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Booz Allen Overview
| Q: | What does your firm do? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| A: | Booz Allen Hamilton is one of the world’s leading management and technology consulting firms. Our more than 10,000 professionals on six continents work in support of the CEO agenda to help clients—from Fortune 1000 companies and government agencies to Internet and e-commerce innovators—revolutionize and transform their organizations. We combine specialized industry understanding with functional expertise to deliver fully integrated solutions fast.Booz Allen Hamilton’s Worldwide Commercial Business (WCB) creates innovative solutions for corporate clients by coordinating the industry specialists and e-gurus of our nine global teams. Our Worldwide Technology Business (WTB) provides the same cutting-edge services to public sector clients.
Our service offerings encompass information technology, organization and strategic leadership, operations, and strategy. We work closely with clients in all major industries, including automotive, aerospace and industrials, communications, media and technology, consumer and health, energy, and financial and health services. |
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| A: | Our competitors are top-tier management consulting firms that consult to senior-level management.To help a client strategically reinvent its industry with digital technology, a consultancy needs to understand strategy, industries, and digital technology. Only Booz Allen has the whole package.
The following chart demonstrates how we stack up against both traditional and nontraditional competition.
Additional differentiating factors:
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| A: | Booz Allen recruits outstanding candidates from graduate schools, undergraduate institutions, and other degree programs, as well as from the world’s top corporations. New MBA hires begin at the associate level and advance to senior associate, principal, and then partner. People typically spend two to three years at each level. On average, it takes about seven years to become a partner.Undergraduates join the firm as consultants, who are integral members of our teams. Because consultants usually join the firm directly from undergraduate schools, we don’t expect them to have the same expertise as new associates or industry hires. We invest in their training to enable them to develop the high-level business skills they need to become powerful contributors on client projects. Most consultants remain with the firm for two to three years before attending top-tier business schools or, on occasion, moving on to other career opportunities. Booz Allen supports their choices and offers tuition reimbursement to consultants who choose to attend business school and return as associates. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| A: | Booz Allen hires a significant number of experienced individuals. Last year more than 25 percent of our new members were experienced hires. We expect to continue that mix ongoing. Among the strategy-consulting firms, Booz Allen is uniquely suited to utilize the skills and perspectives offered by experienced individuals. We work closely with clients in all major industries, including automotive, aerospace and industrials, communications, media and technology, consumer and health, energy, and financial and health services. We are very interested in individuals with backgrounds that they wish to utilize in a broader area as a strategic consultant. We and our clients greatly value the knowledge and know-how people with experience represent. We hire experienced individuals at all levels in the firm, but more so at the middle levels of senior associate and principal. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| A: | Our compensation package consists of a signing bonus, salary, performance bonus, and benefits, including relocation, medical, dental, life insurance, and retirement program options. Our compensation package is highly competitive within the industry. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| A: | Booz Allen’s turnover rate is comparable to the industry average. While we seek candidates who are committed to a career in consulting, we also recognize that many candidates need to experience consulting before deciding on a long-term career path. For consultants who decide to transition out of the firm, Booz Allen makes available a number of services to assist them in the process. In addition to career counseling, consultants also have access to a well-maintained database of job leads, as well as an extensive contact list of executive search/outplacement professionals. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| A: | Booz Allen is looking to see if your previous work experience demonstrates leadership and teamwork—which will be essential components of your work at the firm. We also look for intellectual and personal integrity, analytic ability, creative problem-solving skills, the ability to see the “big picture” while maintaining attention to details, and superb communication skills. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| A: | At Booz Allen, we know that it’s our people who make the difference. We seek out creative people with a passion for work and for life, people who want to have a real impact on their world. We encourage independence and entrepreneurial spirit within our strong team-oriented community. And we work hard to give our people the opportunities, latitude, and resources they need to excel.Our culture is shaped by our core professional values—client service, excellence, diversity, teamwork, and entrepreneurship—and individual values—trust, respect, integrity, fairness and professionalism. This is a true meritocracy: We value ideas over hierarchy, respect over arrogance, and merit over politics. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| A: | Consulting in general requires travel, and nights away from home. The average number of hours worked is similar to that worked in other demanding business fields and professions. However, the project nature of consulting means that the intensity of your work will vary, depending on the stage of the engagement. We know from experience that if you are capable of intense effort, you must also make significant commitments elsewhere in order to balance your life, and to maintain motivation and vitality. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| A: | Our non-partner professional staff is 38 percent female. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| A: | We actively recruit at top business and undergraduate schools, as well as through leading non-MBA programs (for example, those for PhDs and JDs). We provide students with many opportunities to interact with Booz Allen staff members at all levels through our corporate presentations, club events, case workshops, and other initiatives. Information on where to send resumes is made widely available to all students at the schools where we recruit. In addition, you can always send your resume to mba_recruiter@bah.com or advanced_degrees@bah.com. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| A: | All candidates should expect a rigorous and highly selective interviewing process. The interview will cover the individual’s academic and career background, motivation for seeking a career in consulting, and more specifically, with Booz Allen, and the individual’s ability to assess business situations. Most candidates will have multiple interviews, and in most they should expect to assess a business situation or case. Of course, individuals should be prepared and will have an opportunity to ask their questions about Booz Allen and career opportunities with our firm. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| A: | The most important components of a good interview are:
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| A: | During the past two years, Booz Allen and Special Olympics have been working closely together on a reorganization that will set the stage for unprecedented growth for Special Olympics’ global sports movement. Our goal is to double the number of athletes involved with Special Olympics around the world by 2005.For the next four to five months, a team of eight Booz Allen consultants and five Special Olympics representatives will address two critical issues:
Special Olympics and Booz Allen have decided to carry out this engagement on the Web for two reasons:
Coverage of the Booz Allen/Special Olympics project kicks off on October 31, 2000, at www.boozallen.com/special_olympics. Check in regularly to follow our progress—and to offer your own suggestions to the team. |
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| A: | Community service is an important part of the Booz Allen culture. The firm provides financial support, pro bono support, and volunteers for a wide variety of not-for-profits—from Little League teams to medical research and the performing arts. Some of our major partnerships include Partners in Education With Schools, the Arthritis Foundation, the American Cancer Society, Harlem Dance Studio, the Dallas Opera, Christmas in April, The Smithsonian, Wolf Trap, the United Negro College Fund, and Special Olympics Inc.The number of activities in which Booz Allen is involved varies from year to year, but our professionals are active advocates for local communities and worldwide charities alike. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| A: | Booz Allen provides students with excellent opportunities to learn about consulting first-hand through our summer associate program. Summer associates typically spend from ten to 12 weeks with us, working on real engagements with real teams and real clients around the world. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
WetFeet Consulting Career Profiles
Career Overview
While many businesses are based on selling products or services, consulting firms primarily sell knowledge. Whether it’s management consulting, human resources consulting, marketing consulting, technology consulting or something else, consultants advise corporations and other organizations regarding an infinite array of issues related to business strategy. You name it—re-engineering, e-commerce, change management, systems integration, billion-dollar mergers and acquisitions, corporate—there is a consultant that is available to tell companies how to meet their challenges better, stronger, and faster. They are the directors behind the scenes of nearly every major event in the marketplace.
Of course, “consulting” is a big, one-size-fits-all term that includes virtually any form of advice-giving. Pretty much anyone with a specialty in a field can offer consulting service. The area that most people think of when it comes to consulting is management consulting, a broad category in its own right. Often called strategy consulting, this segment of the industry includes firms that specialize in providing advice about strategic and core operational issues. However, there are also consultants who specialize in everything from workplace safety issues to environmental concerns to family-owned business issues.
While most management consultants hold salaried positions at firms that cater to a clientele of mostly large corporations, other consultants hang out a shingle and offer their services as soloists or as owners of small companies. They usually deal with clients on a project basis, and clients are billed by the hour for their services. Depending on the client’s needs and the firm’s functional specialty (or core competency, as it’s often called), consultants conduct objective research and analysis on behalf of their client, and make recommendations based on their findings. Ultimately, consultants take on the responsibility of improving their clients’ businesses by effecting change through their recommendations.
Although some of the highest-profile firms populate this segment, there are thousands of other organizations and individuals that call themselves consultants, make money by selling their advisory services, and offer plenty of opportunities for employment. If you like the idea of giving advice to other businesses, and you have a particular interest in computers, human resources, corporate communications, mobile communications, health care, financial services, real estate, e-commerce, or some other specialized field, there’s a good chance you can find a position with an organization doing precisely that.
What You’ll Do
Research and analysis are the main tools of the trade for management consultants. They analyze a business problem from various angles by conducting research and forming and testing hypotheses. Research may consist of collecting raw data from internal sources—such as the client’s computers or employees—and external sources, such as trade associations or government agencies. Consultants get some of their most valuable data from surveys and market studies that they devise and implement themselves. The data must then be analyzed in relation to the client’s organization, operations, customers, and competitors to locate potential areas for improvement and form solutions. These solutions are then recommended to the client and—with any luck—implemented. (Sometimes convincing a client to accept a consultant’s recommendations can be the most difficult aspect of the job, and there is always a chance that the client will choose not to accept the consultant’s recommendation at all.)
Consultants often must travel to where their clients are located, sometimes spending days—even weeks—conducting research or implementing solutions. Long hours are common. But the pay is great, not to mention the bonuses.
Who Does Well
For those who enjoy problem solving and thinking about business strategy, consulting can be a very fulfilling career as well as an excellent jumping-off point for a management career or a future as an entrepreneur. On the flip side, frequent travel and long hours can make a consultant’s schedule very demanding.
While consulting is great for people who like variety in their work, it is not for those allergic to structure and hierarchy. The large and elite firms tend to have a culture that mirrors that of their corporate clients, complete with a steep career ladder: Only a select few make it to partner-level, and that’s with an MBA and 6 to 8 years at the firm.
Requirements
Although the competition at top firms is intense, the qualities that recruiters look for are similar across the board. Besides outstanding academic records, firms want people who are problem solvers, creative thinkers, good communicators, and who have a keen understanding of and interest in business.
Top candidates will also have previous experience in the business world (consulting internships are impressive but not required) as well as a record of extracurricular achievement. Firms specializing in IT consulting or e-business may require technical skills and experience.
Candidates with experience in industry are much sought after, particularly by firms that have industry practices that correspond to candidates’ backgrounds. Several firms hold specialized information sessions for experienced candidates as well as PhDs and JDs. Consult firms’ websites directly or contact firms’ human resources departments or local graduate schools for schedules and eligibility.
In the interview, most recruiters pay close attention to a candidate’s experience and background. According to insiders, most consulting interviewers are looking for the following:
- High energy and enthusiasm
- Team orientation
- Integrity
- Excitement about consulting
- Knowledge about what makes the interviewing firm different
- Success on the airplane test—do you want to sit next to this person on a long overseas flight?
- Interpersonal skills
- Industry experience
Finally, all management consulting hopefuls must clear the dreaded case-interview hurdle to land a consulting position.
Job Outlook
It’s a good time to be a consultant. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment in management, technology, and scientific consulting will skyrocket 60 percent between 2004 and 2014, much faster than the 14 percent growth projected for all industries. That makes it the fifth–fastest growing industry in the economy. As more businesses look for a competitive edge, hiring consultants is widely accepted and encouraged.
Opportunities are best in areas that reflect current business trends and needs, such as IT, environmental, and “green” business; workplace safety; and others. As workplace regulations become more stringent in certain sectors—in medical offices, for instance—specialized consultants will be needed to navigate those requirements and ensure that businesses are in compliance with federal, state and local requirements.
Career Tracks
Undergraduates
Undergraduates generally join a consulting firm as analysts, although their titles vary. The work itself—as well as the hours—can be quite demanding. It often includes field research, data analysis, customer and competitor interviews, and client meetings. In IT, analysts might do heavy-duty programming. Traditionally, the analyst program lasts two or three years, after which you’re encouraged to go to business school. However, this system has been changing over the past several years. Firms have increasingly begun to promote analysts into positions they hire MBAs into or else into an interim role between the undergraduate and MBA position. If you choose to go to business school, many firms will pay your tuition, provided you return to the firm when you’re done.
MBAs
Consulting firms hire MBAs and other postgraduates right out of school or from industry. Most new MBA hires will come into a firm as associates; after two or three years they’ll move to the next level, where they’ll manage case teams. After managing projects for a couple of years, consultants may be promoted to principal, whereupon the focus shifts to more intensive client work and the selling of services. Finally, after six to eight years with a firm, a consultant might be promoted to partner. The benefits of partnership are big increases in salary and responsibility. The key function of partners at most firms is to cultivate clients and sell them new business.
Mid-Career Professionals
If you have spent years accumulating knowledge about a particular business sector, that knowledge can be valuable to other companies. To make the transition into consulting, you should have a solid base of experience, as well as a few success stories to share. After all, you’re going to be giving advice to other professionals—they want to know that you’re a cut above the other people in your field. So, if you came up with the idea for the Mac vs. PC television commercials or helped a company save $3 million on its IT costs, be sure to share that information.
Advanced-Degree Candidates
Over the past five years, consulting firms have increasingly tapped nontraditional candidate pools, including JDs, PhDs, and MDs. If you are one of these candidates, find out which level you’ll come in at—the same level as undergrads, MBAs, or experienced hires. Also, you should ask about the type of support you’ll receive once you join the firm. Some organizations offer a mini-MBA training program, while others rely more heavily on mentorship.
Compensation
The major consulting firms are among the best-paying employers for new graduates. They are also known for offering excellent perks and benefits, such as annual offsite meetings at posh resorts and reimbursements of school expenses.
Salaries and bonus packages at the top firms are generally in close range of each other, since these firms usually compete for the same pool of candidates. At the margins, there are slight differences in compensation: Lesser-known firms may offer slightly higher salaries or bonuses to attract top candidates, and some organizations have different ways of splitting up the bonus pie (for instance, linking a portion of the bonus to the firm’s annual performance).
MBAs
In 2007, we estimate MBAs hired into elite firms will start somewhere around $100,000, reaching more than $205,000 after five years. There’s less of an emphasis on signing bonuses than in the past; these can run up to $30,000. Although consultants often have higher base salaries than investment bankers, bankers stand to make lots more—as much as 100 percent of their base—in their year-end bonuses. That’s why some junior partners on Wall Street make more money than senior partners at consulting firms.
Undergrads
Staff consultants at management consulting firms are likely going to be earning between $56,000 to $84,000, often plus a signing bonus and year-end bonus. As in the MBA market, signing bonuses are not as prevalent or generous as they once were, but can range up to $10,000. Those joining a large IT services firm will likely be in the $35,000 to $55,000 range to start, with salaries climbing to $90,000 or more after a few years.