fountain in the mall?”
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Vault Guide to the Top 50 Consulting Firms Getting Hired
Sample guesstimates 1
How many gallons of white house paint are sold in the United States each year? The “Start Big” approach If you are unsure where to begin your analysis, start with the basic assumption that 270 million people live in the United States. If 270 million people live in the country, perhaps half of them live in houses (or 135 million people). The average family size is about three, which measures out to 45 million houses in the United States. Add another 10 percent or so for second houses and houses used for other purposes besides residential. Conclude there are about 50 million houses. If houses are painted every 10 years on average, then 5 million houses get painted every year. Assuming one gallon covers 100 square feet of wall and the average house has 2,000 square feet, each house needs 20 gallons. Therefore, 100 million gallons of paint are sold per year (5 million houses times 20 gallons). (Note: If you want to be fancy, ask your interviewer whether to include inner walls as well!) If 80 percent of all houses are white, then 80 million gallons of white house paint are sold each year. (Remember that last step!) The “Start Small” approach Take a town of 27,000 (about 1/10,000th of the population). If you use the same assumption that half the town lives in houses in groups of three, then there are 4,500 houses. Add another 10 percent for good measure, and there are really 5,000 houses in your guesstimate. Painted every 10 years, 500 houses get painted in any given year. If each house has 2,000 square feet of wall, and each gallon covers 100 square feet, then each house needs 20 gallons. Therefore, 10,000 gallons of house paint are sold each year in your typical town. Perhaps 8,000 of those are white. Multiply by 10,000, and you have 80 million gallons. If your interviewer asks you how you would actually get that number as a consultant, use your creativity — e.g., contact major paint producers, call the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s statistics arm, or conduct a small sample of the second calculation in a few representative towns.
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Other guesstimate samples 2
How many 747s are above Kansas right now?
3
How much beer is consumed in the United States each year?
Want more practice with guesstimates and brainteasers? Get the Vault Guide to the Case Interview and the Vault Case Interview Workbook. For one-on-one coaching, use Vault Case Interview Prep. Go to http://consulting.vault.com.
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Vault Guide to the Top 50 Consulting Firms Getting Hired
Brainteasers Brainteasers — or, as one disgruntled interviewee referred to them, “mind splitters” — are the genre of questions along the lines of, “Why are manhole covers round?” Some brainteasers look more like logic problems, while others require more mathematics. Be forewarned: some of these questions are tricky, and it is possible you might not solve them in a short amount of time. Their main function is to test your courage under fire. Keep your composure! Do not tell your interviewer that the brainteaser cannot be solved or is unreasonable. As a consultant, you find yourself on the spot all the time — your interviewer wants to ensure that you can keep your cool.
Practice Brainteasers 1
You stand in a room with three light switches. Each controls one of three light bulbs in the next room. You must figure out which switch controls which bulb. All lights are off. You have some limitations — you can flip only two switches and you may enter the room only once. Consultants and clients alike love “out of the box” thinking. Some suggest drilling a hole in the wall or calling a friend for assistance. One applicant suggested the switches might be dimmer switches — each light bulb could be set to a certain level of illumination, making solving the puzzle easy. One elegant solution, however, is to turn one light bulb on for 10 minutes and turn it off. Turn another bulb on and go into the room. The light bulb that is on clearly goes with the switch that you turned on last. Now feel the bulbs. The hot one was on recently.
2
Four men must cross a bridge in 17 minutes. The bridge is very narrow and only two men can cross at once. It is nighttime, and whoever is crossing a bridge must carry a flashlight. Alan can cross in one minute, Bert in two, Cedric in five minutes and Don in 10 minutes. The men crossing the bridge go at the pace of the slowest individual. How should they cross? First, Alan and Bert cross together with the flashlight, which takes two minutes. Alan returns with the flashlight, which takes one minute. Three
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minutes have elapsed. Cedric and Don then cross with the flashlight, which takes ten minutes. At the 13-minute mark, Bert returns with the flashlight, taking two minutes. Bert and Alan go back across the bridge, for a total time elapsed of 17 minutes.
Want more practice with guesstimates and brainteasers? Get the Vault Guide to the Case Interview and the Vault Case Interview Workbook. For one-on-one coaching, use Vault Case Interview Prep. Go to http://consulting.vault.com.
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Featured Employers SPONSORED LISTINGS
AT Kearney 222 West Adams Street Chicago, IL 60606 Phone (312) 648-0111 www.atkearney.com Misty Rallis Campus Recruiting Director Phone (312) 648-0111 Bain & Company Two Copley Place Boston, MA 02116 Phone: (617) 572-2000 Fax: (617) 572-2427 www.bain.com
[email protected] Recruiting URL: www.bain.com/bainweb/join/springboard /overview.asp Booz Allen Hamilton 8283 Greensboro Drive McLean, VA 22102 Phone: (703) 902-5000 Fax: (703) 902-3333 www.boozallen.com Undergraduate Opportunities: Katy Malesky
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Braun Consulting 20 West Kinzie Street Suite 1600 Chicago, IL 60610 Phone: (888) 284-5628 Fax: (312) 984-7371 www.braunconsult.com Integral 111 Huntington Avenue 10th Floor Boston, MA 02199 Phone: (617) 425-8400 Fax: (617) 425-8401 www.integral-inc.com For U.S. offices:
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Vault Guide to the Top 50 Consulting Firms Featured Employers
Marakon Associates For Recruiting in Europe and Asia, contact: 1-3 Strand London, United Kingdom WC2N SHP Phone: 020-7321-3683 www.marakon.com Melissa Brown Recruiting Assistant Phone: 020-7321-3683 Fax: 020-7930-9716
[email protected] Monitor Group Two Canal Park Cambridge, MA 02141 Phone (617) 252-2000 www.monitor.com Recruiting Contact: Kathy Romeo
[email protected] PA Consulting Group, Inc. 1750 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW 10th Floor Washington, DC 20006 Phone: 202-442-2000 www.paconsulting.com Margaret Larson Campus Recruitment Manager Phone: 202-442-2000 Fax: 202-442-2594
[email protected] Parson Consulting Parent Company: Management Consulting Group 333 West Wacker Drive Suite 1620 Chicago, IL 60606 Phone (312) 578-1170 Fax (312) 578-1355 www.parsonconsulting.com
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Stern Stewart & Company 1345 Avenue of the Americas 20th Floor Phone (212) 261-0600 Fax (212) 581-6420 www.sternstewart.com Recruiting Contact: Anna Danchak
[email protected] Valen Group 4665 Cornell Road Suite 335 Cincinnati, OH 45241 Phone (513) 241-7640 www.valengroup.com
[email protected] Viant Corporation 89 South Street Boston, MA 02111 Phone: 617-531-3700 www.viant.com Ken Elmer Chief People Officer 617-531-3700
[email protected] ZS Associates 1800 Sherman Avenue Evanston. IL 60201 Phone: (847)492-3600 Fax: (847)492-3409 www.zsassociates.com Sally Johnston Recruiting Manager Phone: (847)492.3600 Fax: (847)492-3409
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Featured Recruiters SPONSORED LISTINGS
Allied Search Inc. 2030 Union St. Suite 206 San Francisco, CA 94123 www.alliedsearchinc.com Don May Managing Director Phone: 415-921-1971 Fax: 415-921-5309
[email protected] Allied Search Inc. 3699 Wilshire Blvd. #850 Los Angeles, CA 90010 www.alliedsearchinc.om Don May Managing Director Phone: 213-680-4000 Fax: 213-680-4080
[email protected] Consulting Resource Group, Inc. 1100 5th Avenue South Suite 201 Naples, Florida 34102 Phone: 888-240-5556 www.CareersInConsulting.com Leslie Smith Recruiting Director Phone: 888-240-5556 Fax: 678-838-1244
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The Ford Group, Inc. 485 Devon Park Drive Suite 110 Wayne, PA 19087 Phone: (610) 975-9007 Fax: (610) 975-9008 www.thefordgroup.com Sandra D. Ford CEO & Managing Director Phone: (610) 975-9007 Fax: (610) 975-9008
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V A U L T
1
McKinsey & Company
PRESTIGE RANKING
55 East 52nd Street New York, NY 10022 Phone: (212) 446-7000 Fax: (212) 446-8575 www.mckinsey.com
THE STATS
LOCATIONS
Employer Type: Private Company Managing Director: Rajat Gupta 2002 Employees: 12,500 2001 Employees: 13,000 2001 Revenues: $3.3 billion 2000 Revenues: $3.4 billion
New York, NY (HQ) 84 offices worldwide
UPPERS
PRACTICE AREAS Automotive & Assembly • Banking & Securities • Basic Materials • Chemicals • Consumer/Packaged Goods • Corporate Finance & Strategy • Electric Power/Natural Gas • High Tech • Insurance • Marketing • Media & Entertainment • Nonprofit • Operations Strategy & Effectiveness • Payor/Provider • Petroleum • Pharmaceuticals and Medical Products • Private Equity • Retail/Apparel and Hospitality • Telecommunications • Travel and Logistics Services
• Unsurpassed reputation • Strongest alumni network anywhere
DOWNERS • Draining intensity • Enron entanglement
KEY COMPETITORS Accenture A.T. Kearney Bain & Company Booz Allen Hamilton Boston Consulting Group
EMPLOYMENT CONTACT
[email protected]
THE BUZZ
WHAT CONSULTANTS AT OTHER FIRMS ARE SAYING
• • • •
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“The filet mignon” “Better at theory than practice” “Pinnacle of our profession” “Big brains, bigger bills and even bigger egos”
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Vault Guide to the Top 50 Consulting Firms McKinsey & Company
THE SCOOP
Top dogs In an industry with a handful of leaders, McKinsey & Company is regarded as the most influential consulting firm in the world. Founded by James O. McKinsey in 1926, the firm enjoys more boardroom access, performs more industry-shaping work, disseminates more knowledge and earns more money per consultant than any other firm. With 84 offices in 44 countries and more than 7,000 professional employees, McKinsey dominates the industry. In a 2002 Universum survey, McKinsey was rated the company where MBAs would most like to work for the sixth year in a row. Clients of “The Firm” — as it is known among its employees and clients — are the bluest of the blue chips. They include AT&T, Pepsi, IBM, General Electric and General Motors. Overall, McKinsey serves more than 60 percent of the Fortune Global 500 and 77 percent of the U.S. Fortune 100. Besides serving huge global companies, innovative startups, wealthy commercial banks, leading venture capital firms and vast technology companies, McKinsey also prides itself on offering pro bono assistance to educational, social, environmental and cultural organizations. In fact, half of the firm’s consultants work on a pro bono engagement at some time during their careers.
The ultra-international consulting firm McKinsey has a better claim than most firms to being a true global network. Its consultants are citizens of 90 countries, and McKinsey consultants provide their expertise to clients around the world. Since 1999, the firm has opened offices in Abu Dhabi, Athens, Israel and Dubai. In March 2001 McKinsey implemented a plan to strengthen significantly its corporate finance and strategy practice in Singapore. (Launched just three years earlier, the Singapore office has counseled some of the country’s most prominent clients, including Singapore Airlines and the chewing gum-banning national government.) McKinsey signed a December 2001 agreement to counsel the Savings and Deposits Insurance Fund of Turkey on problems of that nation’s banking industry. The firm also has done extensive work in India, advising liquor company Shaw Wallace on an operational restructuring, engineering and construction firm Larsen & Toubro on strategy matters and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on foreign investment issues.
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Vault Guide to the Top 50 Consulting Firms McKinsey & Company
The road ahead Whether you call it “up or out,” “succeed or leave” or the natural workings of a pure meritocracy, the majority of consultants who start at McKinsey end up leaving along the way. On average, only one in four to five consultants who starts at McKinsey finishes the hallowed journey to principal. Then again, many leave by choice. “It’s a pretty competitive process,” says an insider, “though lots of people don’t want to make partner, so they leave.” Those who jump ship may find themselves in government (like Roger Ferguson, vice chairman and governor of the Federal Reserve Board), as best-selling authors (the authors of the enormously successful business guide In Search of Excellence were former McKinsey consultants) or founders of rival consultancies (as Tom Steiner did with Mitchell Madison Group, later purchased by the failed e-consultancy marchFIRST). Many McKinsey consultants wind up in top spots in corporations: The CEOs of Delta Airlines, Polaroid, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, Amgen, CNBC and Levi Strauss are all alums of the firm (probably why Fortune once referred to McKinsey as “a CEO factory”).
Tech-savvy and prudent As an institution focused on the most important issues facing management, McKinsey builds relationships with clients — it has more than 400 active client relationships that span more than 15 years — and has historically been known as a strategy consulting firm. But the firm has been adapting to the dynamics of the changing economy and client demand, and is now pursuing technology clients and smaller, market innovating companies with more vigor. McKinsey’s technology arm (known as the Business Technology Office), composed of more than 400 consultants and integrated into the firm’s mainstream strategic competency, helps clients manage their IT investments and integrate technology into core strategies. The firm will not, however, do full-blown systems implementation. (That’s for Accenture and its ilk.) While it has tried to remain at the forefront of technology, McKinsey avoided some of the other fads of the era. “During the dot-com era, we very much said, ‘We are a client services firm,’” McKinsey managing director Rajat Gupta told Singapore’s Business Times in June 2001. “Unlike many of our competitors, we decided we were not going to own businesses, we were not going to start funds, we would stick to what we know best. We were going against what was fashionable, but I’m happy that we did.”
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Vault Guide to the Top 50 Consulting Firms McKinsey & Company
Shopping spree McKinsey pulled out its checkbook a number of times in 2001. In January the firm took a stake in India’s Aptech Internet in exchange for providing consulting services. Also that month, McKinsey acquired Chicago-based branding firm Envision for an undisclosed sum. But perhaps the firm’s biggest acquisition of the year involved just one individual: In March 2001, media and entertainment consultant Michael Wolf jumped ship from Booz Allen Hamilton. Wolf, whose client list at Booz Allen included MTV, Paramount Pictures and the National Basketball Association, became one of the first non-homegrown senior partners in McKinsey’s history.
Not recession-proof Gold-standard McKinsey may have avoided much of the turmoil that hit lesser consulting firms (a happy fate largely stemming from its avoidance of the dot-com bandwagon), but it has not proved totally immune to the recession of 2001. The firm’s utilization rate (the proportion of their time that consultants are billing) reportedly dropped to 52 percent in 2001 — the lowest it had been in 32 years — and it was forced to consider offering discounts to clients for some engagements. In November 2001, McKinsey announced that it was cutting 5 to 7 percent of its 3,000 support staff in the United States and Canada. Though no consultants have been laid off, with the firm’s voluntary attrition rate dropping precipitously as a result of the recession, more analysts and associates have been asked to leave as part of the firm’s up-or-out policy. According to The New York Times, 9 percent of consultants were counseled out in the fall of 2001, compared with 3 percent a year earlier. In addition, new hires in some offices have been asked to defer their start dates. McKinsey also initiated a July 2001 capital call in which many of its 850 partners had to make large cash contributions to the firm. The contribution was based on tenure and performance issues; some senior-level directors ponied up as much as $200,000 each. The move is not a new one for the firm, which employs a “just-in-time” cash management strategy, but it appears to be an indication that the current economic climate has finally hit the firm hard. (McKinsey contends that that capital contributions are routine and are not a reflection of firm performance.) Thus, facing an uncertain market and the end of Gupta’s reign as managing director (in early 2003), McKinsey now must apply its fabled business expertise to determine a strategy for its own future.
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McKinsey’s Enron engagement The fortunes of a consulting firm’s clientele can make or break the firm’s reputation. This has seldom been a major worry for McKinsey, given that its list of client companies reads like a Who’s Who of business success and power. There have been some chinks in the firm’s armor of late, however, with clients Kmart, Swissair, Global Crossing and others facing bankruptcy or other financial difficulties. But it was the collapse of one prominent McKinsey client, Enron, that brought the firm the lion’s share of its unwanted publicity. Amidst the resulting morass of criminal investigations and bankruptcy proceedings, the relationship between the beleaguered energy company and McKinsey came to the fore. The two had had ties dating back almost to the Enron’s inception. Erstwhile Enron CEO Jeff Skilling had come to the company after working as a McKinsey consultant, and senior McKinsey partner Richard Foster served as an adviser to Enron’s board of directors. Over the course of a number of years, McKinsey consultants worked out of Enron’s Houston offices, racking up millions in fees (one year topping out at more than $10 million) for dispensing strategy advice, according to BusinessWeek. As Enron’s accounting and legal advisers became embroiled in the scandal surrounding the company’s financial reporting irregularities, McKinsey’s role, predictably, has been scrutinized. In response, the firm has sought to distance itself from the activities that brought on the investigation. “In serving Enron, McKinsey was not retained to provide advice to Enron or any Enron-affiliated entity with respect to the company’s financial reporting strategy, methods of financing, methods of disclosure, investment partnerships or off-balance-sheet financing vehicles,” a firm spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal in January 2002. The firm further asserted that any allegations that McKinsey served as a “decision maker or a necessary review body on Enron’s asset investments are flat-out wrong.” McKinsey appears unlikely to come under investigation in the same manner as Andersen — which was found to have destroyed many of Enron’s financial documents and engaged in other shady accounting practices — but it could become involved peripherally. Should that be the case, the firm in all likelihood would be forced to disclose any information about its dealings with Enron that SEC and Justice Department investigators deem necessary.
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GETTING HIRED Think getting into a top-tier school is tough? Try McKinsey — only 2 percent of its approximately 150,000 applicants per year get offers, and a full half of those are from outside of North America. Put another way, one respondent says, “Some numbers I heard are that 15 percent of first-round interviewees make it to the second round and only 30 percent of those get an offer.” Strong academic records from high-ranking universities are just a prerequisite; a strong analytical ability and smooth presentation skills also are needed to get you over the top. On the other hand, while your school’s brand name is important, an Ivy League provenance isn’t essential: “The firm is pretty good at casting a wide net to reach out to schools not considered particularly prestigious because they have great talent as well.” Ultimately, wherever they’re from, successful candidates have it all, says one source. “I am surrounded by everyone’s consensus All-American.” McKinsey’s recruiters visit a large number of schools, and we hear that “every office has its own recruiting schedule.” Depending on the school, candidates either apply centrally to a McKinsey school team or to the office of their choice. In either case, it is the office that has ultimate say over whether they get an offer. The firm encourages candidates at schools where it does not recruit to complete an online application as a first step in the hiring process. The interview portion varies from school to school and office to office. The process consists of either two or three rounds of interviews, the first of which is usually held on campus. If there is an intermediary round, it may be held at a local McKinsey office. The final round of interviews takes place at the McKinsey office to which the candidate has applied. Most interviews are conducted by current McKinsey consultants, and tend to include “a combination of cases, resume/personal questions and some behavioral questions.”
OUR SURVEY SAYS
Getting there is half the battle … …the other half is staying. McKinsey is a faithful practitioner of the up-or-out system for associates (people hired from graduate school or industry) — if in two years you don’t get a promotion, you get the boot. This sort of bare-bones meritocracy “makes the atmosphere very demanding and shortens people’s careers,” Visit the Vault Consulting Career Channel at http://consulting.vault.com — with insider firm profiles, message boards, the Vault Consulting Job Board and more.
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reports one McKer. Many people thrive in such an environment; one respondent calls McKinsey “extremely performance-oriented but at the same time very collegial and friendly.” McKinsey’s is by many accounts “a subtle pressure-cooker culture which people won’t admit to,” says another, while a third tells Vault that to succeed at McKinsey, “You sacrifice a great deal in terms of personal freedom. ‘Up or out’ is alive and well here — having it is good; getting caught in it will not be.” Nevertheless, it’s the place everyone wants to be — as one source reports, “Everybody who goes to a b-school wants to work here. Who wouldn’t be proud of that?” The typical undergraduate stays at McKinsey for around two years, then leaves for graduate study or another industry. Indeed, many view their time at McKinsey as a steppingstone. “The McKinsey name has a very strong reputation, which makes exit opportunities very attractive,” says one respondent. “It’s a fantastic springboard to where you want to work later on,” says another insider. “The McKinsey network is very strong.” And in any case, few see their careers as a long-term project: “I view working here like playing for the Yankees — I am not sure how long they will think I am good enough, but while I am here it is an amazing ride.”
I did it McKinsey’s way As the 800-pound gorilla of the consulting world, McKinsey expects its employees to do as it says — right down to their writing style and interpersonal skills. “[McKinsey has] a very strong culture,” one consultant tells Vault. “You are required to learn the McKinsey way of writing documents, interacting with customers and presenting.” Unlike some firms, McKinsey is very concerned about its internal culture, and aspires to create “a collegial, relatively non-political, and meritocratic environment in which people feel an obligation to express their opinions.” The company even includes an “obligation to dissent” in its values statement, meaning that if a consultant disagrees with someone, even a higher-up, he or she is required to say so. We hear that such dissent is “always well-received, even in high-pressure situations.” But while most sources say the firm has succeeded in that respect, at the same time it’s also a place where “people are a little more careful about what they say, have less time to shoot the breeze, and are a little more concerned with covering their own asses than with helping you out or being fair. However, it’s a friendly place on the whole.”
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Getting along McKinsey may attempt to maintain a uniform culture, but insiders tell us that the dayto-day quality of life can vary greatly from office to office. One source, based in Dallas, tells us that that office is an “extremely friendly place where the partners, even directors, know all the business analysts and treat them well.” On the other hand, the source tells us, “Houston is quite the opposite.” Many agree that the firm’s culture is “very partner- and office-specific,” while one consultant comments that “usually the treatment is professional and respectful.” But even with well-regarded partners, the lines of communication are not always entirely open, says an insider: “Learn to wear the management mask and talk the management speak. Don’t spill your guts with them; they won’t tell you the truth exactly either.”
What does it take? Success at McKinsey means work, and lots of it. Hours average between 50 and 70 a week, with spikes near deadlines. One insider says, “In my three years, work hours have ranged between 120 hours — the worst case — to 55 hours in seven days. The average was probably around 70.” As one analyst who worked 16-hour days his first year recalls, “It was pretty bad at first. But in the second year I got more responsibility and got to manage my own hours more.” A good work/life balance is tough, but possible: “In an American office you can certainly have a decent lifestyle, but you have to be organized.” Because McKinsey discourages weekend work, the typical day runs from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., “although if the engagement requires [weekends], you have to work. In my experience you work one weekend day a month on average, but it varies a lot from project to project,” says one consultant. Beach time has increased because of a decline in the availability of projects, and those projects that do come along “are becoming shorter and shorter to meet client budgetary constraints.” As a result, “You find that you go through long stretches of beach time punctuated by six-week studies in which you work 90 hours a week.” The travel demands can be tough — “Almost all projects involve being at the client from Monday to Thursday.” And the travel load is also at the whim of the client; as one consultant tells us, “Some cheap clients prefer to lock you up in an office within the client building so they do not have to pay, while others will fly you everywhere to their individual country’s offices and pay for all your five-star hotel stays.” On the other hand, the four-days-a-week travel schedule applies more often to consultants staffed on domestic projects than for those based in offices outside the United States. Visit the Vault Consulting Career Channel at http://consulting.vault.com — with insider firm profiles, message boards, the Vault Consulting Job Board and more.
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McKinsey’s clients in France, Spain and many other international offices are concentrated in large cities where McKinsey has offices, so travel on those client projects is minimal — though we hear that “in Germany and Italy you can expect to travel a lot.”
Tools of the trade For McKinsey, knowledgeable and capable consultants are its lifeblood. McKinsey is the type of place where “you learn a lot and are given a lot of responsibility from the first day.” To make that possible, it puts all its new hires through a program called BCR, or Basic Consulting Readiness, that “teaches the approach to solving client problems.” It includes “introductory consultant training, basic framework training, introductory leadership training, engagement management training, client development training and partner introduction.” Advanced training follows a year later, when McKinsey brings in an outside training firm to go over the more qualitative aspects of consulting like communications, leadership and influencing skills. On average, a consultant gets two days of training a month, as well as a weeklong program with each promotion. But because McKinsey relies heavily on its apprenticeship program, which matches new hires with more seasoned staff, the “focus is very much on on-the-job coaching.” One caveat: Despite excellent training at the associate level, McKinsey’s efforts are “not as extensive for business analysts [i.e. undergrad hires].” Nevertheless, respondents tell us the opportunities are always there if you want them: “If you’re interested in learning about a particular industry, you just ask the partners.”
What’s in it for me? Compensation at McKinsey is said to be “about average for the industry,” though one source says it “varies significantly, depending on geography, tenure, year of entry and performance. People with the same tenure in the same office may have differences of 30 to 40 percent.” Along with the industry-standard cell phone/PDA/laptop package, the firm also offers tuition reimbursement for advanced study. The offices are said to be “fairly comfortable but not luxurious” in general, with most consultants sharing an office. Southern European offices tend to be spacious, while Northern European offices are more densely packed and organized around hoteling systems. There’s “quite a bit of latitude to what local partners do with the offices,” though in most offices, “Space is tight, but the amenities are superb.”
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Giving something back In addition to a number of informal initiatives, McKinsey maintains a nonprofit practice, which coordinates the firm’s community and pro bono activities. Each office devotes five to 10 percent of its consultants’ time to work for nonprofit operations. The firm served more than 200 nonprofit and/or public sector clients in 2001, representing an in-kind contribution of well over $100 million. The New York office, for instance, contributes to “United Way fundraising drives, pro bono work for the opera, 9/11 relief organizational help and the World Economic Forum.” In fact, the Big Apple branch worked on nine separate pro bono engagements in the wake of September 11th, including serving the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and overseeing the development of a victims database for New York State Attorney General Elliot Spitzer. In addition, the firm is also said to be “generally supportive of individual initiatives.”
Mixing with success Despite the fact that “there aren’t that many” minorities at McKinsey, our sources say that the firm is “proactive and genuine in trying to attract and retain” minority candidates. Insiders proudly point to the “demonstrable efforts” to “provide support and make sure candidates know we are a receptive environment.” There are both “formal and informal support networks,” and the firm has been supportive of these efforts “from the managing director on down.” The firm has been making some progress on this front — in Universum’s 2002 survey, McKinsey was the No. 1 preferred employer among minority MBA students. But despite these efforts, one consultant feels McKinsey “has had mixed success in getting blacks through the merit-based interview process and limited success in retaining partner-track women.” In short, diversity at McKinsey is “not perfect, but we’re getting better, and [we are] conscious of it.”
Life at the top Measured in terms of prestige, McKinsey is the best of the best in the consulting world. So what are the best aspects of life and work at The Firm? For some, it is the number of doors the McKinsey name opens: “It’s a good reference in the future,” says one ambitious source. Other insiders point to more specific positive features. “Working in teams with smart people solving interesting problems,” offers one source. Another consultant continues on this theme: “Colleagues are the smartest people you could find anywhere. The clients are the largest and most exciting firms in the world.” Visit the Vault Consulting Career Channel at http://consulting.vault.com — with insider firm profiles, message boards, the Vault Consulting Job Board and more.
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V A U L T
2
PRESTIGE RANKING
The Boston Consulting Group
Exchange Place 31st Floor Boston, MA 02109 Phone: (617) 973-1200 Fax: (617) 973-1339 www.bcg.com
LOCATIONS Boston, MA (HQ) 54 offices worldwide
PRACTICE AREAS Branding • Consumer • Corporate Development • Deconstruction • eCommerce • Energy • Financial Services • Globalization • Health Care • Industrial Goods • Information Technology • Operational Effectiveness • Organization • Pricing • Strategy • Technology & Communications • Travel & Tourism
THE STATS Employer Type: Private Company President & CEO: Carl W. Stern 2001 Employees: 2,790 (consultants) 2000 Employees: 2,370 (consultants) 2001 Revenues: $1.5 billion 2000 Revenues: $1.1 billion
UPPERS • Little travel • Firm retirement fund • Community involvement
DOWNERS • Recent layoffs • Non-diverse management
KEY COMPETITORS Bain & Company McKinsey & Company
EMPLOYMENT CONTACT www.bcg.com/careers/careers_splash.asp
THE BUZZ
WHAT CONSULTANTS AT OTHER FIRMS ARE SAYING
• “Cream of the crop” • “NATO (no action talking only)” • “A role model for other companies” • “Smart but not McKinsey”
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THE SCOOP
The innovator A certifiable strategy master, The Boston Consulting Group and its late founder Bruce Henderson are credited with “being the father of strategic consulting, in every sense of the word,” according to Thomas Doorley, the CEO of Sage Partners and a BCG alum. Today, more than 2,000 consultants in 54 offices around the globe carry on the legacy of Henderson’s intellectual work. As a result, BCG has been responsible for a number of major management consulting innovations and concepts in its 39 years, including “time-based competition,” “deconstruction” and “capability-driven competitive strategies.” One of BCG’s best-known contributions is the “BCG Growth-Share Matrix,” which explains the relationship between a company’s profitability and its market share. (The famous Matrix is so widely applicable, in fact, that BCG’s web site proudly links to an article touting its use in square dance calling.) BCG uses tools and innovations such as this to help its clients gain a competitive advantage. The firm has distinguished itself by encouraging senior executives to think beyond the status quo and embrace strategic change. CEO Carl Stern has indicated that BCG should “buttress” some of its functional and industry areas of expertise. “Clients want the business judgment a generalist can offer, but also want real domain expertise in their industry and particular functions of their industry,” he told Management Consultant International. One potentially profitable move is not on the table, however — while the firm has been approached by potential partners, Stern also said in that publication that BCG will never merge with another consultancy or company during his tenure.
Moving abroad BCG is loosely organized into three main geographical areas: Asia-Pacific, the Americas and Europe. In recent years, BCG has expanded its presence worldwide, opening offices in Copenhagen, Berlin, Athens and Cologne, Germany. The firm has been active in Eastern Europe since 1985, advising on acquisitions and restructuring, including projects in the banking industry. By predicting the cost structures and service levels necessary for success in a deregulated environment, the firm played a major role in preparing companies for deregulation and privatization in post-Cold War Europe. BCG has an excellent reputation in Europe; in Universum’s 2002
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survey, the firm was ranked as the second-most ideal employer among European graduate students (behind McKinsey). The company gets almost half of its revenues from consulting engagements in Europe and one-third from the Americas.
BCG East BCG has had a home staked out in Asia since 1966, when the ever-prescient Bruce Henderson opened an office in Tokyo (making BCG the first Western consulting firm to enter Japan). BCG has retained this “frontier” feeling, according to one consultant who has worked in the region. “You feel like you’re on the edge,” that consultant reports. “You work hard to set up your office. You know everyone there.” According to the firm, its office in Hong Kong (opened in 1991) signaled the beginning of a truly strong presence in the Asian region. Offices soon followed in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Shanghai, Seoul, Bangkok, Jakarta, Singapore and Mumbai, India. BCG’s overseas offices aren’t just for show. While some consultancies derive most of their business from American firms conducting operations overseas, BCG gets roughly half of its business in Asia from local entities: private companies, governments and state-run businesses. The firm’s clientele includes five of Asia’s biggest non-Japanese companies, three of the top five business conglomerates in Korea and eight of the biggest local commercial banks in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Korea. In June 2001 BCG opened a second office in India; the New Delhi branch brings the total number of BCG consultants in the country to about 65. The two Indian offices were busy in 2001, implementing risk management policies for the Central Bank of India, revamping the operations of engineering confederation CII, and reworking corporate and retail banking strategies for UTI Bank. Elsewhere in Asia, BCG has found a rich crop of engagements focused on helping Asian businesses affected by the downturn in the U.S. economy.
Ambassadors abroad BCG encourages its international approach in other ways as well. The firm offers an “ambassador” program, which allows consultants to transfer to another office for six months or longer (though the typical period is 12 to 18 months). Overseas consultants also may transfer to American offices. (The Madrid office is said to be especially popular.) Additionally, consultants may work on international cases (normally for multinationals). Sometimes, consultants are required to relocate to a 64
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foreign office for the duration of a case. These relocations, however, normally are kept within BCG’s geographic groups. Consultants in Washington, D.C., for example, might relocate to Monterrey, Mexico (like D.C., another office in the Americas region).
Cut! Despite maintaining a perch at the very top of the consulting industry, BCG was bitten by the layoff bug in February 2002. With voluntary attrition declining and revenues down from the boom era of a few years earlier, the firm announced that it would cut about 12 percent of its North and South American consulting and support staff. Staffers at all levels of the organization got the ax. The firm did assert that it plans to continue campus recruiting and other hiring, albeit on a smaller scale than in the past.
Talking problems, finding solutions As a strategy firm, BCG specializes in helping clients face their most difficult obstacles and dilemmas. In the 2001 book The Change Monster: The Human Forces that Fuel or Foil Corporate Change, BCG Senior Vice President Jeanie Daniel Duck targets one of these problems, the “Change Curve” — the predictable challenges that face organizations. It exemplifies BCG’s work with change strategy and the strategy problems of CEOs. BCG has also developed what it terms a “Strategy Institute” to research and foster discussion on innovation. Founded by BCG Senior Vice President Bolko von Oetinger, the Institute gathers insights from leaders in various academic disciplines and attempts to distill them into coherent strategy ideas. BCG consultants with academic leanings may work at the Strategy Institute as counselors, and others can access articles and participate in discussion groups through the institute’s online “Strategy Gallery.”
In the community On a less abstract level, BCG allows its employees to participate in the company’s efforts to support economic development in America’s inner cities, with a particular focus on increasing available jobs and creating wealth. In 2001 CEO Stern made a commitment of $3.5 million per year to inner-city economic development projects, in addition to office-specific pro bono projects.
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With an eye toward the future, BCG for the past several years has been involved with another community initiative, business@school. Created in 1998 by consultants in the firm’s Düsseldorf office, the program teaches business, economic and workplace skills to German high school students, who take part in six to seven sessions a year, analyzing companies and creating a business plan under the tutelage of BCG volunteers. The program has grown to include nearly 60 schools during the 20012002 school year.
Award-winning At the same time that the BCG’s work has impressed clients and industry insiders, its workplace has also won acclaim. Consulting magazine, the self-appointed arbiter of success in the industry, ranked BCG No. 1 in its May 2001 list of The Best Consulting Firms to Work For. The publication cited BCG’s “open and honest” culture and “lack of political infighting.” Six months later, the Greater Boston Business Council echoed the latter point when it presented BCG with a Corporate Recognition Award for the efforts of the firm’s Gay and Lesbian Network. Also in 2001, BCG’s friends at Consulting named two firm staffers, Art Peck and George Stalk, to the magazine’s list of the 25 most influential consultants. Peck, a senior vice president in the San Francisco office, made his first appearance on the list, while Stalk, a senior vice president in Toronto, was honored for the second straight year.
Industry alterations The shape of the consulting industry is changing, and BCG is changing with it. The firm has always been known as a pure strategy shop, and indeed, most of its engagements are still strategy-based. However, the classic BCG “50/50” model — under which a consultant spends 50 percent of his or her time on each of two strategy cases — slowly but ever so surely is falling by the wayside, as BCG has been increasing the number of reengineering and process assignments that it takes. Insiders say that while “the strong majority of cases BCG takes are still strategy, and normally you will have two,” that is no longer universally true. “Some strategy cases aren’t just a 50 percent commitment, but a 100 percent commitment,” points out one consultant. Another says: “Process and reengineering cases tend to take up 100 percent of your time.” There may be other changes afoot with BCG strategy. “At BCG, we are trying to move much more toward long-term relationships with clients, as opposed to stopping in, doing our three-month project and taking off,” opines a consultant. “We aren’t
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Accenture. We don’t move in, but we do try to maintain that relationship.” The vice president on the case is usually in charge, “but people at all levels keep in touch. You do a lot of follow-up [to] build deeper relationships.”
GETTING HIRED BCG requires most of its applicants to apply through its web site. There is, however, a short list of elite universities the firm visits every year, and students can check the site to see if their school is on it. The BCG site includes in-depth practice cases and brainteasers, as well as a list of general hints for the interview process. The application wizard, within which applicants create a file that they can revise and update before submitting, asks for everything from a scanned copy of transcripts to top location choices. It’s “exactly like a college application,” we hear. “It all comes back to the academic reputation of BCG.” The undergraduate interview process typically consists of two rounds. Applicants at BCG-visited schools spend the first round on campus; others do both rounds in BCG offices. In either case, the first round consists of two “fairly straightforward interviews” with 15 minutes spent discussing a candidate’s resume and background and 30 minutes on a case. The typical case is “always from the interviewer’s own experience,” and applicants “can always expect a bit of math to see how fast they are with numbers, though it’s basically qualitative.” First-round interviews for undergraduate applicants are conducted by a local office, but the second round is at the applicant’s desired location (offers are office-specific, so it’s ultimately up to that office to decide whether or not to hire someone). The second round, conducted by more senior staff, consists of three or four interviews; all but the last follow the format of those in the first round. The final interview, with the head of the office, is for debriefing, and insiders tell us that by the tone of the conversation you can usually tell if you’ve got the job or not. And while it may take a while to get a formal response — though some sources report hearing back the next day — we hear the process is extremely fair and transparent. “The recruiting structure is very good,” one respondent tells Vault. “You always know your status, unlike at other firms.” MBAs spend both interview rounds at the nearest BCG office, to which they are invited after dropping their resumes at their career centers. The first round consists of two interviews, both heavy on cases. The second round involves four or five interviews with managers and vice presidents; two of these are explicitly “fit” Visit the Vault Consulting Career Channel at http://consulting.vault.com — with insider firm profiles, message boards, the Vault Consulting Job Board and more.
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interviews. BCG case interviews, we hear, “are harder than all competitors. They are looking for you to outline the case like the other firms, but then dive deeply into one aspect of it [to] show that you understand (mathematically) how all the levers fit together, that of the 10 things on the table you can figure out which two to work on.”
OUR SURVEY SAYS
Beautiful minds Sources tell us that BCG lives up to its rarefied academic image — it’s an “informal culture full of friendly people” who are said to be “collegial, intellectual, eclectic and interesting.” The firm is extremely selective, with some respondents reportedly being turned down numerous times before getting the nod to hop on board. As one source tells Vault, the firm “seeks unusually accomplished applicants, typically from top schools or PhD programs.” Once accepted into the firm, consultants are thrown into what one employee called “your classic up-or-out system.” BCGers are “expected to perform at a high level and [to] add not only to the output and thinking of the team, but to the general direction of projects.” Another insider says that managers at BCG “always raise the bar on you. There is a lot of support, but they are always looking to see how high to push you.” The average BCGer is “intensely bright,” and firm meetings always involve a “lot of drawing on whiteboards, a lot of discussion on a higher level.” There is a “big emphasis on learning,” we’re told, “and it rubs off on you.” Some BCGers, however, say the intellectual atmosphere can also be a bit “smothering.” And some say it’s often the people who can crunch the most numbers — not think up the most clever solutions — who get ahead: “I felt overall that the wrong types of people were moving forward. [They were] not necessarily the most creative, strategic thinkers.” The same source notes an atmosphere of “internal capitalism” at BCG, in which consultants “need to seek stuff out. It’s very much on you to get on the right stuff.”
The balancing act BCG expects its employees to work hard, though not always for very long. “There is a motivation to be efficient,” says one consultant. Typical hours for any given week range in the mid-50s, and weekend work is rare. And BCG doesn’t value face time for its own sake; as one insider recalls, “If I was on the beach, I’d work not even 40 hours. That’s the time when you catch up on your life.” Another consultant tells 68
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us that managers are actually taken to task if their teams work excessive hours: “Managers are evaluated partly on their ability to create a good work/life balance for their team.” Travel is also kept to a minimum; because BCG uses a local staffing model for the majority of its projects, extensive travel is relatively rare. While one source reports traveling four days a week, he adds that “my degree of travel is very unusual for my firm.” Another insider tells us that “working on-site is somewhat unusual, unless it’s a post-merger integration,” and most consultants travel only for meetings and deal closings. Indeed, many BCGers report a very balanced approach to work and life; even “vice presidents leave when they need to go to [their kids’] recitals and soccer games.” And while hours can sometimes drag on, they’re usually “flexible and selfmotivated,” says one respondent. “Most of the late nights have been of my own doing, and I am free to work at home if I want to.” Another tells us that while staffers will work the occasional weekend, “I’ve never had a meeting scheduled on a weekend; the office is definitely not a full house.” On the other hand, we’re told, there is a palpable “give it everything” ethos among many at BCG, and “the people who managed to survive the layoffs are the ones who made that sacrifice.” Compensation at BCG is said to be competitive with other top firms, with yearly bonuses, as well as an added feature: The equivalent of 15 percent of each consultant’s annual compensation is put into a retirement fund, available as soon as they leave the firm. BCG also offers long-term disability insurance and tuition reimbursement.
An office of your own While BCG’s offices vary greatly, one insider tells us the New York facility is the “nicest office I’ve ever worked in.” Because much of the firm’s work is done offsite, BCGers spend most of their time at their desks — which, by the way, are their own desks; the firm eschews “hot-desking” and “hotelling” (that is, sharing desks and offices), to the point where some BCGers get territorial over their spaces. Every consultant gets an office, though everyone except partners shares with one or two other consultants. The firm is also “very responsive when you need something, or if something breaks. Say you need a new headrest, it shows up the next day.” And BCG makes sure to provide all the necessary fuel — food, soft drinks, coffee — for a long day of number crunching.
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Learning the ropes Most years, BCG has a thorough initiation program for new hires (in 2001, it shrank for cost reasons). During a weeklong worldwide orientation each fall, all of that year’s undergraduate hires are brought to Boston, where they meet their cohorts and learn the basics of the consulting trade. The following April, new hires based in the Americas are brought back to Boston for a second round, where they focus on the more advanced, technical aspects of the business. We hear that at this session consultants get “to see colleagues present war stories, which is good because at a place like this you get the feeling everyone else is a powerhouse.” Most regional training, though, has been suspended for cost-cutting reasons, and the majority of consultant education is done through individual offices, each of which has a training budget. Further training is mostly on the job, though each office has the option of creating study plans for their employees. First-year hires are also assigned a mentor (“one or two levels above, someone to vent to”) and a more experienced office mate (“to ask the stupid questions”). Class activities are handled by a class dean, who organizes such events as brown-bag speeches and class breakfasts.
Lending a hand BCG makes a real effort to help out in the community, something many respondents cited as a major strong point of the firm. “Each office has its own pro bono budget,” we hear, and the activities are “usually related to the local community.” Most projects draw on consultants’ professional skills, such as helping a community orchestra manage costs. The firm treats these projects just like its paid accounts, and we hear that the list to participate is usually longer than the list of available positions. What’s more, the firm also provides funding for employee-directed projects, such as running in charity races and volunteering at battered women’s shelters. “They don’t just say it’s a nice thing to do,” one consultant says. “They give the financial support to do it.”
The BCG rainbow Diversity is an issue with which many insiders say BCG is struggling. While it has an almost 50 percent male/female split at the associate level, further up the ranks the firm is increasingly male-dominated; as one source puts it, “As you look through the officer corps, the leaders are the same old white men.” One potential reason is the firm’s almost obsessive commitment to merit-based hiring: “[BCG] makes every decision individually, looking for the best of the best, and if that’s all women or no
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women, they don’t flinch.” And while racial diversity is said to be a non-issue — the firm employs many minorities and offers an African-American support group — in reality “Our diversity seems to come more from international hires than from U.S. minorities.” Nevertheless, BCG is making a positive effort to change. At the New York office, “there is a woman in charge of ethnic diversity, who works specifically with managers to do outreach at top business schools.”
What’s in the future? While every firm has had to undergo painful cuts over the last 18 months, respondents say that BCG has handled them better than most. When the layoffs came, one source says, the firm was straightforward about it: “They had to take an action, and they were honest about it. [BCG was] one of the only top firms to do it, unlike other firms that spun it as up or out.” And while no one can predict the future, the sense at BCG is that the worst is over. Insiders point to the firm’s strong suits — especially its ability to keep its core clients even as it expanded during the dot-com boom. “Our client relationships have remained in place,” says one BCGer. “As clients start to pick up, we’ll be right there next to them.”
For a detailed 40- to 50-page insider report on The Boston Consulting Group, and reports on other firms like McKinsey, BCG, Bain, Deloitte Consulting, Accenture and more, get Vault Employer Profiles. Go to http://consulting.vault.com.
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Bain & Company
PRESTIGE RANKING
Two Copley Place Boston, MA 02116 Phone: (617) 572-2000 Fax: (617) 572-2427 www.bain.com
LOCATIONS Boston, MA (HQ) 26 offices worldwide
PRACTICE AREAS Customers E-Commerce Strategy Growth Mergers & Acquisitions Operations Excellence Organizational & Change Management Private Equity Strategy Supply Chain Management
THE STATS Employer Type: Private Company Chairman: Orit Gadiesh 2001 Employees: 2,800 2000 Employees: 2,800
UPPERS • “Unparalleled” training • No face time required • Relatively little travel
DOWNERS • High-pressure environment • Morale affected by the economy • Little diversity in upper ranks
KEY COMPETITORS Boston Consulting Group McKinsey & Company
EMPLOYMENT CONTACT http://www.bain.com
THE BUZZ
WHAT CONSULTANTS AT OTHER FIRMS ARE SAYING
• “Well-rounded; good people, good practice” • “Frat boys and sorority girls” • “Overcoming cult image” • “Non-Harvard MBAs need not apply”
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THE SCOOP
The existence of your Bain In 1973, with sky-high dreams and only one phone line, Bill Bain and three others set up office in his Beacon Hill apartment. The company soon outgrew its space and moved to Lewis Wharf, an old waterfront warehouse. Under Bill Bain’s savvy entrepreneurial guidance, the firm continued to expand and quickly opened branches in Boston, San Francisco, London, Munich, Paris and Milan. Today Bain has more than 2,800 employees serving clients through a network of 26 offices across 19 countries. Widely considered to be among the most prestigious strategy consulting firms in the world, Bain ranked fifth on the list of the 50 most coveted employers in the 2002 Universum survey of more than 2,000 MBA students at 35 schools. The firm’s client base consists primarily of diversified, international corporations in all sectors of business and industry, such as financial services, e-commerce, retail, health care, consumer products and technology. These clients tend to outperform the S&P 500 by three to one, but this isn’t the only reason that Bain accepts equity as a part of its fee — the firm measures its own success by its clients’ financial results. Staff members share the rewards of these investments through Bain’s equity compensation plan.
Inevitable changes Bain is the smallest of the “Big Three” strategy consulting firms and prides itself on its strong, close-knit culture. Unlike competitors McKinsey and The Boston Consulting Group, Bain is rather understated; the consultancy used to be called the “KGB of consulting” because it painstakingly concealed the identity of clients and never spoke to the press. (Bain has, in the past few years, become more forthcoming.) The firm also deliberately limits the number of offices it opens. Bain put off opening up shop in the world’s most popular consulting venue — New York City — for over 25 years, finally opening its first New York office in July 2000. Although Bain had no difficulty serving its New York clientele from Boston, many potential recruits had expressed a desire to live and work in the Big Apple.
A launching pad Many Bain consultants stay at the firm for a few years and then begin entrepreneurial ventures of their own. Insiders testify that the firm is not only aware of this new Visit the Vault Consulting Career Channel at http://consulting.vault.com — with insider firm profiles, message boards, the Vault Consulting Job Board and more.
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pioneer spirit among its staff, it encourages it. (Take the case of Intuit, a California software firm started by Scott D. Cook, a former Bain employee, or of eBay, which ex-Bain consultant Meg Whitman helped found.) Where else do former Bain consultants wind up? According to the firm, approximately 55 percent of those who have left in the past five years have joined small companies or private equity firms. Another 20 percent have joined medium-sized firms, while most of the rest have landed positions in Fortune 500 firms.
Capital-izing on opportunities In 1984, Bill Bain founded Bain Capital, a private equity investment firm. Today, Bain & Company and Bain Capital have no official connection; Bain Capital, however, does exhibit a “preference” for Bain when it needs to hire a consultancy for its due diligence work, and the two firms are said to use a similar “results-based” operative framework. Bain consultants routinely make the move to Bain Capital; the consulting firm even circulates “help wanted” e-mails for its VC cousin, whose recent performance has been phenomenal. In another sign of the closeness between the two firms, Bain made a significant investment in Golden Gate Capital, a $700 million buyout fund launched by former Bain Capital partner David Dominik.
Bridge-ing the gap The Bridgespan Group, a legally separate nonprofit organization, is a January 2000 Bain innovation intended to provide strategic consulting to other nonprofit organizations for a reduced fee. The best and brightest consultants from Bain can volunteer for up to six months at Bridgespan (and take a large pay cut at the same time). The Boston- and San Francisco-based staff of 40 serves about 10 clients per year and is continuing to build its roster.
A new client While you rarely hear about Bain’s clients (remember what we told you earlier about the firm being closemouthed?), here’s an exception. Bain was hired by Circuit City in early 2001 to reevaluate its inventory management and to work on its somewhat antiquated cash registers. A Circuit City spokeswoman noted to the Richmond Times-Dispatch (the chain is based in Richmond, Va.) that Bain had been selected for specialized skills in point-of-sale terminals and inventory management. Other Bain clients include diamond seller DeBeers, computer maker Dell and juice king Ocean Spray.
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Bain’s culture of action “Bainies,” as the firm’s consultants affectionately term each other, have cultivated a very close-knit, action-oriented corporate culture. Employees continually tell Vault that they draw much of their energy from each other. “Bainies are an amazing set of people with whom one wants to spend time — not just while working,” says one. Within the offices are found “lots of self-starters” who maintain a constant focus on “the results-oriented goals of the firm.” “What are you going to do Monday morning at 8 a.m.?” is a catchphrase at the consultancy, which concentrates on producing immediately implementable and valuable results for its clients. Orit Gadiesh (or “OG”), the brilliant, flamboyant (and purple-haired) chair of Bain & Company insists that it’s better to have an 80 percent solution that is immediately implementable than a perfect, 100 percent solution that is purely theoretical. One insider elaborates: “Unlike other firms that have an academic reputation, Bain is extremely into quantifying each point and conclusion.” (The firm is quick to point out, however, that this does not come at the expense of producing real, tangible results.) Not surprisingly given the unique (some might say quirky) nature of the culture, observers both within (at least at the associate consultant level) and without the firm are often quick to label Bain a cult.
No firm is an island But no matter how insular Bain’s culture may be, the firm has not remained unaffected by events outside its walls. Among other developments, the first-year compensation package for 2001 hires was cut by 15 to 20 percent. (According to the firm, there were no pay cuts for consultants at other levels.) “The morale of the office has been hurt by the economic downturn,” admits one consultant. “However, as business picks up, everyone expects the office morale to return to the high level it was 18 months ago.” The ability of the Bain brass to connect with its employees has also helped keep things running relatively smoothly, says a consultant in San Francisco. “I was especially impressed with how our management handled some difficult issues this past year — for example, the September 11th tragedy, as well as the downturn in the economy. There were constant communications during the September events to ensure employees were doing well and to encourage discussion. Later on in the year, while other consulting firms were experiencing layoffs, our management would hold town hall meetings to provide a forum for us to ask questions and to quell any concerns.”
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GETTING HIRED On both the undergraduate and MBA levels, “Top schools are a must, unless you were a rock star at a middle-tier school,” though “each office has a group of core schools that generally are located near them geographically.” The hiring process consists of two to three rounds of interviews, which for MBAs “are conducted by the most senior staff at the firm.” Says one consultant, “One thing I really appreciate is that Bain uses managers and partners to interview consultants — not other consultants who are only one or two years ahead.” Interviews are heavily case-based, and approximately “90 percent of them come from actual client cases handled in the office.” One insider offers the following tip: “For cases, we’ll typically present some slides and let the interviewee know that there is information available if he asks for it. It’s a lot like a real case, where the client has tons of data and you have to figure out what to ask for. Getting the right data is half the battle.” Food is apparently a common theme in case questions; several former interviewees have been asked to “estimate the revenues of a McDonald’s,” and one was asked what considerations needed to be made to expand a bagel business into a new market. One downside of the emphasis on case questions is that “You don’t get much opportunity to showcase your personality. The best gauge for that is your behavior at informational events.” One source estimates that “about 60 to 70 percent of the evaluation is how well a person can work through a case during the interview.” However, Bainies do report that at least for some interviews, “The focus is on personal and cultural fit.” “If you’re not a fun, personable person, you won’t get hired,” says an insider. “That might work for McKinsey, but not for us!”
OUR SURVEY SAYS
Pass the Kool-Aid The people at Bain are routinely described with such adjectives as “young,” “friendly,” “energetic” and “outgoing.” But while those may seem like generic descriptions, insiders assert that Bain has a culture all its own. “This company has an atypical culture, to say the least,” says an associate consultant. “It is certainly described as a fraternity, and sometimes a cult.” Adds one consultant, “A certain Bain behavior is expected and there is little tolerance for people who do not fit in.” 76
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Officially, of course, Bain eschews the cult label. It asserts that its consultants are guided by a set of values known as “True North,” which encourages them to be direct, honest and informal and to coexist in an atmosphere free from hidden agendas and politics. Similarly, Bain’s approach to business is a departure from other firms, explains a consultant in the San Francisco Bay area. “The way we work may take some adjustment for new employees. Because we want to make sure we are providing the best solutions to our clients, we often debate ideas in as harsh a way possible to ensure that we have addressed every issue the client might raise.” Fortunately, “Once one has adjusted to this climate, one generally finds the debates and the challenge of preparing quality work thoroughly enjoyable.” Bainies genuinely seem to enjoy each other’s company and frequently get together outside the office. “We like to hire people that will really get involved in the firm outside of just their case teams,” says a consultant in Dallas. Both informal and firmsponsored social opportunities abound, particularly among the younger ranks. “There’s not a night of the week that I couldn’t find a group of associate consultants (ACs) doing something fun,” observes an associate consultant. “When meeting ACs from around the world, the story is the same.” (The firm also says that its employees, especially ACs, are active in their communities, frequently participating in office-run events.) Many insiders say that they “have made some of [their] dearest friends at Bain.” But the fraternal atmosphere has both good and bad points, according to one AC. “It’s consistently friendly and open, but potentially stifling when you factor in how much time many people in the office spend together.”
Friendly competition Employees may like each other personally, but they never lose sight of the fact that they are competing with one another professionally. “Performance is stringently tracked and assessed. People not performing up to high expectations are asked to go,” says a source. Before it comes to this, though, all employees are given feedback at least twice a year and receive assistance to improve their performance. Comments one consultant: “[Bain’s culture is] somewhat pressurized. Like any place where the bar is high and people are not expected to have leisurely career paths, performance is always emphasized. It can be disconcerting for people used to strong autonomy and independence to know that almost any moment can make it onto a six-month review.” As a result, while employees appear to be having a good time, “The culture is to push, push, push, almost like an investment bank.”
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Work a lot, stay at home How heavy is the workload at Bain? “You work until you get your work done. It is as simple as that,” says a contact in Chicago. We looked elsewhere for some more specific answers, and found that most consultants work an average of 55 to 60 hours a week. As at just about every consulting firm, the “work hours are extremely variable depending on the project and the length of the case.” For example, “There are spikes, with the beginning of a new case being particularly grueling.” Insiders warn applicants to find out ahead of time what they are getting themselves into, as “the hours are significantly higher than what is promised during the recruiting process.” Keep in mind that when it comes to spending time at work, quality trumps quantity. “No doubt [Bain’s work schedule is] longer than a 9 to 5 job, but the satisfaction of those hours spent is more important than the physical time in the office,” opines a source. “I’ve had great 60-hour weeks and terrible 30-hour weeks.” Indeed, insiders believe that the work they receive makes up for the occasional bankers hours.’” “They keep us all occupied. I’m typically restaffed within a few days of the project end [and] sometimes before the previous project ends,” says an analyst. “However, I’m really amazed at how well they make sure to put you on cases that would interest you. Big Brother Bain knows you better than you know yourself.” Also in the good news department, “Bain has a ‘no face time’ policy. As long as you get the job done, it doesn’t matter how early you leave. Through the upward feedback system, your managers and immediate supervisors are evaluated on their ability to maintain a sustainable lifestyle for the team.” Travel time, while “extremely case-dependent,” also tends to be less extensive than at many of Bain’s competitors, which “makes it so much easier to get to know the people in the office” and enriches the social experience. Sums up one consultant, “Bain offers a great way to get the consulting experience without the wear and tear involved with spending three to five days a week at the client.”
Train in Bain Bain gets the highest ratings from its employees when it comes to training. Raves one consultant, “Especially for a person fresh out of school and new to consulting, Bain’s training is unparalleled. There is truly a commitment to a worldwide training program.” Adds another, “Bain is fundamentally grounded on training. It is a cornerstone of the work we do.” The initial “sleep-deprived boot camp for ACs” earns the most praise. “The worldwide training at Cape Cod [for associate consultants] is great because you get so many perspectives from around the world,”
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explains a Windy City AC. “We typically work on a project till 1 or 2 a.m., then an office hosts a party till 3 or 4 a.m., and at 7 a.m. you get up and do it all over again.” Subsequent to that grueling two-week session, the firm offers other “major training events at each level every year,” “frequent specialty and ad hoc training sessions,” as well as “off-site worldwide training every 18 months or so.” In fact, there are four formal training programs in the first two years alone, where consultants and ACs are exposed to real firm issues in groups of four to six people. There is also “significant onthe-job training,” and Bain “achieves good results due to the firm culture of mentoring and helping to cultivate others’ skills.” The firm has developed two proprietary training systems, Bain Virtual University and the Global Experience Center, to assist new consultants while they are working on a case anywhere in the world.
Struggling with diversity issues Bain receives mixed reviews for diversity. “At the more junior levels, there are many women. At the manager and partner levels, however, women can be counted on one hand,” says a San Francisco consultant. (The actual numbers, of course, vary considerably by office.) Notes a senior associate, “Bain is supposedly ‘good about women’ because of Orit and Phyllis Yale, the head of the Boston office, but that does not really extend to the rest of the North American offices.” Despite the low numbers, Bain is “welcoming of women and treats them equally,” and “has one of the most generous maternity leave programs” of any consulting firm. One consultant diplomatically addresses the issue by saying, “The opportunities are absolutely there, but like in any highly demanding career, I don’t think Bain has figured out the magic fix for retention of senior women and how to make the career and life balance work. But they do keep trying.” Insiders are similarly ambivalent about the firm’s success in recruiting and retaining minorities. “They talk a lot about wanting diversity, but we don’t have it,” says an AC. The minority population is “generally represented by Indian- and AsianAmericans. However, we have few blacks and Hispanics.” This is believed to be “more of an issue of difficulty reaching critical mass rather than one of discrimination,” and the firm “is making a concerted effort to hire and promote minorities.” One source offers a small compliment to Bain’s accomplishments in this area: “Not many minorities apply, so we have wonderful diversity with respect to the number of applicants.” Bain tells us that it is trying to remedy the situation by cultivating relationships with more minority candidates early in the recruiting season in order to diversify the Visit the Vault Consulting Career Channel at http://consulting.vault.com — with insider firm profiles, message boards, the Vault Consulting Job Board and more.
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applicant pool. The firm is also home to Blacks at Bain (BABS), which holds an annual conference and hosts inter-office dinners and other networking events to increase the recruiting, retention and professional development of black professionals at the firm. Other diversity initiatives include the Bain Gay & Lesbian Association for Diversity (BGLAD) and the Women at Bain program.
Surprisingly few pay complaints Compensation at Bain must be excellent, because employees only complain about it a moderate amount. “Our compensation is in line with our major competitors, however don’t expect to make the big dollars until you have been here at least five to six years,” says a $125,000-a-year earner. Those in the unlikely position of being able to choose between top firms are advised by an associate consultant in Los Angeles that “My offer from Bain was better than my offer from McKinsey.” Others aren’t convinced that Bain is on par with the rest of its peers, especially since “the pay scale is being ratcheted down in light of the economic climate.” Explains one consultant, “The firm reduced compensation for [2001]. The first-year consultants took a big hit.” Again, Bain contends that it was a 15 to 20 percent reduction, in line with pay cuts throughout the rest of the consulting industry. The firm is not alone in defending the pay cuts. The move “was management’s approach to dealing with the slowdown in business rather than reacting to the situation and laying off the new consultants or other consultants like some other firms did,” says one insider. “Almost all of the consultants in my class thought this was a good move on the part of the firm and believed that it was a well-thought-out decision. It also showed us that the firm values its people and is willing to invest in their assets to prepare for an upturn in the economy.” Sums up one insider, when it comes to compensation, “Relative to other firms and other types of consulting, we rock!” Bain provides all the perks, from insurance packages to electronic gadgets to free food, that one would expect from a top consulting firm. There are some extras as well, including off-site excursions to locales such as Hawaii, Acapulco and Banff. Gaming-minded employees can play pool in several offices, pingpong in the Singapore branch, and foosball in Dallas and San Francisco.
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“I’ve had great 60-hour weeks and terrible 30-hour weeks.” — Bain consultant
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Booz Allen Hamilton
PRESTIGE RANKING
8283 Greensboro Drive McLean, VA 22102 Phone: (703) 902-5000 Fax: (703) 902-3333 www.boozallen.com
LOCATIONS New York, NY (Worldwide Commercial Business HQ) McLean, VA (Worldwide Technology Business & Corporate HQ) More than 100 offices worldwide
PRACTICE AREAS Business Resilience • Corporate Strategy • e-Business • e-Government • Facilities Design & Engineering • Financial Policy, Strategy & Analysis • Information Technology • Infrastructure Assurance • Institutional Strengthening • Mission Assurance • Multinational Strategy • Operations • Organization Strategy/Change Management • Program Management & Acquisition Support • Wargaming & Strategic Simulation
THE STATS Employer Type: Private Company CEO: Ralph W. Shrader 2002 Employees: 11,000 2001 Employees: 10,350 2002 Revenues: $2.1 billion 2001 Revenues: $2.0 billion
UPPERS • Excellent training program • Community-minded firm
DOWNERS • Intense culture • Pay cuts for some new MBA hires
KEY COMPETITORS Bain & Company Boston Consulting Group McKinsey & Company SAIC
EMPLOYMENT CONTACT See “Career Opportunities” on Booz Allen’s web site
THE BUZZ
WHAT CONSULTANTS AT OTHER FIRMS ARE SAYING
• • • •
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“Stable, well-positioned” “Cutthroat culture” “Still doing a great job abroad” “Past their heyday”
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THE SCOOP
The consulting pioneer Some people travel after college or work until they find their calling. Others, like Edwin Booz, start management consulting firms. Booz, who founded his eponymous firm shortly after graduating from Northwestern University in 1914, probably had no idea that at the dawn of the next century, his firm would be among the most prestigious consultancies in the world. Over the past few years, Booz Allen Hamilton has expanded its service lines — and grown to more than 11,000 staff in more than 100 offices worldwide — to include e-business, e-government and infrastructure assurance. Booz Allen garners 80 percent of its revenues from previous clients — a strong track record of satisfaction.
Strong implementors Booz Allen isn’t a pure strategy firm. Putting an emphasis on transforming businesses rather than merely prescribing change, the firm reports spending one-third to one-half of its time helping clients implement its recommendations. Before implementation, Booz Allen works with a client to develop solutions for problems created by fundamental changes in a client’s industry or company — a “strategybased transformation” — and implement changes in its organization, operations and technology. Booz Allen involves its clients in the consulting and transformation process by making a point of integrating client executives and staff into the consulting team.
The Booz Allen split Booz Allen divides its operations into two major business sectors, Worldwide Commercial Business (WCB) and Worldwide Technology Business (WTB). Insiders say that in terms of interaction between WCB and WTB, “the twain rarely meet”; the firm, however, is now trying to service WCB clients using expertise and techniques traditionally associated with the WTB sector, and vice versa. For example, Booz Allen is working with commercial clients in the area of strategic security, a capability built with government clients such as the National Security Agency. WCB, headquartered in New York, is a classic management consultancy, to which mainly recent college grads and MBAs apply. It does work in strategy, organization, leadership, change management, operations, information technology and business Visit the Vault Consulting Career Channel at http://consulting.vault.com — with insider firm profiles, message boards, the Vault Consulting Job Board and more.
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Vault Guide to the Top 50 Consulting Firms Booz Allen Hamilton
transformation. Booz Allen’s WCB division offers these and other management consulting services to clients in a range of industries. The firm expedites the consulting process for its clients by organizing its expertise into what it calls Natural Market Teams, focusing either on an industry, region or key functional area. The industry-oriented teams are Aerospace and Transportation; Automotive; Communications, Media and Technology; Consumer and Health Services; Energy; and Financial Services. The regionally focused teams serve clients in the developing markets of Latin America, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East. Crossing industry and regional lines are function-focused teams: Strategy and Organization, Operations, and Information Technology. The WTB unit, based in the Washington suburb of McLean, Va., primarily caters to the U.S. public sector market — specifically, government agencies and institutions. (One of the unit’s major engagements, which it undertook in conjunction with WCB, involved a restructuring of the IRS’s business processes.) Approximately 42 percent of WTB’s revenue is defense-related, 30 percent is civilian, 20 percent is derived from national security clients, and 8 percent comes from international government work. WTB is divided into three market-focused teams (International and Infrastructure, Defense, and National Security) and two functional teams (Information Technology and Organization & Management). The firm is planning a greater emphasis on new business in the e-government area, as well as in information assurance. WTB hires staff at all levels and seeks technical professionals with backgrounds in IT and engineering, as well as management consultants with backgrounds in business and liberal arts.
Knowledge everywhere The firm’s Knowledge On-Line (KOL) intranet — which pools the knowledge Booz Allen consultants pick up while on assignment — is often called the best of its kind. The shared system keeps consultants from repeating each other’s work and provides information on an assortment of topics, including resumes, frameworks, databases and histories of employees. Booz Allen consultants in both WCB and WTB now widely make use of KOL. The intranet is set up to promote sharing of information; consultants often spend a considerable amount of time entering their own findings into KOL. Booz Allen achieves this informational exchange partially through an appeal to ego: Consultants who contribute to the database have their names prominently displayed, their entries are linked to their resumes, and it’s simple to search for any given consultant’s 84
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contributions to the system. The firm also encourages contributions through its performance appraisal process — a consultant’s evaluation is based in part on contributions to KOL.
Charitable Booz Allen Booz Allen is committed to performing pro bono work for clients. Recent clients include The Nature Conservancy, the Children’s Defense Fund, Lincoln University and the United Negro College Fund. Booz Allen consultants can keep track of their firm’s charitable moves via Community Relations On Line, the firm’s community intranet site, which reports on current and upcoming community-service opportunities worldwide.
Balancing act In addition to its charity work and other community efforts, Booz Allen also looks inward. The firm has made a strong push to create a comfortable workplace for its employees through work/life balance initiatives and diversity programs. According to senior director Jean Callahan in a June 2001 interview with The Washington Post, women comprise 39 percent of the workforce in the firm’s McLean headquarters office and 22 percent of the management team. Members of minority groups represent 24 percent of all McLean employees and 12 percent of management. While those numbers may not be overwhelming, the firm has received numerous awards for diversity and lifestyle issues. 2001 marked the third straight year that Booz Allen was named to Working Mother Magazine’s list of the 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers. The magazine praised Booz Allen for its flex-time program, on-site child-care facilities, paid family-leave plan and other familyfriendly policies. Also in 2001, Washingtonian magazine ranked Booz Allen among the top 50 Great Places to Work in the Washington, D.C. area, and it named the firm the Best Place to Be a Kid. Booz Allen also received the 2001 EVE Award for its diversity programs from the U.S. Department of Labor and the 2001 Torchbearer Citation from the Northern Virginia Family Service for promoting a balance between employees’ work and their lives. The firm was also a hit abroad, ranking as one of the top four companies to work for in German magazine Junge Karriere’s Attractive Employers — 2001 survey.
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See you later Feeling the effects of the economy, in May 2001 Booz Allen announced that it was laying off about 95 consultants (less than 1 percent of the firm’s staff) from WCB. The firm also saw many more employees than usual leave after performance reviews. All told, according to The New York Times, almost 9 percent of Booz Allen’s consultants departed in 2001. At the same time, many top MBAs hired into WCB in 2000 and 2001 saw their start dates pushed back considerably. In July 2001 the firm announced that the deferrals would be six to 12 months in duration; five months later offers for MBAs from “noncore” business schools (i.e., all but the Harvards and Whartons of the world) were deferred for longer. (The firm asserts that as of May 2002, all of the deferred MBAs have started work, or at least have a scheduled start date.) In early 2002 many new hires were told that their starting pay would be reduced. (“It was a pretty major pay cut,” laments one unlucky offeree.) Booz Allen pushed back start dates for newly hired recent college graduates as well until “sometime in 2002.”
GETTING HIRED Booz Allen maintains different hiring practices for its two main units, WCB and WTB. WCB hires only a small number of undergraduates, who usually come on as consultants and stay for two to three years before returning to business school. The unit does most of its hiring from MBA programs, other consultancies and the world of industry. The firm also hires a number of people through employee referrals. WTB, on the other hand, hires a larger number of undergraduates. The firm has a number of different interview process models, which vary according to level, the unit doing the hiring and the size of the applicant pool. For undergraduates applying to WTB who have a Booz Allen presence on their campus, the first step is usually an interview with a representative of the firm’s university relations team. From there they go to a second round at a Booz Allen office, where the firm holds an open house of sorts — various teams set up tables, and “candidates have to walk up to a table, introduce themselves, and explain why they were interested in working for that team. Team representatives then ask questions and allow the candidate to ask questions.” At the end of the day, each candidate selects his or her top three teams, and each team selects a short list of applicants. If the lists match up, there is a final interview round, followed by an offer.
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Off campus, for both undergraduate and MBA and other experienced hires applying to WTB, Booz Allen’s “gauntlet interview process” typically consists of a phone screening with “technical and experience questions,” followed by three to six 30minute interviews at the office to which the candidate has applied. “Each interviewer has a specific topic they drill on,” one insider says, “and then we review all the results to determine whether we should hire the candidate.” At the top business schools, WCB typically rents out a block of rooms at a hotel near campus. In the first round, candidates undergo a series of two to three interviews conducted by second- and third-year consultants and/or principals. Insiders estimate that about one out of three applicants makes it past the first round. The second round is identical to the first, except that more senior people (usually principals) conduct the interviews, and the cases become fewer in number as the emphasis moves more to fit. Third-round interviews take place at the office to which the candidate has applied. Here it is the same scenario once again — two to three interviews, including cases — but now partners run the show. Decisions and offers are made following the third round. Later in the school year, the firm hosts a “sell weekend” in many of its offices. We hear that Booz Allen is good about keeping applicants abreast of what’s going on; there are reportedly no surprises in this interview process. Everyone meets with a recruiter before the interviews, who explains the process and gives advice on what the particular interviewers might be looking for. “This allowed me to prepare myself for each interview,” says one source. “After the interviews I kept in touch with the recruiters until my hiring.”
OUR SURVEY SAYS
Intensity in 10 cities (or 100) Life at Booz Allen Hamilton is nothing if not intense. The average workweek runs slightly below 65 hours, and in WCB at least, Booz Allen “is very firm about its upor-out policy.” A number of insiders contend that the firm’s culture varies greatly, making it “somewhat hard to pinpoint and very different depending on the team.” Nevertheless, most agree that the firm is “demanding, yet rewarding.” And at least one source thinks that “the work environment is pleasant,” because “there are numerous programs that help to nurture and encourage a successful career, such as work/life balance, business casual dress, community outreach and effective
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communication programs to keep you informed of events and decisions that affect you and the company.” Even if the day-to-day culture is difficult to define, Booz Allen’s overall corporate culture isn’t: “Booz Allen has an ‘old school’ consulting culture where people are indoctrinated in the ‘Booz’ way very quickly.” Regular training is important, and “professionalism” is a watchword around the Booz Allen offices.
Brain train Respondents reserve their highest praise for Booz Allen’s training program. Two years ago the firm established the award-winning Center for Performance Excellence, a university-modeled program that coordinates and broadens training opportunities. Through the center, employees can access an internal core curriculum of courses as well as external opportunities, and the firm reimburses for any costs incurred. The headquarters office, for example, has even “set up relationships with universities to bring them on to the McLean campus.” “We all get monies for both internal and external training and are encouraged to use it,” says one contact. “My manager stays abreast of everyone’s training monies to ensure that you use it for training of interest.” In 2002, the firm made Training Magazine’s list of the top companies for human capital development. That year, it also received the Corporate University Xchange Excellence Award in the e-learning category, an honor given to organizations that have demonstrated innovation in corporate education and training. Indeed, even in a time when cash droughts are forcing training cutbacks at many firms, we hear Booz Allen has kept its education coffers full (spending $5,000 per employee on training each year, according to the Financial Times). “The opportunities to pursue such training are almost limitless,” raves one consultant.
Have some respect Employees generally appreciate the sense of mutual respect they find at Booz Allen; one called it a “very professional atmosphere, where junior staff are given the opportunity to excel from Day One.” Still, cautions another contact, “There is also a strong hierarchy at Booz Allen which often deems how the first interaction with an executive will occur,” though “after they know an employee, the hierarchy tends to break down.”
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The firm makes sure mutual respect and communication are part of the daily structure by providing an “extensive coaching and leadership training program to ensure all senior leaders are aware of their responsibility to the staff,” as well as “an appraisal system where staff have ample opportunity to give direct messages and feedback to their supervisors.” Most consultants give favorable reviews of their managers, who one source tells us “are always looking toward ways of helping us out. Sometimes we receive little thank you cards to express their gratitude for all the hard work we put into a project.” Ultimately, though, for those averse to Booz Allen’s intense atmosphere, the firm can seem “surprisingly competitive. [It is] superficially cooperative in verbiage and ‘values,’ but not in reality.” One consultant tells us that “there is no real levity in the workplace — human kindness seems to come more from an etiquette book than from the heart.”
Lots of hours, but flexible While the average hours at Booz Allen are demanding, the firm does what it can to make a relatively stable work/life balance possible. Of course, in consulting one can never predict how many hours will be spent on the job during a given week, and the bottom line is that “we are at the mercy of the client’s timetable. Based on their poor time management, our time is compressed, requiring intense last-minute efforts.” The hours “ebb and flow and are tough to gauge.” And at Booz Allen, it seems that the better a worker you are, the more responsibility and tasks you will be given: “The number of hours you work is directly related to your team’s growth rate, staffing levels, and your ability to assume more responsibility. If your team has a lot of work and you show yourself capable, you will get loaded down.” To help with the workload, Booz Allen managers give their employees as much flexibility as possible. “We have ‘core hours’ that staff are expected to be in the office,” reports one source, but “there is a high degree of autonomy to get your assignments completed.” In general there exists “minimal micromanagement, although each team differs in management style.” Employees can work from home if need be, and tough weeks are offset by light loads later on: “If I’ve had some very long hours, I’m usually able to take some time off afterwards to take care of personal business.” Travel is also said to be light; at WTB, where the clients largely are government agencies based in the D.C. area, very few overnight trips are required. “Most of the travel I do,” reports one source, “is within the local Washington metro area; traveling to and from client sites for meetings.” And while WCB employees Visit the Vault Consulting Career Channel at http://consulting.vault.com — with insider firm profiles, message boards, the Vault Consulting Job Board and more.
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understandably spend considerably more time on the wing, even their load is less than the industry standard.
Cash and benefits Consultants at Booz Allen say that “compared to [the] industry average, we are wellcompensated,” though junior WTB staffers grumble about the lack of bonuses. Nevertheless, we hear Booz Allen is good about recognizing individual achievement at the junior levels, through incentives such as a VIP award and free vacations for employees in WTB. “Time spent on your work is reciprocated back to you in different ways,” says one Boozer. “The firm believes in identifying and acknowledging hard work and providing clients with the very best support possible.” Booz Allen gets high marks for its benefits. “The firm takes a lot of pride in keeping its employees happy,” one source tells Vault. There are company picnics and a “great holiday party in December”; the firm also offers on-site banking (in McLean), profitsharing, employee referral bonuses and a robust insurance package. And, in the United States, “the firm provides compensation by putting money toward your 401(k) directly, without needing you to match it.” It’s “the best 401(k) program out there,” remarks one source. Sports tickets, e-tailer discounts, amusement park discounts and a company store are added perks.
Home sweet office Most consultants couldn’t be happier about their offices. In McLean, there are “no cubicles or hot-desks”; rather, everyone shares an office with one other consultant (higher-ups, naturally, get their own). Things are nice to a fault, though, for some; one source complains that “Everything is dictated by level — including the size and shape of my desk. For example, I wanted to make the surface area of the desk smaller so I would have more room for a small table and was told no.” Some insiders say that the offices at the McLean headquarters are too small for two people, and employees “are tripping over each other. We cannot conduct informal team meetings with others, which provides for scheduling conflicts when conference rooms aren’t available.” One source reports that the regional offices don’t match up to the corporate headquarters: “Regional locations do their best to mimic corporate offices but fall short.” On the other hand, the source tells us that the regional offices make up for the disparity by creating “their own cultures and supplementing missing amenities with more social activities for the team.”
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The faces of Booz Allen Booz Allen is aggressive in addressing issues of gender and racial diversity, and it puts its money where its mouth is: “We have several women’s groups backed by the firm to ensure equal access and treatment,” notes one consultant; the firm also supports a diversity council. And in a July 2002 cover story featuring Booz Allen’s five African-American partners, Consulting wrote that the firm “arguably has the best record in the profession for attracting people of color to their senior ranks and retaining them.” However, many insiders think it could be doing more. “I think the firm does a lot to bridge the gap in terms of [gender] diversity,” says one woman consultant. “But it still has quite a ways to go. We are consistently named to the top-company lists for women because of perks such as parental leave and day care, but the tougher issues like women in leadership are not that well-addressed.” Another insider puts it even more bluntly, saying that “[Booz Allen] is the least diverse organization I’ve belonged to in over 20 years. It’s OK at the lower levels, but no one seems to find qualified women or minorities for the Level IV [senior associate] and Level V [principal] positions.”
Giving something back Community involvement at Booz Allen is very important, and insiders tell us that funding for just about any project you can think of “is easy to get.” Booz Allen maintains a community relations team that coordinates its charity activities and pro bono consulting work. Reports one source, “I’ve done several firm-sponsored events, [including] Christmas in April and the Homeless Walk. I’ve also had the firm provide a grant to the organization that I am personally involved with, Habitat for Humanity.” Another source tells us that “I was active with a Korean-American organization and Booz Allen was very active in sponsoring our college internship and high school mentorship programs.” The firm also matches donations for disaster funds and corporate challenge events. Yet another Boozer tells Vault about the firm’s sponsorship of his AIDS Ride team: “Transportation to North Carolina and lodging the night prior to the ride was provided by Booz Allen. Employees from Durham provided us with a breakfast the morning of the kickoff and we had a great welcoming committee in D.C.”
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5
Monitor Group
PRESTIGE RANKING
Two Canal Park Cambridge, MA 02141 Phone: (617) 252-2000 Fax: (617) 252-2100 www.monitor.com
LOCATIONS Cambridge, MA (HQ) 30 offices worldwide
PRACTICE AREAS Custom Model/Software Design E-Commerce Economic Development Consulting Executive Education Financial Assessment/Evaluation Marketing Strategy Nonprofit Consulting Operations & Logistics Organizational Design Private Equity Private Equity Consulting Scenario Planning Strategic Transactions Strategy Venture Capital
THE STATS Employer Type: Private Company Chairman: Mark Fuller 2001 Employees: 1,200+ 2000 Employees: 1,000
UPPERS • Flexible travel • Swank Herman Miller decor
DOWNERS • Budget cuts • Not enough training
KEY COMPETITORS Bain & Company Boston Consulting Group McKinsey & Company Mercer Management Consulting The Parthenon Group
EMPLOYMENT CONTACT
[email protected]
THE BUZZ
WHAT CONSULTANTS AT OTHER FIRMS ARE SAYING
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“Big thinkers” “Arrogant” “Impressive track record” “You can only cruise so far on HBS books”
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THE SCOOP
Monitoring the world Founded in 1983 by a group of professors and consultants, Monitor Group aims to put ideas created in the business and academic worlds into practice. Though only a medium-sized firm by industry standards, Monitor has developed a number of practices and expanded its client list to include everything from Fortune 500 companies and international firms to government agencies and major nonprofit organizations. Through its 30 offices in 23 countries, it offers advisory services in areas including private equity and venture capital, e-commerce incubation, and mergers and acquisition-related transactions.
Breaking it down Monitor divides its operations into three groups — Action Group, which focuses on consulting practices; Monitor Merchant Banking, which is involved in capital investing and venture projects; and the Intelligent Products Group, which designs customized data and software products. Each group, in turn, comprises a number of companies; for example, Action Group includes such operations as the Global Business Network, an organization of top firms in various industries, and Market2Customer, a marketing consulting operation. Merchant Banking companies, such as Monitor Clipper Partners and Monitor Ventures, have an equity stake in 20 firms and over their collective lifetime have invested over $1 billion.
Unified consulting Monitor predicates its consulting philosophy on a “unified theory” approach. Rather than applying a single strategy to every client or set industry practices, the firm integrates its operations across industries, allowing its projects to use resources culled from the firm’s various subsidiaries. Instead of relying on generic practices, Monitor consulting teams are able to draw on marketing, e-learning and software designers to customize their solutions.
It’s academic Much of Monitor’s strength comes from its grounding in the academic world. One of its founding principals, Harvard Business School Professor Michael Porter, is a veritable demigod among consultants and still remains an influence on much of Visit the Vault Consulting Career Channel at http://consulting.vault.com — with insider firm profiles, message boards, the Vault Consulting Job Board and more.
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Monitor’s structure and practices. Other principals, such as Bernie Jaworski, Mike Jensen and Tom Copeland, have strong ties to academia and retain fellowships or adjunct professorships at some of the nation’s leading business schools. In March 2001, MarketspaceU, Monitor’s research and publishing unit, announced a partnership with McGraw-Hill to produce a series of written materials on ecommerce for business professionals, students and educators. The title that spawned the series, e-Commerce (co-authored by Jaworski and Jeffrey Rayport, another HBS professor), is an integrated print and online textbook that has already been adopted by nearly 200 business schools.
Feeling the burn The impact of the recent economic downturn hit Monitor in mid-2001, particularly in its North America and European offices, as well as its e-consultancy, known as Marketspace. Layoffs hit Europe in July and North America in August, with cuts as high as 15 percent in some offices, (the deepest cuts came in satellite offices such as Los Angeles and Toronto). Nevertheless, the company continues to do well in Latin America and Asia, and both regions were spared from any staff reductions.
GETTING HIRED In keeping with the firm’s anti-hierarchy bent, new hires at Monitor go by the title “consultant” whether they are straight out of undergrad or seasoned MBAs (Naturally, salaries and responsibilities vary). In a normal year, the firm will hire about 50 MBAs and even more undergrads, but recently the economy has put the pinch on recruiting. Always difficult, getting hired is “now pretty much impossible.” Monitor recruits at top-tier universities and leading liberal arts colleges, though recruiting in the 2002-2003 cycle will be restricted to only a few top schools. To get in, candidates need more than good grades and a knack for business — Monitor goes the distance to make sure candidates fit the culture. As one source elucidates: “It doesn’t take much to get denied an offer. Monitorites who attended your college or university are often consulted as to your character even before you get an interview.” Monitor’s interview process typically consists of two rounds. The first round is a set of two short meetings: a resume briefing and a case question. The case interview sometimes “throws people for a loop,” one source tells us. “You get maybe 10 or 15 minutes to look over some materials and then with the assistance of the consultant, 94
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you solve three questions related to the data. It can be intimidating if you don’t process information quickly or if you don’t manage the time you have well.” The second round is an all-day affair, usually held at the nearest Monitor office. Eschewing the industry-standard brace of high-level interviews and one-on-one case problems, Monitor groups candidates into teams of five, who work together on a case presentation. There is also a videotaped role-playing exercise and a debriefing interview at the end. Monitor relies heavily on its summer internship program, using it as its primary source of new hires during lean years. Interns are staffed on firm projects as if they were full-time employees. “I did what a normal first-year consultant would do, says one former summer staffer. “I learned a lot about what consulting really means and got paid exceptionally well. There were a lot of nice social activities including dinners, tickets to baseball games, a whitewater rafting trip and other field trips.”
OUR SURVEY SAYS
Something different Despite its perennial spot among the top 10 consulting firms, Monitor’s employees like to emphasize how their firm rejects the cutthroat attitude of the Bains and McKinseys of the world. “Monitor does not have an ‘up or out’ policy like many of its competitors,” one insider says. The firm is close knit and casual, insiders tell us, and it likes to keep it that way — “Monitor regularly turns away extremely qualified candidates whom Monitor considers better suited to work at McKinsey, Bain, BCG and other large consulting firms.” While the Monitor culture “tends to vary from office to office,” those who stick with the firm do so because of “a combination of people who are incredibly smart but lowkey and lots of interesting things always going on.” And despite its avowedly intellectual flair, the consulting staff is “cooperative rather than competitive and really likes to socialize outside of work.”
Work for Monitor, sleep in your own bed Even though the firm has clients throughout the world, Monitorites say one of the best things about the job is the relatively low level of travel. “At Monitor there is no great emphasis on spending time at the client simply to spend time at the client,” one
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consultant reports. Employees are able to work with the firm’s allocator to find optimal assignments, and Monitor is very accommodating toward families: “I asked to be kept off of travel-intensive cases for personal reasons and I ended up being away for two days over the course of over a year.” When fully staffed, consultants usually work on two cases at a time, and seem resigned to the job’s long hours. “Hours are pretty standard for a strategy consulting firm,” says a source. “50 to 60 hours in a typical week, up to 90 in a bad one, which may occur once every few months.” Others put the upper end of a typical week closer to the 75-hour range. One tip for prospective Monitorites hoping to avoid a grueling schedule: Work on internal projects, which tend to have shorter and more regular hours. In any case, says one insider, be assured that “it is a consulting firm, so it’s not 9 to 5. [But] it’s also NOT an investment bank.”
Workers of Monitor, unite! One downside to life at Monitor is what insiders characterize as a imperfect level of communication between junior and senior staff. “The leadership tends to be secretive and evasive,” one consultant says, “the result of which is an ‘it’s us against them’ mentality for some junior consultants.” Another says that “There tends to be a lot of unspoken bureaucracy and it’s difficult to figure out how to navigate the system. Things tend to be more ad hoc here rather than systematized.” While insiders tell us that “immediate supervisors tend to treat [us] with a great deal of respect,” they say that some problems result from the firm’s “Mr. Nice Guy” image: “Monitor doesn’t always know how to deliver tough messages. For example, the 2001 end-of-the-year compensation and bonus messages were extremely vague, contradictory and confusing. I attribute this to Monitor’s inexperience with delivering unpleasant messages to its employees.” And while senior staff may seem less than forthcoming at times, junior staff have a check: an upward review system in which managers who “continuously receive poor evaluations from the junior members on the team have to address their performance.”
Painful cuts Like most firms, Monitor has been forced to cut back on expenses in recent years, and the brunt of its cuts have come in the areas of compensation and training. And while Monitor makes sure to pay new hires the industry average for top firms, it has lagged in handing out raises and bonuses (typically the firm bases compensation adjustments on performance). More than the money, many consultants say they are 96
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frustrated with the way the firm has handled the pay freezes: “Last year the firm led employees to believe that bonuses would be paid, right up until the week of Christmas, when they were canceled.” Another puts it into this perspective: “The system tries its best to be fair and meritocratic but just tends to confuse.” Nevertheless, most are happy with the salaries they take in, particularly at the firstand second-year levels. “I think for a recent college graduate with no experience,” offers one newly minted Monitorite. “I’m extremely well-compensated.” Monitor consultants have plenty to say about the firm’s perks, and most of it is negative. Many of the complaints surround the 401(k) plan, which does not include matching contributions. That appears to be the only area in which the grumbling is justified, however. For example, the London consultant who says that “Monitor has always had a very light benefits package by any standards,” also enjoys long-term disability insurance, an employee referral bonus, a laptop computer and an on-site gym, among several other perks. Additional offerings include stock options, an employee assistance program, sports and theater tickets, and free food and drinks.
Hot and cold Training has been a major area of cost cutting for Monitor, a formerly strong suit that sources say is sorely missed. “Monitor training is very hot and cold,” we hear. “When it happens it’s usually very good, but it’s the first thing to get turned off when times are hard.” For new hires, Monitor provides a five-day general orientation session, followed by three days of training at the local office. They are then assigned a mentor, and over the next two years they are required to complete a set of five courses in such key subjects as finance, marketing and interpersonal skills. Nevertheless, some insiders say that there is too little training on the front end: “Monitor has training programs throughout your career, instead of having intensive training when you start. It may make more sense for us to provide new hires with more up-front basic training.” And classics majors beware. While Monitor’s training program is typically strong, it assumes a lot of knowledge that most liberal arts students never acquired. One consultant reports that “The corporate finance training was geared towards an intermediate level, which was great for undergrad consultants who had majored in finance and accounting, but for liberal arts majors, the training was way over our heads.”
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Monitoring diversity Many female sources report being very happy at the firm. One female consultant says that “as a woman, I feel that I have role models — although not as many as I would like — at the group leader [partner] level.” On the other hand, she continues, “The company does need to think more about alternative career paths for women with children.” But others say that the long hours and travel required of Monitor employees are just the costs of being a consultant. It’s “a great job when you’re single or newly married,” one female source tells us, “but once you want to start having a family, forget it.” As for minorities, most insiders believe that Monitor is a tolerant and welcoming environment, but contend that the firm is still “very white-bread.” One source attributes the paucity of non-whites to the lack of a diversity infrastructure: “Monitor does not have support programs, which limits the number of minorities who see Monitor as an attractive place. The company could choose to address this, but does not do so explicitly. In general, Monitor is a fairly liberal environment but could do more in this domain.” The firm does, however, offer domestic partner benefits, and homosexual respondents report a strong gay and lesbian support network. “There are at least two long-term Monitorites I know of who have progressed well and have been openly gay/lesbian,” one source tells Vault. “I have never heard of any negative comments or bias in any way.”
Green and orange surroundings Insiders rave about the office space at the firm’s Cambridge headquarters. “Monitor has put great thought into the offices and the layout and amenities,” says one. “The Cambridge office is decked out with Herman Miller chairs, art everywhere and these crazy geometric walls painted subtle greens and oranges.” Consultants “share offices with one, or sometimes two, other consultants,” and “every office gets natural light.” Quips one source, “Offices used to be cramped, but layoffs solved that problem.” The office also has a nap room, “ a comfy TV room” and “ a small workout room with great showers that are always clean and stocked with fresh towels.” As one insider puts it, “If you are going to work as hard as we do, it’s nice to spend your time in a pleasant environment.”
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For a detailed 40- to 50-page insider report on Monitor Group, and reports on other firms like McKinsey, BCG, Bain, Deloitte Consulting, Accenture and more, get Vault Employer Profiles. Go to http://consulting.vault.com.
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V A U L T
6
PRESTIGE RANKING
Mercer Management Consulting
1166 Avenue of the Americas 32nd Floor New York, NY 10036 Phone: (212) 345-8000 Fax: (212) 345-8075 www.mercermc.com
THE STATS
New York, NY (HQ) 22 offices worldwide
Employer Type: Subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. Chairman: Peter Coster 2001 Employees: 1,200 2000 Employees: 1,300 2001 Revenues: $2.2 billion (for all Mercer Consulting operations) 2000 Revenues: $2.1 billion (for all Mercer Consulting operations)
PRACTICE AREAS
UPPERS
Functional Practices: Business Design Innovation Customer Science Value Nets and Supply Chains
• Marked camaraderie • Programs allowing consultants to work on outside projects
LOCATIONS
Industry Practices: Communications, Information, and Entertainment Energy, Life Sciences and Core Industries Financial Institutions and Risk Enterprise Manufacturing Private Equity Retail, Consumer and Healthcare Travel and Transportation
DOWNERS • Recent cost-cutting measures • Supportive but “unforgiving” culture
KEY COMPETITORS Bain & Company Booz Allen Hamilton Boston Consulting Group McKinsey & Company
EMPLOYMENT CONTACT
[email protected]
THE BUZZ
WHAT CONSULTANTS AT OTHER FIRMS ARE SAYING
• • • •
“The slowly but surely rising star” “Unclear focus” “Hotshots” “Generic”
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Vault Guide to the Top 50 Consulting Firms Mercer Management Consulting
THE SCOOP
A part of the whole New York’s Mercer Management Consulting, a subsidiary of professional services titan Marsh & McLennan Companies, has made quite a name for itself. Formed in 1990 by the merger of Temple, Barker & Sloane and Strategic Planning Associates, Mercer has grown rapidly, opening offices in Europe, the Pacific Rim and Latin America and acquiring a number of boutique consultancies, including Corporate Decisions, Inc. (CDI), Germany’s Dr. Seebauer & Partner GmbH, Mexico’s Analisis y Desarollo de Proyectos and Switzerland’s St. Gallen Consulting Group. As of mid2002, Mercer Management Consulting has approximately 1,200 consultants and support personnel in 22 offices worldwide.
From outsider to insider When it was founded, Mercer was considered a brazen startup in a field dominated by giant, established firms like Bain and Booz Allen Hamilton. But the firm expanded its practice quickly by aggressively pursuing clients and rooting its work in a series of well-publicized books, including The Profit Zone, Value Migration and Profit Patterns. These books advocate a customer-focused approach to a company’s competitive advantages, a philosophy that apparently has rung true with many business leaders. But like many consulting firms in the last few years, Mercer’s attempt to situate itself at the forefront of high-tech and international markets left it exposed to the dot-com implosion and economic downturn. Marsh & McLennan reported that 2001 management consulting revenue was down 21 percent from the previous year. In November 2001 Mercer closed its Geneva and Washington, D.C. offices, displacing 77 employees. Partners were given the choice to relocate, while rank-and-file employees were given severance packages. The economy has affected recruiting as well — where in the past Mercer hired in the range of 30 to 45 MBA interns and 25 to 30 summer analysts each year, in 2001 the firm canceled its internship program. Happily, the program resumed in 2002.
Profitable publications One of Mercer’s greatest strengths lies in its intellectual capital, led by strategy guru Adrian Slywotzky. Slywotzky, a Mercer vice president, is credited with coining the Visit the Vault Consulting Career Channel at http://consulting.vault.com — with insider firm profiles, message boards, the Vault Consulting Job Board and more.
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term “value growth” in his 1996 book, Value Migration, and with spearheading the development of a more outwardly focused approach to competitive strategy. In October 1999, Industry Week named Slywotzky one of the most influential people in management, along with business world luminaries like management theorist Peter Drucker and Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
Taking on the high-tech world In February 2000, Mercer and its sister company, MMC Capital, jointly formed a venture capital fund, the MMC Capital Communications and Information Fund. Capitalized in part by Mercer professionals, the fund invests in telecom and computing sector technologies and will ultimately allow Mercer consultants to reap part of the fund’s gains. Currently it holds stakes in CCC Network Systems, Equator Technologies, GlobeRanger, Southampton Photonics, Verance, Xanoptix and Xelus. In April 2000, Mercer formed a consulting practice that helps private equity firms identify new business opportunities. Also that year, the firm announced a collaboration with IBM to incubate and build new e-businesses.
Other engagements The firm stayed active in 2001, providing strategy advice for the December merger of Hawaiian Airlines and Aloha Airgroup into Aloha Holdings, Inc. (Hawaii-based Mercer consultants have continued to work on the project in 2002.) And in January 2002, Mercer advised Sinotrans, a large China-based shipping company, in a reorganization in preparation for a listing on the Hong Kong stock exchange. It also completed an exhaustive study of the success of transatlantic mergers and acquisitions and advised a major automaker on branding strategies.
Serious personal time In the fall of 1999, Mercer announced the 10/11 Month Year, a program that allows consultants to take one or two months off each year (without pay) to pursue projects outside the firm. Consultants can also take advantage of an externship program that allows them to work for six to 12 months at selected firm clients as well as other corporate, venture capital, start-up or nonprofit organizations.
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associate training. Consultants in the Core Consulting Group (generalists) are required to attend occasional weeklong programs to sharpen their consulting skills and to network with colleagues from other offices. Mercer also has a generous tuition sponsorship program on both continents for employees interested in going to business school. (They must commit to returning to Mercer upon completion of their MBA in order to qualify.)
GETTING HIRED Mercer hires recent college graduates for its analyst positions and MBAs for its associate positions. At the undergraduate level, Mercer actively recruits at Dartmouth, Duke, Harvard, Northwestern, Penn, Princeton, Stanford and Yale (in addition to a number of Canadian and European schools). In search of MBAs, the firm travels to Harvard, Kellogg, Sloan, Stanford, Tuck and Wharton, plus Canadian and European schools. Despite this far-flung search, Mercer does not staff its upper ranks strictly with business school grads. The firm employs a merit-based promotion structure in which consultants joining out of college can advance to the partner level without a graduate degree. Mercer maintains a detailed explanation of its interview process on its web site. It has background and tips to keep in mind during the firm’s case and resume interviews, as well as two interactive cases with which to practice. (The cases are general enough, and good enough, that even if Mercer isn’t on your list you should check out the site to bone up for other interviews.) Mercer urges interviewees daunted by the prospect of the case interview to relax — the firm is “not looking for a specific answer,” it’s simply “trying to gain some insight into your thought processes.” These aren’t “bad cop, stress interviews.” Insiders tell us to expect three rounds of interviews, with the first two on campus and the last at the office to which the candidate is applying. The first generally consists of one 30-minute case interview and one “fit,” or resume, interview, while the second round is typically two cases and one fit. The last, a half-day affair, also involves two cases and one fit interview. Because Mercer is “more of a pure strategy firm,” cases are a central part of the process; one contact reports that “success on the case interviews is absolutely critical,” though the right approach is also important. Insiders warn that candidates should “stop trying to use Porter or BCG frameworks to crack the case — use your head and good business sense from the perspective of the customer.” Visit the Vault Consulting Career Channel at http://consulting.vault.com — with insider firm profiles, message boards, the Vault Consulting Job Board and more.
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One consultant advises: “Personality is really important. Mercer turns downs many people who ‘ace the case’ because they do not fit. Arrogance is a sure way not to get an offer.” Another source suggests “calling up someone from Mercer that you meet at an info session and asking them for tips,” because “people at Mercer are very committed to recruiting, so they will always be willing to squeeze you into their schedule.”
OUR SURVEY SAYS
Nice people, smart people Life at Mercer is pretty good, we hear. “One reason I joined Mercer was the culture,” says one source. “There are very smart people, but also very likeable people.” The offices are said to be friendly, sociable places. “Partners all have a very open-door policy,” comments one consultant. Work hours and travel are pretty typical for the industry, but few people work weekends, and travel, when necessary, is kept to a Monday morning/Thursday evening schedule. As always with consulting careers, however, one good or bad engagement can change everything. One respondent tells Vault that the Mercerian quality of life “is pretty project-dependent. The project I’m on now goes from about 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., with some weekends.” Mercer is also typical of its industry in that it is male-dominated; as one insider explains, “The lifestyle, for some reason, seems to attract more men.” Nevertheless, the firm has a number of initiatives, including a women’s consulting club, to encourage diversity. When it comes to negotiating child care issues, the firm is “pretty flexible in trying to work with people”; one respondent tells Vault of a female partner who was allowed to work half-days so she could spend time taking care of her young child. The firm adds that part-time schedules, leaves of absence and other work/life balance programs are available to both male and female employees.
Learning the ropes New hires at Mercer go through two weeks of consulting training at their home office. After six months, consultants undergo a week of more focused training in specific skill sets. Ongoing, online training is available over a company intranet, and Mercer consultants often coordinate office-based instructional sessions. As at most firms, training budgets at Mercer have been affected by the economic downturn, but mostly around the edges; for instance, instead of flying everyone to a single location for their six-month training session, instructors are now flown to different offices. 104
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Most respondents don’t seem to care all that much about official training anyway. “Informal channels are pretty predominant,” we’re told. “It’s probably 90 percent of the best training.”
Tightening the belt In addition to the closing of its Geneva and D.C. offices, Mercer’s cost-cutting focus has also caused the disappearance of amenities like free sodas (now they’re subsidized) and free lunches on Fridays. Another result of the belt tightening is the increased rigor of the firm’s periodic review process. “Mercer policy has always been that the bottom 10 percent get cut every six months,” one source tells us, though during the dot-com boom, when high attrition was a problem, the review policy had fewer teeth. Now “the issue is that no one is leaving,” and as a result the review process is much stricter. On the other hand, the firm asserts that there has never been an official policy of cutting a specific percentage of the workforce; rather, it says that underperforming employees are let go just as they would be at any other company.
For a detailed 40- to 50-page insider report on Mercer Management Consulting, and reports on other firms like McKinsey, BCG, Bain, Deloitte Consulting, Accenture and more, get Vault Employer Profiles. Go to http://consulting.vault.com.
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IBM Global Services
PRESTIGE RANKING
Route 100 Somers, NY 10589 Phone: (914) 499-1900 Fax: (914) 765-7382 www.ibm.com/services
LOCATIONS Somers, NY (HQ) 300+ offices (including data centers) in 160 countries worldwide
PRACTICE AREAS Business Innovation Services (traditional consulting) Integrated Technology Services (systems integration) Learning Services Strategic Outsourcing Services
THE STATS Employer Type: Corporate Business Unit Stock Symbol: IBM Stock Exchange: NYSE Senior Vice President & Group Executive: Doug Elix 2001 Employees: 149,000 2000 Employees: 150,000 2001 Revenues: $35.0 billion 2000 Revenues: $33.2 billion
UPPERS • Wide range of opportunities • Work involves cutting-edge technology
DOWNERS • Bureaucracy • Semi-rural headquarters
KEY COMPETITORS Accenture Computer Sciences Corporation Electronic Data Systems Perot Systems
EMPLOYMENT CONTACT www.ibm.com/services/career
THE BUZZ
WHAT CONSULTANTS AT OTHER FIRMS ARE SAYING
• • • •
“The behemoth of IT consulting” “Still too tied to their hardware” “Rock solid” “Stick to the outsourcing, boys”
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Vault Guide to the Top 50 Consulting Firms IBM Global Services
THE SCOOP
Biggest of the big IBM is the world’s largest high-tech concern, and subsidiary IBM Global Services is the world’s largest IT consultancy. With almost 149,000 employees, it is also IBM’s largest division, as well as its fastest growing (currently, it produces a 40 percent share of Big Blue’s total revenues). IBM Global Services may be getting much larger. In July 2002, IBM announced the $3.5 billion acquisition of PWC Consulting. Global Services’ biggest operation is outsourcing — running IT systems for some of the world’s largest companies — but it also provides such services as customer relationship management, hosting and IT consulting. The division is split into four operations: Business Innovation Services, Integrated Technology Services, Strategic Outsourcing Services and Learning Services. In 2001, the combined efforts of BIS, ITS, SO and Learning Services yielded $35 billion in revenue, and IBM Global Services signed services contracts totaling $55 billion. But despite being the center of the IBM universe, Global Services is a bit of a maverick. Much of its work is in areas outside IBM’s hardware and software expertise, and because it is committed to brand neutrality, it often recommends the products of IBM’s competitors. Its position has led to more than a few run-ins with the firm’s other divisions, which in the past have seen Global Services as arrogant, self-interested and a detriment to IBM’s overall success. These conflicts have been mostly put to rest; in any case, the division is in the catbird seat — Big Blue’s new CEO (as of March 2002) is Samuel J. Palmisano, former head of Global Services.
Collecting awards Global Services is not only the biggest in the IT consulting world, but it is one of the most respected. Its position was confirmed in February 2002, when it won the Management Consulting Association’s Best Management Practice Award for IT. The award came after the successful completion of a project for the U.K. government in which Global Services created an online system allowing civil servants 24-hour access to policy papers and statistics.
A demanding business One of Global Services’ biggest challenges has been the shift in customer demand from outsourcing to hosting. As companies face pressures to reduce their IT budgets, Visit the Vault Consulting Career Channel at http://consulting.vault.com — with insider firm profiles, message boards, the Vault Consulting Job Board and more.
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they have begun looking for vendors to provide them with an easily scalable, fullservice product that they can tailor to their specific needs. In response, Global Services is heavily marketing its eBod, or “e-Business on Demand,” suite of services. Essentially an IT department for hire that treats computing as a utility, eBod offers all the personnel and applications a company might need for a simple user fee, which can be scaled to fit a client’s exact needs. The service has been very successful in Asia, already inking a multibillion-dollar deal with an unnamed, 100,000employee conglomerate.
Signing on the dotted line With the economy in a downturn and the high-tech sector in a tailspin, one might expect the last few years to have been rough ones for Global Services. On the contrary — thanks to increased demand for many of its services, the division’s market position has never been better. In January 2002 Global Services and Nextel announced a strategic partnership to develop, market and install mobile e-business solutions to U.S. customers, as well as a $1.2 billion customer relationship management outsourcing project over the next eight years. In December 2001, Global Services announced a 10-year, $1.4 billion deal to manage New York Citybased Cendant’s IT operations. That month the division also joined with Veritas, a Mountain View, Calif. software concern, to offer its storage management tools — even though IBM already produces its own competing brand, Tivoli. In January 2001, San Francisco software firm Autonomy also joined Global Services in an agreement allowing IBM staff to resell and install Autonomy software in clients’ computer systems worldwide.
Trimming the fat Despite its dominant industry position, Global Services laid off 4,100 employees during 2001 and 2002 as part of an attempt to curtail the rapid expansion of its employment rolls during the 1990s (it added 10,000 employees in the first part of 2001 alone). In July 2001, it cut 1,500 jobs in response to what it termed “changes in client demand,” and in April 2002 it cut another 600 workers, mainly customer engineers involved in computer and software repair. Even more cuts came at the end of May 2002, when Global Services cut almost 2,000 jobs, mostly in its large computer, software and global financing divisions. (Laid-off employees were given 30 days to find another position within the company.)
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The proliferation of pink slips — reportedly the largest IBM has undergone since the company’s struggles in the early 1990s — is part of an effort to slash costs throughout all of IBM’s operations. According to The Wall Street Journal, during IBM’s spring 2002 analysts’ meeting CEO Palmisano did not dispute Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi’s prediction that the company as a whole could cut as much as 6 percent of its workforce, or 20,000 jobs.
Psst! It’s a secret In November 2001, responding to emerging worldwide security issues, IBM expanded its existing privacy services by introducing its Safety and Security practice. This corporate-level office provides businesses and the public sector with improved security solutions, from enhanced intrusion-detection services and vulnerability assessments to classes for corporate officers. Global Services also aligned itself with New York’s Kroll, Inc., a specialized security concern, to offer corporate security, crisis management and business and asset protection solutions.
GETTING HIRED IBM, as a whole, aggressively recruits graduates in technical degree programs. Ideal majors include electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, computer science, computer engineering and information systems. The company also seeks candidates from other disciplines such as math, finance, human resources, business and marketing. Interviews, insiders say, are designed to discern a candidate’s “background, attitudes, knowledge, enthusiasm [and] flexibility.” Big Blue prides itself on offering attractive compensation and benefits, including educational reimbursement plans, flexible work schedules, global opportunities, activities, clubs and child care options. Job opportunities can be searched through IBM’s web site, and resumes can be submitted there as well.
OUR SURVEY SAYS
No one beats Big Blue Despite its large size, Global Services earns praise from employees for its personal feel. One IBM consultant reports that the firm’s superiors “go out of their way to get Visit the Vault Consulting Career Channel at http://consulting.vault.com — with insider firm profiles, message boards, the Vault Consulting Job Board and more.
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me into discussions, mentor and instruct me.” While IBM Global Services doesn’t have a partnership structure, it does have promotion “bands [that] are extremely wide, especially at the high end, so compensation of a senior technical person with no administrative responsibility can easily exceed [that of] most managers.” This structure extends to the office space — “bright and airy” — where one insider reveals, “I’m in a cubicle, [and] so is the director of my client organization.”
Respected and respectable The “very friendly and open” culture at IBM Global Services extends to its approach to diversity — one very enthusiastic employee reports, “National or ethnic background, religion, sexual orientation and physical incapacity mean nothing at IBM. There’s more diversity in the 60 people in this office than in the U.N. General Assembly.” On top of this, “Diversity training is required annually of 100 percent of employees, not just a few managers.” And employees feel at home in the highperforming environment at IBM. One consultant says, “I am working with top-level executives of IBM around the world and am treated as one of them, not an underling in any way. My opinions are solicited and welcomed, and suggestions are often accepted.” And such kindness extends beyond the walls, since IBM “matches charitable grants and allows time off for charitable work.”
Not as old-school as you thought The traditional image of IBM suits has given way to a dress code where “the range permitted is extremely wide.” Also, don’t assume that you’ll be in the office from exactly 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day. One source has arranged “to work a four-day week, with three-day weekends most weeks.”
For detailed 40- to 50-page insider reports on top consulting firms like McKinsey, BCG, Bain, Deloitte Consulting, Accenture and more, get Vault Employer Profiles. Go to http://consulting.vault.com.
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“Diversity training is required annually of 100 percent of employees, not just a few managers.” — IBM Global Services consultant
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Deloitte Consulting
PRESTIGE RANKING
1633 Broadway 35th Floor New York, NY 10019-6754 Phone: (212) 492-4500 Fax: (212) 492-4743 www.dc.com
LOCATIONS New York, NY (HQ) Offices in 33 countries
THE STATS Employer Type: Business unit of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu (pending separation) CEO: Doug McCracken 2002 Employees: 15,000 2001 Employees: 14,000 2001 Revenues: $3.49 billion 2000 Revenues: $3.14 billion
UPPERS PRACTICE AREAS People Strategy & Operations Technology
• Strong alumni network • Aggressive in promoting diversity
DOWNERS • Cuts in pay and training • Bureaucratic structure
KEY COMPETITORS Accenture Bain & Company Booz Allen Hamilton Boston Consulting Group Cap Gemini Ernst & Young IBM Global Services KPMG Consulting McKinsey & Company PwC Consulting (Monday) Sapient Corporation
THE BUZZ
WHAT CONSULTANTS AT OTHER FIRMS ARE SAYING
• • • •
EMPLOYMENT CONTACT www.dc.com/careers
“Cares about employees” “Way-old oldsters” “Good and getting better” “Unspectacular”
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Vault Guide to the Top 50 Consulting Firms Deloitte Consulting
THE SCOOP
On its own In the wake of the Enron/Andersen scandal, most big accounting firms have taken steps to separate their consulting divisions from their auditing arms. Deloitte Touche Tomahtsu went one step further than most and decided in February 2002 to split off its consulting arm, Deloitte Consulting. After considering a number of options, including an IPO or a merger with another consulting firm, Deloitte Consulting finally announced in June of that year that it would proceed as an independent, privately owned firm. The move still must pass regulatory muster and receive approval from the board of directors of Deloitte Touche Tomahtsu and its member firms. In July 2002 the firm announced its post-separation name — “Braxton Consulting,” the name of a firm Deloitte had acquired in 1984 — and said that it would officially launch its new brand in the fall. Deloitte Consulting already ranks among the world’s largest consulting firms, with 15,000 employees in more than 90 offices in 33 countries offering everything from strategy work to customer relationship management. Its client list includes more than one-third of the companies in the Fortune Global 500, including heavyweights like Hewlett-Packard, Philip Morris and Cable & Wireless. But Deloitte’s much-ballyhooed separation plan coincides with a difficult time for the firm — depressed earnings forced salary adjustments at the end of May 2002 that saw a large number of employees receive 10 to 15 percent pay cuts (though a few received raises).
Rewarding work The last few years have seen Deloitte Consulting receive a number of awards and industry plaudits, including an impressive four-year sojourn on Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For list. In 2001 it received one of 10 Corporate University Xchange Excellence/Financial Times Awards for corporate learning organizations, and in 2000 it received the Siebel Excellence Award (given, somewhat selfinterestedly, to companies implementing Siebel technology). Deloitte Consulting has also earned a spot on Fortune’s 50 Most Coveted Employers list for five straight years (it ranked No. 12 in 2001) and Working Mother’s 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers list for eight straight years. To top it all off, CEO Doug McCracken was named to CEO Magazine’s list of the 25 most influential consultants in 2001.
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Alliances and ventures Deloitte Consulting has used its powerful market position to ink a number of alliances and joint ventures. 2001 was a year bracketed by two major deals to create product information processes — one in January with San Jose’s BEA Systems, the other 12 months later with Palo Alto, Calif.’s Hewlett-Packard. Also that year, it joined with Redwood City, Calif.-based SmartForce to create an infrastructure for DC’s e-learning solutions, and struck a deal with PeopleSoft to expand the companies’ CRM software alliance. Finally, the firm launched a joint venture with India’s MASTEK to provide offshore IT services to Deloitte Consulting and its clients outside India.
Family ties In response to the flight of employees to Internet startups during the dot-com boom, Deloitte Consulting established an alumni network to keep former employees in the consulting loop and to cultivate contacts in the high-tech industry. The firm invites network members to company events, enables them to keep in touch with colleagues, and even serves as an informal job network. Today the network has more than 3,000 members, with a goal of reaching 5,000 by the end of 2002.
A diverse vision Deloitte has long enjoyed a reputation for a sharp focus on workplace diversity. After concluding its Women’s Initiative, which ran from 1993 to 2000 and greatly expanded the opportunities for women in the company (the number of female partners increased from 6.5 percent in 1993 to 14 percent in 2000), the firm launched Vision 2005 to address what it saw as a lack of women in leadership positions. The new program’s goal is to achieve a 35 percent annual admission/promotion rate for female partners and directors by 2005, and to have a similar number of women at every level of the firm.
GETTING HIRED Deloitte Consulting does the majority of its hiring on campus. After a resume submission period, the firm invites selected applicants to a first round of interviews, held at the college or business school. It is composed of two 45-minute interviews, the first primarily behavioral, or “fit,” the second a case; the case is said by one
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insider to be “more qualitative, but [you] still have to prove an understanding of math.” Another, who was hired for a financial services position, says one case asked “how to assess a call center’s operations and what the primary cost and revenue drivers were. I also had one on increasing revenue generation within the credit card industry.” Fit questions, on the other hand, tend to be “basic no-brainer scenario questions. ‘Tell me a time when... and give me an example of...’” The second round, also held on campus, involves an interview with two partners that is almost entirely focused on a case review. Applicants can expect to hear back from the firm within two weeks, and if the response is positive they are invited to an “offer day.” We hear the firm is unwilling to negotiate salary, but will give prospective employees their choice of office. The key to succeeding at the Deloitte Consulting interview process is to “demonstrate an understanding of the kind of work that we do,” says one source. As usual in case situations, the case interviewers are said to be “looking for an indication of a rational thought process and a common-sense approach, rather than the right answer.” Arrive at the interview prepared — be sure to “research the company, rehearse answers to frequently asked questions, and think through the skills you bring to the firm and what type of work interests you.” Most people who have been through the consulting interview process describe it as “fairly long and stressful.” And while the firm supposedly “wants someone who is well rounded more than [someone] in the top 5 percent of their class,” grades do have importance. The prestige of a candidate’s school also matters. Deloitte Consulting “lets you know shortly [afterward] by giving a phone call and sending a basket of goodies.” The internship program, for one insider, was “an opportunity to understand in greater detail what the firm offered and what it valued.” Interns can “make meaningful contributions to the clients and get to know the people in the office.” In addition to “some really long hours,” “Deloitte makes sure that the interns get to know each other and have fun during the summer.”
OUR SURVEY SAYS
What does the future hold? Morale at Deloitte Consulting is on the low side, thanks to April 2002’s 10 to 15 percent pay cuts (technically termed “salary adjustments,” given that some Visit the Vault Consulting Career Channel at http://consulting.vault.com — with insider firm profiles, message boards, the Vault Consulting Job Board and more.
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consultants did get raises) and earlier layoffs. “There is an overall consensus that the firm didn’t adopt ‘creative’ staff reduction schemes before the recent rounds of layoffs and their solution to cut pay,” says one source. “This has resulted in an overall distrust of management — especially as we try to forge our ‘new identity.’” The firm is “definitely in cost-cutting mode,” we hear, though much of the concern is “because of the consulting industry, not Deloitte specifically. Everyone has seen what has happened in consulting.”
Nice folks to work with Insiders are somewhat more pleased with the day-to-day operations of the firm. The culture, we hear, is open and diverse, with an emphasis on consultant-management interaction. As one source says, “I do not get the feeling that this is a very hierarchical place,” and adds that “you can walk up to and have an open talk with every partner.” Consultants are also happy with the level of diversity, saying that partners “try to make it a comfortable place to work.” On the other hand, another source comments, “there is also a problem of machismo — the perception is that you have to be “passionate” to be doing a good job. Type-B (or, more to the point, anything short of hyper-Type-A) personalities are perceived as less effective employees.” At the same time, some DCers complain that hard work rarely results in efficient work: “Work hours are long but productivity tends to be low,” reports one source. All in all, though, we hear the staff is friendly and fun to work with: “The junior staff in my group are by and large intelligent and dedicated individuals whom I hope to have as colleagues/references in the future,” concludes one source.
Making an impact Deloitte Consulting places a strong emphasis on volunteer work — every May it holds a firm-wide Impact Day, “in which all offices all over the world spend the entire day performing some type of community service.” In New York this means volunteering at local schools, while in Calgary it means teaching computer and related job skills at a community center. Other projects include working at elderly homes, building houses and giving resume workshops. Apart from Impact Day, each office organizes its own volunteer efforts — the Sacramento office, for instance, operates a program called Generating Involvement in Volunteerism through Education and Service, or GIVES, that coordinates employee volunteerism and in May 2001 won the city’s People Helping People Business Award. Participation in community events also “may be rewarded at evaluation time.”
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Where’s the beef? Compensation, for obvious reasons, is high on respondents’ lists of complaints. There have been no bonuses for the last few years, and we are told that salaries in general are “bad relative to the industry, and they price them knowing that.” Adds another source, “I would have said I was satisfied [with my compensation], but the likely blanket reduction in compensation, coupled with the complete dichotomy of skill and effort expended by consultants, is extremely upsetting.” Possibly to offset its low salaries, the firm sells itself as a consultancy with a better working environment than most, we hear, offering “more of a work/life balance, with lots of happy hours.” But while the firm is “always striving for balance, if the client wants something done in a month, it has to get done.” This can mean 70-hour weeks, which brings some Deloitte Consulting insiders great sorrow. “For the amount paid, and coming home at midnight, I was miserable,” carps one veteran of an arduous engagement. Another insider adds that “for a firm which prides itself on work/life balance, I work over 70 hours a week, and my salary will decrease next year. Not exactly the conditions for a motivated and empowered consulting staff.” For those who travel, DC tries to maintain a 5-4-3 schedule — meaning five days of work, four on the road, three nights away — but that, again, is something often left to the client’s whims; one respondent went so far as to say the policy “is a joke.” However, as one insider notes, “Travel requirements vary widely from project to project. It really is luck of the draw. The best way to dodge traveling too much is to specialize in an industry and live in the city where that industry predominates, [such as] financial services in New York, automotive in Detroit and so on.”
Office space: the luck of the draw Opinion of the offices at Deloitte Consulting differ wildly by location. New Yorkers aren’t thrilled, for one. “The New York office is way too crowded,” snoots one insider, even though it “was just remodeled, which is hard to believe.” But a Chicago consultant says the offices there are “very nice.” The Boston office is the “basic oldschool layout,” while Jersey City is lauded for its “stocked kitchen for breakfast and snacking.” In San Francisco, “Remodeling of many offices has focused on collaborative work areas, private communication booths and open, light, high-tech furniture.” But don’t get too attached to your desk. Deloitte Consulting operates a “hoteling” system whereby traveling consultants usually are able to secure space at any office, though “you are not always guaranteed a desk.” Visit the Vault Consulting Career Channel at http://consulting.vault.com — with insider firm profiles, message boards, the Vault Consulting Job Board and more.
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Rising in the ranks Insiders report that for analysts (new hires), the journey to a partner-level position will “probably take more than 10 years,” although one insider warns that “A new analyst would likely need to return to get an MBA in order to make partner.” Others report that the path “from senior consultant to partner is probably seven to eight years.” Consultants will spend, on average, “two years as senior consultant, three as manager, three to four as senior manager.” Consultants with “substantial industry experience may advance very rapidly. Consultants who sell a lot of work will advance the fastest.” And promotions are “made once a year in the fall.”
Continuous training As at most firms, training at Deloitte Consulting has been cut back significantly, but consultants tell us that it remains top-notch. All new hires are put through a weeklong program in Arizona. Continuing training is “focused on business associates going back to get their MBAs,” though there is also a strong emphasis on technical skills and on-the-job training.”
Changing faces Deloitte Consulting’s Women’s Initiative has “immensely improved” the career prospects for women and “has led a firm-wide realization that the retention of qualified women — and men — is important to the success of the firm.” One source remarks that “Deloitte is recognized as a leader in advancement, retention and promotion of women,” while another insider reports that the firm has “a number of affinity groups targeted at ethnic minority groups, as well as gays and lesbians.” Nevertheless, ethnic diversity could stand a bit more work, according to one consultant, who notes that DC has “few African-American or Hispanic partners or practitioners.” New initiatives are in the works, we hear. “We are working on [diversity], says one consultant. “We enjoyed great success in attracting, retaining and promoting women. We are now focusing that same attention on people from other cultures and ethnic backgrounds.”
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For a detailed 40- to 50-page insider report on Deloitte Consulting, and reports on other firms like McKinsey, BCG, Bain, Accenture and more, get Vault Employer Profiles. Go to http://consulting.vault.com.
Visit the Vault Consulting Career Channel at http://consulting.vault.com — with insider firm profiles, message boards, the Vault Consulting Job Board and more.
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Accenture
PRESTIGE RANKING
1345 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10105 Phone: (917) 452-4400 Fax: (917) 527-9915 www.accenture.com
THE STATS
New York, NY (HQ) More than 110 offices worldwide
Employer Type: Public Company Stock Symbol: ACN Stock Exchange: NYSE Chairman & CEO: Joe Forehand 2001 Employees: 75,000 2000 Employees: 71,300 2001 Revenues: $11.4 billion 2000 Revenues: $10.3 billion
PRACTICE AREAS
UPPERS
Global Service Lines: Customer Relationship Management • Finance & Performance Management • Human Performance • Solutions Engineering • Solutions Operations (Outsourcing) • Strategy & Business Architecture • Supply Chain Management • Technology Research & Innovation
• Smart, results-oriented consultants • Very competitive salaries
LOCATIONS
Operating Groups: Communications & High Tech • Electronics & High Tech • Financial Services (Banking; Health Services; Insurance) • Government • Media & Entertainment • Products • Resources (Chemicals; Energy; Forest Products; Metals & Mining; Utilities)
DOWNERS • Long, demanding projects • Interaction with partners can be limited
KEY COMPETITORS Computer Sciences Corporation Deloitte Consulting Electronic Data Systems IBM Global Services KPMG Consulting McKinsey & Company PwC Consulting (Monday)
EMPLOYMENT CONTACT http://careers3.accenture.com/
THE BUZZ
WHAT CONSULTANTS AT OTHER FIRMS ARE SAYING
“The Big Dawg” “Arrogant” “Young buck” “Generalists in a specialist world”
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THE SCOOP
Almighty Accenture In December 1997, Accenture — then Andersen Consulting — petitioned to break away from Andersen (then Arthur Andersen), its sibling under the Andersen Worldwide umbrella. After a lengthy arbitration process, in August 2000 the International Court of Arbitration in Paris finally granted independence to the consulting firm that would (as of January 1st, 2001) come to be known as Accenture. Today, Accenture is among the world’s leading providers of management consulting and technology services. With more than 75,000 people in 47 countries, Accenture draws from a vast array of industrial and technical expertise. Consultants in its major operating groups (Communications & High Tech, Financial Services, Government, Products and Resources) and its eight service lines (Customer Relationship Management, Finance & Performance Management, Human Performance, Strategy & Business Architecture, Supply Chain Management, Technology Research & Innovation, Solutions Engineering and Solutions Operations) work together to design and deliver strategies and solutions for 89 of the Fortune Global 100 and more than half of the Fortune Global 500 — not to mention several hundred startups and spin-offs. The firm’s huge staff and wide range of experience enables it to bring both focus and massive manpower to any consulting task.
Long reach Accenture, which works with more than 2,500 client organizations worldwide, earned revenues topping the $11 billion mark in fiscal 2001. The firm has grand plans; through alliances, affiliated companies and other capabilities (known as its “network of businesses” approach), it seeks to “deliver innovations” to clients across a range of industries. When you’re as big as Accenture, the United States alone won’t provide all the revenue and opportunities you need to thrive. Indeed, Accenture is committed to maintaining a global presence — nearly half of all its revenues come from outside of its operations in the Americas — and to furthering its status as a technology leader. The firm garnered more than $3.2 billion in 2001 revenue from its Communications & High Tech operating group, a gain of 15 percent over the previous year. The unit
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accounted for 28 percent of Accenture’s total revenue for the year, the most of any of the firm’s divisions.
Going public In a widely anticipated move in July 2001 — following what most analysts believe was a successful IPO by competitor KPMG Consulting — Accenture raised about $1.7 billion through a public offering. (Despite that huge figure, the stock offered for public sale amounted to no more than 12 percent of the undiluted company.) On the initial day, the firm saw its stock rise 5 percent — not impressive compared to the moonshots of 1999, but extremely respectable for the IPO market of 2001. Accenture sold 115 million shares, leaving partners with control of over 80 percent of the company. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley served as the lead underwriters. Through another offering completed in May 2002, Accenture sold approximately $93 million worth of its shares.
Taking leave Like most of its competitors, Accenture underwent layoffs in 2001. In June, 600 support personnel were cut, followed by an additional 1,500 staffers in August (1,000 of whom were consultants). All told, about 2 percent of the workforce received pink slips. The firm, however, primarily has attempted to reduce its payroll costs through its “FlexLeave” program. In this program, consultants may take voluntary sabbaticals of six to 12 months at 20 percent of their current pay and continued benefits, and their job at Accenture is guaranteed when their time off is finished. About 2,400 consultants had taken FlexLeave as of December 2001; the program has also been extended to Europe and Asia. The slow economy continued to hound Accenture in the first quarter of fiscal 2002, with net income dipping by 45 percent compared to a year earlier. The firm also took a $40 million charge relating to lost business as a result of the September 11 terrorist attacks, but managed to turn an $81.7 million profit in Q1 FY 2002 due in large part to a 32 percent increase in outsourcing revenue. It followed up those results with a $10.6 million profit in Q2 FY 2002. In June Accenture announced layoffs of about 1,000 employees (mainly from the management ranks in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia), but the firm still expects to increase its global staff by approximately 8,000 by the end of fiscal 2003.
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Forehand comes to the forefront In November 1999, Joe W. Forehand was named successor to George Shaheen (who bolted for the ill-fated Internet grocery service Webvan) as CEO and managing partner. Less than two years into his tenure, Forehand was named the industry’s No. 1 most influential consultant by Consulting magazine. (The managing partner for Accenture’s retail operating group, Angela Selden, ranked No. 15 on the June 2001 list.) Forehand also made InformationWeek’s list of the 15 most influential people in the IT industry. At the same time that its fearless leader was winning recognition, the firm as a whole has earned its share of accolades. In 2001, Red Herring named Accenture to its list of the 100 companies Most Likely to Change the World. The firm also ranked third that year among all employers in terms of diversity in Universum’s survey of U.S. students. And in 2002, the firm took fourth in the Universum survey of the most ideal employers according to European grad students.
Training days Accenture boasts that it spent $717 million in fiscal 2001 to train and develop its workforce. Newly hired analysts typically spend two to three weeks at Accenture’s main training facility in St. Charles, Ill., developing team-building and management skills. The system enables Accenture to offer standardized solutions and encourages consultants from disparate offices and backgrounds to work together better (important for a firm with more than 75,000 employees). After their time at St. Charles, Accenture professionals can access the company’s more than 4,000 classroom, computer-based and Web-enabled training programs via a Web-based learning portal.
Creating affiliates Accenture has been busy creating new affiliates to better position itself in the ebusiness marketplace. In March 2000, Accenture announced that it was teaming up with Microsoft to form Avanade, a jointly owned firm that focuses on large-scale technology integration surrounding Microsoft’s enterprise platform. Avanade initially was valued at more than $1 billion, and now has more than 300 customers and over 1,200 employees in 17 cities in 11 countries. Elsewhere, Accenture entered the e-learning market in March 2001 with the formation of Indeliq, a company that provides simulation-based eLearning solutions to help companies improve workforce performance. And in October of that year the
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firm joined Merck-Medco and UnitedHealth Group to launch Xceleron Health LLC, a venture designed to provide business services to the health care industry.
Out of the VC game Alas and alack — it seems that Accenture’s venture capital ambitions will not come to pass. The firm originally had planned to sink as much as $500 million in emerging Internet businesses through its Accenture Technology Ventures unit, but reversed course when many of its investments yielded losses. (According to the company, “The VC exit window lengthened and volatility began to impact corporate earnings.”) In March 2002, Accenture announced that it would sell all of its minority stakes in such companies. Accenture’s current plan calls for the firm to consolidate its holdings into one subsidiary, which would then be sold. Accenture would maintain a small piece of the subsidiary should such a sale occur.
Thinking ‘bout the government Accenture’s government operating group earned just over $1 billion globally in 2001 and continues to pick up new engagements. In May, Web surfers got their first look at Accenture’s redesign of NYC.gov, a portal offering government services for New York City residents. The site, which served as an important communications channel after the September 11th terrorist attacks, has been recognized as being among the “Best of the Web” by Government Technology, and received global recognition from the World Information Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA) for exceptional use of technology. August 2001 saw the firm sign a five-year deal worth a potential $33.6 million to redesign the Internal Revenue Service’s web site. And in December of that year, Accenture inked two deals with the U.S. Department of Education reportedly valued at up to a combined $234 million in a share-in-savings deal.
The move offshore While it claims to have to no corporate headquarters, in February 2001 Accenture became the first professional services firm to move its official residence to Bermuda. The scenic island has no income or capital gains tax, and has a number of other favorable business rules and regulations (or, more to the point, a relative lack of business rules and regulations). The firm points out, though, that it has never been a U.S.-based or U.S.-operated organization and has never operated under a U.S. parent organization. With more than half of its 2,500 partners non-U.S. citizens, it says that as a cultural matter it chose the neutral location of Bermuda — after considering a
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variety of options — for its post-IPO parent company. Accenture also owns an operating company in Luxembourg, another tax haven.
GETTING HIRED Accenture recruits via on-campus events at 125 U.S. universities and colleges, as well as many international campuses. (It also holds live webcasts, chat sessions and other online informational offerings for students at schools where it does not recruit on campus.) Prospective campus hires are generally “required to submit their resumes [along with a personal data form] through their career services offices” and resume drop systems. At schools where there is no formal resume drop system, would-be applicants should contact a recruiter from the office nearest them. Candidates may have up to two interviews on campus. The first is a screening interview, while the second is typically with Accenture employees (usually partners or experienced managers, as well as a peer). These interviews can vary, according to a contact in the recruiting office: “In some cases these interviews are behavioral, and in others they’re case-based.” Also, “Questions definitely depend on service line. Strategy gives case interviews while [other service lines] give behavioral interviews.” One insider reports that “At the second round I was asked a lot of ‘Tell me about a time when’ questions. One was ‘Tell me about a time when you had to work with someone you didn’t know.’” After making it through these screening rounds, there is a day at the nearest office. There are minor variations in the interview process at different offices and campuses; some candidates have had a second round with three managers or partners at an Accenture office. Employees say that “selectivity depends heavily on which service line you are aligned with. Strategy is extremely difficult to enter even with excellent credentials — [other areas] a little less so.” Insiders also say that “We tend to hire most of the people who make it to the office.” While candidates do have the option to fly out to visit their office of interest, “It isn’t necessary to interview where you want to work.” We hear that “Offers are usually extended to successful candidates shortly after the office visit.” Contacts say Accenture makes its big push “at sell weekend, which is very structured.” Reports one insider: “The first day is in the office and features a series of meetings with the various industry groups. They provide much more specific information than you get in the recruitment brochures. There is also the
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opportunity to speak one-on-one with peers, and you go out to wining and dining things and to a show.” The firm has identified several qualities that it believes make a successful Accenture consultant. They include a target GPA (which depends on the type of degree), critical thinking, ability to be a self-starter, ability to juggle multiple activities, problemsolving skills, being a team player, and a willingness to travel. One recruiter tells us that “the type of person we look for performed well academically and is wellrounded, a lifelong learner, is committed to developing a career, [and is] interested in and understands what we do.” The perfect candidate also has “strong written and oral communication skills.” This contact also informs us that “professionals who succeed at [Accenture] embrace the clients’ needs” and “are team- and results-oriented.” Insiders say that even the strongest candidates can improve their chances of being hired by “reading through the [Accenture careers] web site” and “educating yourself on what [Accenture] does, how the company is structured, and what the various organizations and their respective career paths are.” Sources also suggest that candidates “be prepared to articulate which is the best fit for you.” Finally, “It’s also tremendously helpful to have someone in the firm to talk to, so you can get a better sense of what the many choices are.” “There’s only so much you can glean from public sources of information,” insiders conclude.
OUR SURVEY SAYS
Make a mark in your market The amount an Accenture consultant travels has to do with “what market unit you’re in — it’s very regionalized.” Another source concurs: “Those in financial services rarely have to travel outside of the New York metro area; those in communications or other industry groups travel more.” Ultimately, “Unless you live in a market that has your industry group, you’re traveling a lot,” yet another source emphasizes. However, “The staffing coordinators try to take your preferences into account. And as you gain more marketable skills, there are more choices.” But if “you’re right out of college, they tell you where to go,” insiders say. Travel notwithstanding, most respondents have good things to say about the work/life balance at Accenture. Compensation is on par with the rest of the industry, but potential partners beware: As part of a major reduction in corporate spending,
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partner salaries are slated to be cut by 7 to 8 percent and performance option grants will be eliminated. Still, sources lower on the food chain comment that the compensation “is more than fair, especially when I think of the little extras that make work/life balance better: flexible vacation time and overtime for those under manager level, etc.” And “individual projects sometimes have their own perks, [such as] renting out clubs for private parties, PDAs for all on the project and vacations.” For those interested in community work, Accenture may be the perfect place — we hear that volunteer work is a “very important aspect of life at Accenture,” with organized projects including Habitat for Humanity and AIDS walks. It’s so important, in fact, that consultants’ performance evaluations “are based not just on work but other activities in support of the company and the community.”
The slant of the ladder Employees at Accenture have varying opinions regarding how partners treat other employees. One insider complains that partners “usually haven’t time to talk to anybody that isn’t a client.” “Until you are at their level, you don’t get the same respect,” another source explains. “Most of the time you are fairly invisible, but this is good and bad,” adds a third respondent. “While very few are ogres, [partners] are not easily accessible. Don’t expect to make mentors easily.” A few insiders disagree, however. One consultant explains that “executives seem genuinely interested in my ideas and sometimes fascinated by my different experiences.” One area where we hear executives are very responsive is training. While the emphasis has shifted from up-front, new-hire training to continued learning, the opportunities to gain consulting skills or more knowledge of a particular industry are many. “You can even leave in the middle of a project to get training if it will help you in your role better,” notes one source.
Flexing it One advantage respondents praise is Accenture’s voluntary FlexLeave program, which allows employees to take time off from their jobs and still retain 20 percent of their pay, as well as their benefits, laptops and office access. The program is especially popular because it has enabled the firm to keep layoffs and pay cuts down. “FlexLeave is a great option compared to being laid off,” notes one source, though it still doesn’t help some sleep at night. “A taste of the outside world plus a feeling of job insecurity is causing many to jump ship,” one consultant reports. Visit the Vault Consulting Career Channel at http://consulting.vault.com — with insider firm profiles, message boards, the Vault Consulting Job Board and more.
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Coddled in a cube Some consultants complain that Accenture offices are “too small for so many people,” with “small cubes” and “no privacy.” Another source says that “the offices are iffy,” with a mix of nice amenities and often cramped working quarters. “Sometimes you will have to walk around looking for a space,” reports one insider. On the other hand, another employee reports that the offices are “wonderful. My office building defines the city’s skyline. Executives have offices with immense windows and a great view of the city. Even the cubicles aren’t bad.” And while Accenturites work hard, the office environments are said to be “very friendly and fairly youth-oriented with a strong helping of life/work balance perks.”
Taking diversity to task Insiders report that Accenture handles diversity issues rather well. “There is a diversity task force and activities for just about every minority group. These are open to everyone in the firm, not just to members of the minority group,” says one employee. Another consultant adds, “We were taken to lunch by our office’s diversity task force during our first week to learn about diversity at Accenture.” Still another respondent notes that “There are lots of programs, internal groups (communities), diversity initiatives and efforts to promote these issues.” Nevertheless, “I am not sure if it results in actual progress up the ranks for minorities, who are still small in number.”
For a detailed 40- to 50-page insider report on Accenture, and reports on other firms like McKinsey, BCG, Bain, Deloitte Consulting and more, get Vault Employer Profiles. Go to http://consulting.vault.com.
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“Those in financial services rarely have to travel outside of the New York metro area; those in communications or other industry groups travel more.” — Accenture source
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Gartner
PRESTIGE RANKING
56 Top Gallant Road Stamford, CT 06904 Phone: (203) 964-0096 Fax: (203) 316-6300 www.gartner.com
THE STATS
Stamford, CT (HQ) 90 locations worldwide
Employer Type: Public Company Stock Symbol: IT/ITB Stock Exchange: NYSE Chairman & CEO: Michael D. Fleisher 2001 Employees: 4,600 2000 Employees: 4,300 2001 Revenues: $952.0 million 2000 Revenues: $858.7 million
PRACTICE AREAS
UPPERS
Community Consulting Measurement Research
• Flexible hours • Talented and smart staff
LOCATIONS
DOWNERS • Recent layoffs • Not enough internal communication
KEY COMPETITORS AMR Research Forrester Research IDC
EMPLOYMENT CONTACT Human Resources Fax: (203) 316-3445
[email protected]
THE BUZZ
WHAT CONSULTANTS AT OTHER FIRMS ARE SAYING
• • • •
“Good insight” “Should stick to being analysts” “Well-respected in their niche” “So 1990s”
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Vault Guide to the Top 50 Consulting Firms Gartner
THE SCOOP
How does your Gartner grow? Gartner, a globally recognized firm, combines research, consulting, content and events — all with a technological spin. Under Gideon Gartner, who founded the company in 1979, Gartner Group (as it was then known) first went public in 1986 and was traded for two years until it was pulled off the market. A 1993 IPO put the company on the Nasdaq before it was transferred to the New York Stock Exchange in September 1998. Up through 2001, Gartner entered into a series of acquisitions to plump up its size and offerings.
Segmentation Gartner’s business is split between four sectors: Consulting, which focuses on strategy issues (though not implementation) in a variety of industries; Measurement, the performance benchmarking operation; Research & Advisory Services, which employs a staff of 650 experienced analysts who conduct research on more than 200 technology-related subjects; and Community, which brings executives together to compare experiences. A large part of Community is Events, which runs one- to fiveday conferences for business and IT professionals. The flagship event is the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo, the largest conference for the IT industry. San Diego, Orlando, Florence, Tokyo and Cannes will all host versions of the event at different points on the 2002 calendar. The Gartner stable also houses the IT market research firm Dataquest, as well as a
