VEP: Bearing Point (formerly KPMG Consulting) 2003 (Vault Employer Profile)

EMPLOY PROFILE VAULT EMPLOYER PROFILE:

BEARINGPOINT

BY THE STAFF OF VAULT

© 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., 150 W22nd Street, New York, New York 10011, (212) 366–4212. Library of Congress CIP Data is available. ISBN 1–58131–242–3 Printed in the United States of America

BearingPoint

Table of Contents INTRODUCTION

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Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 BearingPoint at a Glance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

THE SCOOP

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ORGANIZATION

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Locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 Key Officers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 Ownership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 Business Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

VAULT NEWSWIRE

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OUR SURVEY SAYS

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GETTING HIRED

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Overview of the Hiring Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 Questions to Expect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 Questions to Ask . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 Compensation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21

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ON THE JOB

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A Day in the Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23 Job Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24 Career Path . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24

FINAL ANALYSIS

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RECOMMENDED READING

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BearingPoint

Introduction Overview Spun off from Big Five firm KPMG, LLP in January 2000, BearingPoint (which until October 2002 was known as KPMG Consulting) has been making a name for itself ever since, forming new alliances to help grow the business-systems integration area. The firm offers consulting services in financial services, consumer and industrial markets, communications and content, high tech, and public services. BearingPoint boasts more than 16,000 employees worldwide. Revenue for this global behemoth totaled $2.86 billion in 2001 – a 20.5 percent increase over its 2000 revenues.

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BearingPoint at a Glance Headquarters 1676 International Drive McLean, VA 22102 Phone: (703) 747-3000 www.bearingpoint.com Branches 163 offices worldwide

UPPERS • Community involvement assistance • Good hours relative to industry • Generous benefits • Strong reputation in high-tech and public sectors

DOWNERS THE STATS Employees: 16,000 (2002) Revenues: $2.4 billion (FY 2002)

• • • •

Turnover and travel Bureaucracy can be overwhelming Changing culture Recent financial problems

DEPARTMENTS Communications & Content Consumer & Industrial Markets Financial Services High Tech Public Services

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THE BUZZ WHAT EMPLOYEES AT OTHER FIRMS ARE SAYING

• • • • • • • •

“Family-friendly” “Trying to define itself” “Still strong” “Bargain basement” “Not many young people” “Solid but unimaginative” “Lower end of Big 4 consulting” “Consistent competitor”

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BearingPoint

The Scoop Early days As one might gather from the name KPMG, the firm has a tangled, hybrid history. KPMG International was the result of the 1987 merger of the accounting firm Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co. with KMG, an international consortium. Peat Marwick was founded in 1911 when William Peat, an accountant from London, bumped into James Marwick on a boat headed for America. Marwick had his own firm, Marwick, Mitchell & Co., which had been formed in New York in 1897. Peat and Marwick hit it off and decided to partner their firms, which merged in 1925 as Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co. This firm merged with the venerable firm Barrow, Wade, Guthrie in 1950, thus building its consulting practice. In 1978, the firm restructured its international practice as Peat Marwick International. The following year, a handful of European accounting firms led by Klynveld Kraayenhoff and Deutsche Treuhand discussed forming an international accounting federation. Casting around for an American member, the firms settled on two U.S. companies, and encouraged them to merge as Main Hurdman & Cranstoun. The consortium was then named Klynveld Main Goerdeler (KMG) after Klynveld Kraayenhoff, Main Hurdman & Cranstoun, and Deutsche Treuhand chairman Reinhard Goerdeler. KMG merged with Peat Marwick International in 1987, forming the awkwardly named giant known as KPMG (at the time, KPMG Peat Marwick in the U.S.). In 1990, KPMG began to consolidate its U.S. operations, cutting its professional staff, including partners. In addition, the firm suffered a series of high-profile lawsuits from clients who blamed it for failing to notice accounting missteps. KPMG settled a suit originating from allegedly botched audits of savings and loan banks for $187 million in 1994. In 1998, the firm settled lawsuits with Orange County, Calif. for $75 million, although it did not admit any wrongdoing. And in February 2000, KPMG agreed to pay HVB Group, a German banking concern formed from the merger of Bayerische HypoBank and Vereinsbank AG, an undisclosed sum in damages. HVB has alleged that KPMG failed to detect 3.5 billion marks in failed real estate loans held by HypoBank in the period leading up to the banks’ merger. German construction giant Philip Holzmann also filed suit against KPMG, alleging that the firm failed to detect old losses totaling 2.4 billion marks. Despite this uncomfortable litigation, KPMG continued to grow in all areas, and the consulting business expanded both organically and through acquisition. In 1996, the firm acquired banking consultancy Barefoot, 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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BearingPoint The Scoop

Marrinan & Associates, and it raided Deloitte & Touche for 26 new consultants in that same year. In October 1997, KPMG announced a tentative agreement to merge with fellow Big Five firm Ernst & Young, but the deal was called off four months later. KPMG’s consulting arm was established as a separate company in August 1999. The unit was also buoyed by Cisco System’s $1 billion investment that same month. Cisco, which now owns a 10 percent stake in BearingPoint, was one of the many beneficiaries of its February 2001 public offering.

Public spectacle In May 2000, KPMG Consulting became the first Big Five consulting firm to file for an IPO, marking the end of a period of intense speculation. The waiting ended on February 8, 2001, when it offered 112 million shares to the public at $18 and watched the value rise 30 percent to over $23 per share on day one. Of the more than 112 million shares offered, KPMG Consulting had owned 31.8 million, and KPMG LLP, the firm’s parent, had owned 80.6 million. The offering constituted 73.7 percent of the 152.1 million shares outstanding, and many on Wall Street hailed the IPO as a success. KPMG LLP no longer holds a stake in BearingPoint; with the IPO it sold off its entire investment.

Health problems However, BearingPoint has had a bit of a rocky road since going public. In February 2000, the company announced layoffs of 350 consultants due to “revised revenue expectations.” Chief executive Rand Blazer had been hoping for a growth rate of 38 percent for fiscal 2000, but with growth running at a mere 20 percent, he decided to hand out pink slips. In April 2001, the company announced a workforce reduction of 450 to 550 positions. In August 2001, the firm announced that while overall revenues for the year were up, fiscal fourth quarter revenue totaled $723 million, a 4 percent decline from Q3, (though an 8 percent increase compared with the same quarter in the previous year). Revenue in the firm’s financial services unit dropped by nearly 40 percent for the quarter, while health care revenue was down 24 percent. As a result, the firm restructured its health care unit, folding operations into the public services and high technology arms. KPMG Consulting’s public-sector practice area continued to show strong growth, however, due to anticipated increased government spending at the federal, state and local levels.

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BearingPoint The Scoop

Unfortunately, the first quarter of fiscal 2002 brought more unsettling news, with revenue dropping by $114 million (in part as a result of the September 11th attacks), or 15.8 percent from the previous quarter. Revenue and net income figures continued to decline in Q2. In October 2001, several hundred employees were offered voluntary furloughs of three to six months, during which time they had the option of working on a part-time or on-call basis. According to company spokesman John Schneidawind, the furloughs were an attempt “to avoid layoffs at all costs.” Unfortunately, they did not accomplish that objective – the following month the firm announced that it would cut 300 to 400 jobs, or about 3 percent of its workforce.

All the right moves BearingPoint has recently taken a number of steps to improve its business. At first, the IPO included operations in the United States and 15 other countries (Canada, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Ireland, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Peru, South Korea and Venezuela). The company has since expanded by acquiring international consulting practices from KPMG International in Australia as well as market rights in parts of Greater China. In June 2002, it announced an agreement to acquire KPMG Consulting AG, the German, Swiss and Austrian consulting practices of KPMG International. The firm’s boldest and perhaps most controversial move came in May 2002, when it signed a letter of intent to acquire most of Andersen’s global consulting operations (including those in the United States) in a deal reportedly worth up to $284 million. With the deal, the firm increased its global workforce to more than 16,000 employees. In June, the firm entered into definitive agreements to acquire the independent business consulting units of member firms of Andersen Worldwide Société Cooperative in Japan, Norway, Finland, Switzerland and Sweden. It also acquired significant portions of the consulting units of Andersen’s member firms in Australia, Hong Kong and China.

New name, same firm On October 3 2002, KPMG Consulting became BearingPoint, a switch that took effect immediately – to such an extent that new e-mail addresses, letterhead and business cards were available that day. The switch follows a trend among consulting firms with Big Five accounting backgrounds: Deloitte Consulting became Braxton Associates in July 2002, and PwC Consulting briefly renamed itself Monday before being acquired by IBM in 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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BearingPoint The Scoop

August 2002. BearingPoint officials report that the name resulted from a worldwide poll of employees as well as a private branding firm and was chosen from among 550 possibilities.

Techno-fiesta While many consulting companies have been trumpeting their e-business experience, KPMG Consulting slowly but surely became an e-business powerhouse. In May 1999, it acquired Softline Systems & Integrators, Inc., bringing in about 450 consultants and gaining control of Softline’s software. The firm also developed a new intranet with which consultants can access engagement-related documents and training and business development tools, as well as HR policies and information. BearingPoint has formed over 40 strategic alliances. The firm signed a number of agreements in 2000 , including one with Internet software provider Inktomi and another with four other technology companies – DataChannel, Oblix Inc., BackWeb Technologies and Interlynx Technology. In June 2001, it announced a partnership with Microsoft to develop new interactive television services. The two companies are joined in the alliance by software firms BSQUARE Corp. and Rachis Corp. Other alliances announced in 2001 included Vitria Technology, Mercator Software and webMethods, and an expansion of an existing alliance with Compaq. The trend continued in 2002, with the firm announcing an exclusive supply-chain solution marketing agreement with Procter & Gamble in March. The firm also expanded its alliance with Sun Microsystems that year and entered agreements with ebusiness platform provider IONA as well as with HAHT Commerce, a provider of demand chain management applications for the consumer packaged goods industry.

On the road Acknowledging the sometimes hectic lifestyle endemic to the consulting industry, in 2001 the firm adopted a “Traveler’s Bill of Rights” to help its employees cope. The program is designed to ensure that consultants have a five-day workweek, during which they are not out of the office for more than four days or away from home for more than three nights. In order to make sure these policies are upheld, the firm staffs projects with locally based consultants whenever possible.

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BearingPoint

Organization Locations BearingPoint is based in McLean, Va. and has 163 offices worldwide.

Key Officers Randolph C. Blazer: Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer Unlike many in the consulting business, Rand Blazer has spent his entire career at one firm, joining KPMG LLP in 1977 after retiring as a captain in the U.S. Army. By 1991 he had become the directing partner for the firm’s Federal Services Practice, which he grew aggressively during the 1990s. In 1997, he became the vice chairman for consulting services, and there he led the consolidation and incorporation of KPMG Consulting. In June 2002 he was named Entrepreneur of the Year for the Greater Washington area by Ernst & Young LLP. Bradley Schwartz: Group Executive Vice President, Worldwide Client Service Michael Donahue: Group Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer David W. Black: Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary Jay H. Nussbaum: Executive Vice President, Managed Services Nathan H. Peck, Jr.: Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer Linda E. Rebrovick: Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Gail P. Steinel: Executive Vice President, Solutions and Alliances Mary E. Sullivan: Vice President, Human Resources

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BearingPoint Organization

Ownership BearingPoint was spun off as a separate company from KPMG International in January 1999, and the firm is 10 percent owned by Cisco Systems. Shares went on sale to the public in February 2001.

Business Units BearingPoint offers consulting services in several core industries: Financial Services; Communications and Content; High Tech, Consumer and Industrial Markets; and Public Services. Facing flagging revenue, in 2001 the firm folded its Healthcare unit into the Public Services and High Tech arms.

Financial Services Financial Services is BearingPoint’s largest industry practice; the firm serves thousands of financial institutions around the world. Employees in Financial Services help their clients in Capital Markets and Banking, Insurance and Risk Management, Professional Services and Real Estate and Hospitality adapt to changes in financial markets and conditions.

Communications and Content Communications and Content professionals surf the wild information wave, advising a diverse customer base in the Cable, Content, Service Provider and Telecommunications segments. The practice divides its consulting services into two classes: Communications Solutions, which includes strategy and planning, revenue assurance, and digital asset management; and Business Solutions, which includes customer relationship management and supply chain management.

Consumer and Industrial Markets BearingPoint’s Consumer and Industrial Markets practice counts both Fortune 1000 and mid-market consumer and industrial goods companies among its clientele. The firm offers Strategy and Business Process Services, Customer Relationship Management and Supply Chain Management services to clients in the automotive, chemicals, consumer packaged goods, oil and gas, transportation, and other segments.

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BearingPoint Organization

High Tech The High Tech practice assists clients in the electronics, life sciences and software fields. Its Digital Marketplace Service offerings include customer relationship management, infrastructure solutions, strategy/brand strategy, and supply chain management. BearingPoint has alliances with tech heavyweights including Cisco, Oracle, Microsoft, Ariba and many others.

Public Services BearingPoint employs a large staff dedicated to providing government and educational institutions with enterprise resource planning, customer management strategy, supply chain management integration and other services. Past clients include the governments of Texas, California, Pennsylvania, and the city of New York, the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and Yale University.

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BearingPoint

Vault Newswire October 2002: A new bearing KPMG Consulting announced its new name, BearingPoint, effective immediately. The name was taken from a list of 550 possibilities culled from employees and an outside branding firm. The company also moved from the NASDAQ to the New York Stock Exchange, along the way dropping KCIN for BE as its stock symbol.

August 2002: Overseas acquisitions KPMG Consulting acquired KPMG Consulting AG, the German, Swiss and Austrian consulting units of KPMG. The purchase, which rang in at $273.5 million in cash (plus the assumption of $15 million in debt), greatly adds to the firm’s European presence, already bolstered by the Andersen acquisition.

June 2002: Atos makes its move Euro-consultancy Atos Origin signed a deal with KPMG Consulting to acquire the firm’s UK and Dutch practices, which had remained jointly owned – but independently managed – since the consulting firm spun off.

May 2002: Bringing in Andersen After months of negotiation, KPMG Consulting agreed to purchase Andersen’s business consulting practice. The agreement includes 23 units throughout Europe, the United States, Asia Pacific and Latin America, at a price of $284 million.

March 2002: Out to sea KPMG Consulting brokered a deal with the Naval Sea Systems Command’s Undersea Weapons Program Office. The project, developed in cooperation with Anteon Corporation, will earn $5.7 million in the first year and could total $48.7 million over its lifespan.

November 2001: Musically challenged Chris Raettig received a surprise call from KPMG this month when the firm asked him to remove a link on his web site. The link in question, found on www.corporateanthems.raettig.org, brought surfers to the area on KPMG’s 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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BearingPoint Vault Newswire

site that featured its corporate song, which Raettig and his audience found worthy of profuse ridicule. The 22-year-old Raettig reportedly receives 10,000 hits a day on his site, which features a number of other embarrassing company anthems.

November 2001: Cut! Part II Following on the heels of its April 2001 cuts, the firm laid off approximately 350 employees in a further effort to control costs. This came after the firm was unable to drum up volunteers to take furlough positions, in which they would be employed in an “on-call” status.

October 2001: Aussie sale KPMG Australia announced the sale of its consulting business to KPMG Consulting. The deal, valued at $28.9 million, is part of KPMG Consulting’s effort to buy the overseas consulting arms of KPMG International.

October 2001: Award-winning work The eCustomer World Institute (ECWI) has given its “Best Mobile CRM Solution” Golden Award for 2001 to KPMG Consulting. The ECWI awards are intended to honor e-business innovations in the Canadian marketplace. KPMG partner Infowave Software Inc. also received the award.

June 2001: TV deal KPMG has announced a partnership with Microsoft to develop new interactive television services. The two companies will be joined in the alliance by software firms BSQUARE Corp. and Rachis Corp. As part of the partnership, KPMG will provide Microsoft with program management and systems integration services.

May 2001: Layoffs in the UK KPMG Consulting’s United Kingdom branch will undergo layoffs of up to 10 percent of its workforce. The firm cited a decline in demand for its services and “difficult circumstances” for the move, which will affect employees in all areas of the business. KPMG Consulting UK currently employs about 2,000 staffers.

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BearingPoint Vault Newswire

April 2001: Cut! After failing to reach expected levels of growth, the firm cut more than 500 positions worldwide.

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BearingPoint

Our Survey Says A large bureaucracy Insiders tell us that BearingPoint consultants have “a lot of freedom in terms of projects.” However, this freedom comes with a price. “If you don’t know how to work the system, you get screwed,” a source claims. “It’s not by design – the company is very disorganized.” This same source warns, “They’ll put you on something you don’t want to be on unless you’re firm about it.” Another source explains: “If you are honest from the beginning about your expectations and requirements, things can be worked out.” Insiders say that “newbies” should “find a manager you are compatible with and become a sponge” in order to get staffed on the best projects. BearingPoint tells us that its “Opportunities within Consulting” program provides an internal method for consultants to find a better niche within the company; it allows them to move from one project to another, even if the managing director says no. “Under this program they have to let you go as long as you’ve been under them for a year and have a good rating,” we hear. Still, insiders (especially in the high-tech practice) complain of staffing missteps. One frustrated consultant explains, “I was supposed to be the information architect on my project – but I’ve just been doing a lot of research.” Another adds, “I like the client engagements, but I don’t like the office environment. I would prefer somewhere where both were equally impressive.” The firm’s reputation in the technology consulting field is “very strong,” mainly because of “the firm’s focus on e-business and e-strategy and our partnerships with Microsoft, Cisco and SAP, among others.” Insiders say that the firm considers Accenture, IBM Global Services and a few others among its chief competitors, although BearingPoint is also competing with Internet consultancies, such as Sapient, for clients.

Choose your office wisely Insiders report that “Culture varies somewhat between offices. In D.C., for example, there’s a gay/lesbian support group; Raleigh is very stuffy and ‘oldboy’; and the Silicon Valley office is ‘very laid back.’” In general, the smaller offices tend to be more rigid and controlling, insiders say, and “a lot of the culture depends on your practice and the group you are working in.” In terms of design, “the offices are nice” and “reasonably comfortable,” with “typical office décor – plain colors, nothing overly creative or unusual.” 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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BearingPoint Our Survey Says

Take a hike Those starting at BearingPoint may also want to sign up for a frequent-flyer card. According to one source, “Most everyone travels from Monday to Thursday. Another estimates, “Consultants travel, on average, about 70 percent of the time. We try to stay regional in our business, but when the client has offices all over the country, sometimes it is necessary to work at all those offices.” The firm recently instituted what it calls the “Travelers’ Bill of Rights,” which mandates, among other things, that BearingPoint consultants be able to work out of their local office or at home on Fridays. And while we hear that few people refer to the document specifically anymore, the firm has nevertheless made an earnest attempt to balance work and life: “Monday morning to Thursday evening is the usual. It used to be Friday, but there has been a lot of movement to change that. The firm has stated that it’s more important to balance quality of life. I’d say it’s part of the firm’s evolving culture.” Even better, the same source adds, “”If you can be effective working from home on Friday, that’s cool.”

Value-added culture Because of its tech-heavy focus, BearingPoint hires mostly experienced consultants, contrary to the undergraduate hires that dominate many other firms. According to the firm, its employees have an average of 12 years of experience. “In most cases you will be working with people who are already very experienced in their areas,” says one respondent. “We haven’t strayed very much from the model of the experience-heavy firm. We still have a lot of people at the top. So it’s a good place for lateral hires.” While insiders say that the firm has a “large number of minorities,” they “tend to be mostly technology-oriented.” One female consultant tells us that she does not feel that “women are hindered in any way,” though “there is clearly male dominance in the company.” However, others report being pleased with the number of great women executives in all areas of the company. Though when it comes to inter-office communication, insiders say that it could use improvement. As one employee explains, “I find that the various departments barely communicate with each other. I don’t even speak with most people on my floor.” Most agree, though, that BearingPoint’s is very much a culture in change – first the split from KPMG, then the IPO, then the Andersen acquisition, then the rebranding. “People see it as a work in progress,” says one consultant. “Everyone’s taking a ‘jury’s still out’ attitude.”

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BearingPoint Our Survey Says

Good use of time “Community involvement is encouraged” at BearingPoint. The firm recently established a new philanthropy program, the implementation of which was sped up after the September 11th attacks. The effort includes an initiative enabling employees to get involved with local volunteer projects, a matching gifts program and a support network. Insiders say that pro bono work is “typically up to an individual group – they may do it if they are currently unbillable or feel it is an opportunity for them.” BearingPoint also sponsors lots of “community events, practice dinners and sports teams” to help employees bond.

Does anyone actually work those hours? In consulting, there are no official hours, since it depends on the person and the project. One consultant says, “Sometimes I leave at 5:30 p.m., other days [I stay] until 7:30 p.m.” Another consultant claims that “10 or 11 hours a day is typical.” At times, “hours can be very long [for consultants], with late nights spent compiling and analyzing data or preparing a presentation for a project meeting or board meeting.” Expect more than a few late nights per month; as one consultant notes, “My work hours spike once or twice a month, but I think that’s low for the firm.” Nor is weekend work a given, as it is at many firms. Respondents report only the rare Saturday and Sunday at the office. “I’ve never had to work an entire weekend, and there have been only three Saturdays when I’ve had to work more than an hour,” says one respondent with two years of BearingPoint under their belt.

Train, train, train BearingPoint’s tech focus means that its employees must always be at the top of their game in terms of the latest hardware and software. One source tells us that BearingPoint consultants “are required to participate” in a minimum of 40 training hours per year, involving Web-based courses, broadcast training and self-study. While many of the firm’s training modules used to be in person, most have been put online to cut costs; nevertheless, we hear that “The number of courses online has just exploded in the last six months, to several hundred classes.” And as one respondent tells us, “Online courses are supplemented with some instructor-led courses; though their availability depends on the skill set you’re looking for.”

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BearingPoint Our Survey Says

After three to nine months on the job, new hires “go to in-person orientations at various spots around the country. There are speakers, and [the new hires] learn about the firm culture, sales procedures, lines of business, and so on.” Afterward, “continuing education opportunities abound and usually involve travel, with BearingPoint picking up the tab.” Insiders report that there is also “support for external training.” At the same time though, adds one source, “Training is very much self-driven – no one ever tells you ‘take this training this week so you can start a related project next month.’” The firm tells us that this is changing, however, with the spring 2002 introduction of a training initiative known as Competency Manager. As part of the program, consultants set training goals twice a year with their performance managers. The system also offers more than 1,000 courses through the online Learning Management System, in addition to external training.

Standard benefits, varying perks The firm offers “four weeks” of personal time, but it’s not exactly all vacation. As one insider describes it, the firm “is a bit unusual in that it combines vacation time with sick leave, so it’s great if you’re young and healthy, maybe not so great if you’re sickly.” Be forewarned that “some perks vary from office to office, or [managing director to managing director], or even manager to manager” and can include “services provided by the company to help with day-to-day activities,” such as a concierge service. While the perks may vary, benefits at BearingPoint are standard in all offices. Among these are medical and dental insurance, long-term disability insurance, a 401(k) savings plan with matching contributions, stock options and an employee stock purchase plan, and an employee referral bonus.

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Getting Hired Overview of the Hiring Process Since the firm’s consultants are marketed for specific industries, BearingPoint places an emphasis on hiring experienced professionals. When it comes to prospects, one source is optimistic: “For the most part, you have to have a decent amount of skills, but occasionally specific projects hire a lot of people very quickly.” While the firm did make a number of campus visits during the late 1990s and early 2000s to bulk up its staff, these days it’s very sparing about who it takes from the undergraduate rolls. Many of the practice areas, particularly high tech and communications and content, are barely hiring at all; others, such as public service, are still bringing people on. “There’s also some growth in consumer and industrial markets because of the Andersen acquisitions,” we hear. Candidates will experience “four to five interviews: a screening interview (usually over the phone) and then a series of interviews with employees from the group you will be working in, either during an office visit or over the phone.” Insiders tell us the types of questions are “driven by the individual interviewer, not by formal processes,” but typically, candidates can expect “a case study, lots of questions about your experiences, team work skills and so on.” To prepare, insiders advise doing research about the specific practice area in which you are interested and to “be flexible” as far as scheduling goes. Insiders tell us that new BearingPoint consultants can expect “four days of training – two days of firm-wide material” that explain what the “values, goals, and mission of the firm are” and “two days of consulting-specific material” that include “procedures, case studies and so on.”

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BearingPoint Getting Hired

Questions to Expect 1. Can you describe the most challenging situation you’ve ever had to deal with and how you dealt with it? BearingPoint fully expects to offer you constant challenges, and wants to establish that you can demonstrate the capacity to rise to them. 2. How do you define success? In general, something like “growing and learning with a supportive firm like BearingPoint and fulfilling my interests in community service” would hit the spot, but try not to sound too artificial. 3. What do you consider to be a consultant’s most important skills? You should familiarize yourself with the job description before answering this one. 4. What would someone you’ve worked for describe as your strengths, as well as areas that need improvement? This is an interview standard. The second part will require some clever spin doctoring to give the impression that you are not so arrogant as to believe that you have no weaknesses, but at the same time that those weaknesses are minor and can be overcome. 5. What specifically appeals to you about BearingPoint? It couldn’t hurt citing BearingPoint’s community service record, but you should also have something to say about the firm’s international reach and industry experience. 6. Tell me about a valuable lesson you learned in the past. Try to think of something that will translate well into the firm culture or philosophy, such as something about the value of hard work or getting along well with others.

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BearingPoint Getting Hired

Questions to Ask 1. What kind of international experience might I expect to obtain at BearingPoint? Will there be any limits on transferring between offices? BearingPoint claims to be very open about office transfers, but you might as well find out for yourself if you have something specific in mind. 2. Can you tell me more about BearingPoint’s volunteer activities? The list is extensive; this is a good way to show that you have the motivation and desire to make a difference in the community. Even if you are not truly interested, it is still a pretty good suck-up question. 3. What major projects does the firm have coming up? Consultants love to talk about this kind of thing. Just be prepared for some unnecessary industry vernacular.

Compensation Pay Consultant (1st year undergraduate): $50,000-$75,000 per year; rate depends on level of experience and education. Consultant (1st year MBA): $100,000-$105,000

Perks • 20 to 25 personal days • Flexible Work Program • Personal Assistance Program • Lifeworks child care, adoption, education, disability, and elder care resource and referral service • Up to $2,500 in adoption costs, plus up to $2,500 for birth mother medical expenses • METPAY discounted auto and homeowner’s insurance program • ConSern educational loan assistance program • Mortgage Assistance Program 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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BearingPoint Getting Hired

• 10 percent tuition discount for children of BearingPoint employees at Children’s World Learning Centers, Childtime Childcare, La Petit Academy and Children’s Discovery Centers • Up to $5,000 in dependent care reimbursement • Choice of health care plans for employee and eligible dependents • Dental plan for employee and eligible dependents • Vision One discount program • Up to $3,000 for health care reimbursement • 401(k) • Incentive compensation program • Disability and illness benefits • Life insurance • Disaster relief fund • Matching gift program (only for charities, not higher education)

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On the Job A Day in the Life Consultant 8:45 a.m.: Arrive at work and eat a bagel. Cinnamon raisin today. 9:00 a.m.: Meet with a partner. The partner needs to be brought up to speed on who is doing what right now. Generally, we get to decide which engagements we want to work on, unless the client has requested someone specifically. 10:00 a.m.: Time for a brainstorming session with the client. 11:15 a.m.: One of the often twice-daily meetings with the rest of the project team. 12:45 p.m.: Head out for a bite to eat. Whoever’s in the office will go out together. We dine this way two or three times a week. 1:45 p.m.: Back to work – making sure that the numbers and procedures are okay for my client, a bank. 3:00 p.m.: Begin the seemingly endless chore of interviewing members of the client’s senior management. 5:30 p.m.: Finally finish interviewing for the day. The manager comes by to discuss a few issues – recruiting at your alma mater, and a trip to Jersey City tomorrow morning to see some original documents – always preferable to just interviews. 6:15 p.m.: Begin to gather material for a competitor and marketing analysis to be done back at the office next week. 8:00 p.m.: Leave for the day. Between 7:00 and 8:00 is pretty standard, but it goes up to midnight before deadlines.

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BearingPoint On the Job

Job Description Consultant Consultants typically enter BearingPoint with extensive work expertise in a certain industry or service, as well as a graduate degree in business administration, computer science, industrial engineering or operations research. Consultants immediately specialize in one of five areas: strategic and financial services, cost and quality management, performance improvement, change management or information technology. In these areas, consultants assess performance, integrate company cultures and help to bring down company costs by installing appropriate software programs, “doing marketing opportunity analyses” and working on “new product development.”

Career Path For undergraduates People “right out of undergraduate or people one or two years out” are hired as assistants, though few if any are being hired these days. The next level up is consultant. Insiders tell us that an “assistant can be promoted to consultant before getting an MBA, but can’t go further.” Thus, assistants are the only professionals in the firm without graduate degrees, except for those promoted to consultant status prior to attending business school. The promotion time is usually about two years, but may be as short as eight months in certain cases. Unfortunately for the firm, “Turnover is pretty high. Not many come back after business school.”

For MBAs MBAs interested in consulting at BearingPoint may enter as either consultants or senior consultants, depending on prior experience and expertise. Employees generally spend one to two years at each of these positions before moving to manager, the next rung on the ladder. The firm offers the opportunity to switch between different areas, but few do (unlike the case for assistants and pre-graduate school consultants). Remarks one insider, “The [MBA] recruiting process is geared to find out where people best fit, and it usually works.” More often, “once [they] make senior consultant, people move on” from the firm altogether. While mass departures

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happen at all levels, “most people stay for two or three years,” so the biggest loss is most often among the senior consultant ranks. After leaving BearingPoint, “people tend to go into marketing or strategy planning departments [in companies in] many industries.” Most remain within the area of the line of business in which they worked, except for IT and strategy people, who work across industry lines. Those who do stay on put in another two years or so as managers before becoming senior managers. Partnership awaits at the end of a stint of similar duration at senior manager level.

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How many consulting job boards have you visited lately? (Thought so.) Use the Internet’s most targeted job search tools for consulting professionals.

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BearingPoint

Final Analysis Blazer and friends chose the name BearingPoint to evoke the company’s ability to keep clients on track. But the name evokes another meaning as well: Almost two years after spinning off from KPMG, the firm is still trying to get its bearings in a market that is not at all amenable to large IT service firms, particularly firms that are in the midst of significant changes. That’s not to say that BearingPoint is in trouble; the acquisition of so many KPMG International offices as well as the bulk of Andersen’s business consulting practice may cause growing pains in the short term, but the move will allow BearingPoint an important flexibility as the market for IT consulting evolves over the next half decade. And while the firm is holding back on new hires and has laid off a number of employees, it is also making the smart move by holding on to its most valuable consultants. Bottom line: BearingPoint may not be at the top of the consulting game right now, but it’s well positioned to be there in the coming years.

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Recommended Reading Here are some recent articles we recommend. • “KPMG Consulting Resolves Identity Crisis,” Washington Post, 10/3/2002. • “Give Me Your Watch: PwC, KPMG Had Big Years in 2001,” CFO Magazine, 12/21/2001. • “KPMG Consulting Plans to Hire Andersen Employees,” LA Times, 6/27/2002. • “KPMG’s Brave Leap into the Cold,” BusinessWeek, 5/21/2001.

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