I am here to 'out' accenture, who are currently on a big recruitment 'drive', whereby they are not actually hiring anyone. They will put you through all the stages of the recruitment process, but when it comes down to 'offer time', they use all excuses in the book.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. I can see the headlines now."accenture rejects consultant; world continues to revolve."(it couldn't just be because you failed to convince them, shirley?)

Interesting. That at least makes me feel better about the time I was rejected by them. I did think something was fishy because, if anything, I felt that I was too good for them, not the other way around. I did feel as if I was being used as interview practice for someone who was on the bench.Let's hope this thread doesn't get deleted. It does appear that some companies are sacrosanct on here and cannot be talked about except in the most positive light. Please keep things factual and unbiased, guys.

Sorry, standards are just high.

You have misunderstood me. The outcome of all my interviews have been positive/yes. However, now at 'offer stage', (the next logical step if you pass all interviews) it is excuse time. I really do have to commend them for the creativity of their delay tactics.

Tell us about these delay tactics. Be specific.

I think you just didn't make the cut as we are definately recruitng and have actually recruited as i've seen the emails going around introducing new folks! Tough luck old chap.

Fair enough. But if I didn't make the cut, they should tell me so, rather than saying yes, but then delaying handing out an offer!

Fair enough. But if I didn't make the cut, they should tell me so, rather than saying yes, but then delaying handing out an offer!

unhappy - how do you know you've passed all the interviews? what specifically are the excuses they've deployed and what have they told you? is this through a recruiter who may be stringing you along? please be fact-based. there is such a thing as falling at the final hurdle you know.

After reading all these comments, I am so glad that I work at a strategy consulting firm rather than an amateurish bodyshop like Accenture.I find it so hilarious to see the lengths that Accenture employees will go to defend their firm

I don't want to give specifics in order to retain anonymity, however, I will say this:-They told me I had passed final round, and would get back to me.-They then told me something else the following week (still positive), but was a delay tactic.-Negotiations then began-Delay tactics resumed the following day.The important thing to note, is that at no point have I actually been made an offer.

As a general observation on the industry right now, all the major consulting brands are having significant problems with staff retention. If the industry is growing 1%-2% in revenue terms this year but staff churn has surged to 20% per annum, almost all hiring demand is a direct result of the need to replace staff walking out the door.Given the lead times involved in interviewing consultants and getting them to offer stage, clearly a lot of the resulting hiring activity has to be undertaken <b>in anticipation</b> of needing to make hires in certain areas, but the exact timing of when those hires will be needed depends on who ultimately leaves and when.This may or may not explain what you&apos;re experiencing at Accenture, but certainly across the industry as a whole I would say this is a significant issue that is resulting in unpredictable time-to-offer cycles and causing candidate resentment. One thing I can say categorically is that putting candidates through the interview process is extremely resource intensive and no firms would be doing this if they didn&apos;t genuinely want to recruit. Posting adverts and then rejecting every candidate doesn&apos;t cost much to do, but once you involve billable consultants and partners in the recruitment process there&apos;s a significant cost incurred.I&apos;ve had meetings with major firms who are maintaining lists of people they think are likely to leave and are using this as the basis for forward planning their hiring activities. I can quite see how this results in a less than satisfactory outcome for candidates in terms of waiting times, but with margins in the industry squeezed right now no one wants to take on additional consulting staff until they&apos;re absolutely needed.Tony RestellTop-Consultant.com

"I am so glad that I work at a strategy consulting firm"Good luck to you, I am glad i work for Accenture and am sitting at home in the sunshine working while fully chargeable

Tony,That is what I suspected (they are waiting on work availability), but I would prefer they were at least honest. To all you Acn ppl, this should be a warning to you all. Acn must expect a fairly large exodus come &apos;Tell Day&apos; if they are hiring extensively in anticipation!!!

I assume are grad level hire. 3 points1. Recruitment profile / academics for the big 4 are comparabe + provide much better exit options in 2-3 yrs2. Accenture grad starting package seems high but does not increase at the rate you would experience in the big 4 if you were reasonable sensible. Lower than strategy firms. 3. Compare the alumni networks of Accenture vs. Big 4 vs. Strategy firms. Accenture alumni, on avg., tend to be in significantly lower positions / calibre firms. In my view it comes down to research. The typical grad ACN has a general idea that &apos;consulting is cool&apos; but has not done the research of how consulting actually segments. Don&apos;t get tempted by the dollar bribe at Year 1. Your career is 30+yrs.

FB - that&apos;s rubbish. i don&apos;t recruit for ACN but do recruit for PwC and Deloitte. ACN people at every level are always higher paid (or over paid if you want to be honest).

I disagree with the brainwashed chap that thinks the Big 4 is all that. Remember Accenture has a management consulting division as well as IT and the calibre of people in it are very high. I&apos;m not sure how exit ops from the big 4 would be better. Pretty sure a recruiter looking at cvs of a kpmg consultant and an accenture one would pick the accenture guy every day of the week.

I&apos;m not a grad hire, but an experienced one, which makes the whole waiting process even more annoying as i&apos;m needing to manage expectations at my own workplace as to when i will be leaving (i.e, trying to avoid taking on big projects, when I know i&apos;ll be out the door any minute).

Accenture recruiting is always a long-winded process - that is point 1. You mentioned that negotiations had started, yet you hadn&apos;t received an offer - how is that possible?Also bear in mind that HR will be heavily involved at the moment in Annual Reviews so their focus may not be fully on recruitment (although IMO this is a mistake).We have a strong pipeline so there is a need to bring on strong people, hard to hear this, but you will just have to hang in there...

They have a separate HR function for recruiting, so the fact the rest of HR is busy with Annual Reviews should not be too much of an issue as I have already completed all my interviews.In all honesty, this is the reason why I am not happy. It is the dishonesty and stealth they are using that I find unacceptable. I too ask myself how they managed to tell me I had passed all interviews, begin the negotiation process, YET, when I look back to our discussion, at no point was I ever made an offer!!!!

I guess what you have to ask yourself, unhappy anon, is whether you want to join a company where your first experience with them (one that should be undoubtedly positive) has been so bad. You&apos;ve invested a lot of time and effort, successfully jumped through all their hoops.... and now it&apos;s come to the crunch, you&apos;re left out on a limb? Doesn&apos;t bode well if you ask me. Put it this way, if you were a prospective client of theirs and received the same experience, would you proceed to signing a deal?I&apos;m sure a lot of folk are very happy with the company and have a lot of positive things to say about them - but are YOU happy, that&apos;s the key point.

They dont convince me. I went there for an interview some years ago. They started interviewing me for a different role to the one I applied for. They did not tell me until the end of the interview that it was a very different role to the one I applied for.This seemed to be a stupid tactic as it flew in the face of an approach where you had a chance to explain how you might be able to deliver to their requirements. The HR women seemed stressed and overworked. I considered that this firm might have been struggling to manage her. They have done little or nothing to convince me of anything positive since then:- Why should we associate Tiger Woods with top tier consulting?- Why are they any better than their rivals for people that are better than average and want to work in this industry?- Why so often do they attempt to make out that something very profound has come of their involvement even when it goes wrong? Be happy you escaped and try somewhere better

I like the guy who makes himself feel better by saying he is glad he works for a REAL consulting house not just a bodyshop like ACN...The bottom line is: you can b@tch all you want; ACN is the biggest and most successful out there and therefore the best. Hate it or love it; in this world there is one measure of performance: $$$

Actually there are many measures of performance. If you focus just on $ then you will have a very narrow view of the world.

I work for an agency that hires into Accenture and they ARE hiring. They do seem to be interviewing an abnormally high number of people, who realistically aren&apos;t that good but if there&apos;s something on their CV they like they see them. As for process - it is long and slow and not helped by their outsourced recruitment co-ordinaters, but they do make offers, and good ones at that.

recruiter, what kind of offers?

i was hired recently. it was 6 weeks from online app to offer.

what business area wer u hired into?

can confirm that we have some new starters as manager joining over the next few weeks.

Hello ACNer. Tell us more about these "managers". What or whom do they manage? Are they experienced? What are their qualifications of relevance to the job? What makes them stand out from the crowd?

&apos;Actually there are many measures of performance. If you focus just on $ then you will have a very narrow view of the world.&apos;Give me some examples:Here I&apos;ll get you started:Happy employees: to make more $$Happy customers: to make more $$Happy suppliers: to make more $$Maximum throughput: to make more $$CSR: to look good whilst making more $$Brand equity: to give longevity to more $$The formula is simple; my view is not narrow! it follows the converging path of all these metrics - they are important as they ultimately affect the economic viability of an organisation...

Based purely on profit the "best" companies in the World are oil companies because they have the largest profits. But one could use other metrics that are just as valid:Being seen by customers as the best at what you do (not necessarily in the largest market) => less $ but still the bestBeing a fun place to work => not necessarily more $ but something to be proud ofEliminating a disease in Africa (as Bill Gates) => costs $ but does it not have a value?

pin stripe suits or chinos?

In fact as pointed out in an article in the FT yesterday oil companies make a very low level of profit relative to their revenues. Its a very high cost business. Think they said net earnings were c. 8%.

the 8% margin is massive still when you consider the revenues and the spread of these firms.

Typical non-sense from Accenture....no wonder we see a lot of Accenture applicants and Accenture employees wanting to leave...Accenture should not even be mentioned on this forum - they can&apos;t be classified as consultants

I too am in the same camp as the OP. Applied in Feb, have had all interviews, yet no response!This is highly unfair to candidates and I do think Accenture should do more to keep candidates in the loop.

Probably not much consolation for some of you, but I know for a fact that ACN senior mgmt are aware of the current problems/issues with their recruitment and are endeavouring to rectify it...

Are ACN senior management actually aware of what the problems actually are though?

I think ACN is one of the most efficient consultant company when it comes to Interviews to Job offers. I had my first telephone interview and the final partner, HR interview within 4 weeks. The job offer came thru as well. I was very impressed with the professionalism. Overall a very positive experience.Hence, accepted the offer without a second thought.

Clearly it is hit and miss. When I applied I found the Accenture interview process by far the most professional of the 5 major consultancy/SIs I interviewed with. Good interviewers, and rapid turnaround.

I&apos;m very confused after reading this....when do they exactly let us know abt the interview outcome? Was told by the HR lady ,that I will be told abt the result,definitely in a week&apos;s time,and it&apos;s more than a week now.And I&apos;m still waiting,this waiting is killing me.Now what do I make of this discussion here,...are Accenture really professional and let us know abt the Interview outcomes as promised or are they really really slow.Do they even let the candidate know if the result is negative???

mick, it is hit an miss as Baykus suggests aboveThey&apos;ll tell you at interview that they will be quick and efficient in gettign back to you, but I&apos;m afraid its an aspiration not a commitment....bit like their project commitments to clients?

Mick, as anon said you dont really know.In my case, got called for the 2nd round 5 days after Round 1.And then got a call from HR 4 days after Round 2. I know at the moment they have a huge number of interviews going on and a big backlog as one my friends has mentioned it so it may just take longer than usual.They also take 2 weeks to confirm the final offer once you submit the documents and references they ask for but it has now been over 3 weeks for me mainly due to the above mentioned backlog of profilesAll the best to youAces

maybe they&apos;re just not that into you?

Accenture. Some people have good experiences - others don&apos;t. Shock horror !Long-winded discussion. Delivered.

Thanks Aces!!! And Anon, you are such a SADIST!!!FYI,I did get a call and the offer as well!!....