Hey there ladies gents, boys and girls,I (like many others) will be joining the Accenture family in the forthcoming months. As a young and impressionable graduate any advice from battle hardened veteran consultants would be greatly appreciated. In particular, what are the pitfalls of MCIM in ACN and what are the best ways to succeed in Accentures oft criticised performance measurement process. I'm bursting with enthusiasm and ambition and simply want to make the most of my first year in consulting.Thanks!PS I appreciate many posts will likely be littered with irony and satire - this board wouldn't be the same without it

Sleep with your SE(s)

- Network, network, network. Single most important skill you will build and your future projects and roles will depend on this. - work hard (clichéd) but learn to deliver first, worry about performance and promotion later. - get on as much training that is possible. do all the core schools and get onto all the other classes available. - don't get pressurised into taking projects you are a) ill suited to b) have no interest in. HR want to keep utilisaiton up as a priority but learn to look after no1. - learn to say no and push back managers who demand too much. yes its a careful balance to strike but don't keep taking on more and complaining about amount of work later. Learn to speak up.- keep your career councilor involved in all the decision making process - single most important person who has direct say in your career.- goto socials and team nights out - beer conversations with seniors and networking does have value. - don't let uncle acn take over your life - have a life outside of work, good to switch off. - enjoy it and best of luck! 

Agree with Network network netwrok upwards... based on experience I would say it's more important than ability... If you have average ability but a good network you would still progress, working hard and doing good work isn't enough when it comes to performance.. how you get on with management is more important

1. Stay out of the "CW" group by sucking up and doing as much internal "community" make work as possible to get you noticed in your ACG starting pool. Even if it gets in the way of project work - hell, especially if it does: nothing like pitting one Mgr against another.2. Your career counselor is NOT the most important person in your career. It's your SE and your file reviewer. You normally don't know who reviews your perf file until late in the process, but don't let that stop you from loving them as only you can.3. Ignore the C's. They will treat you as peons until you find a nice Mgr / SM to hide behind. C1s are the worst - jumped up A's who think they've started on the fast track. Always look for older M3s/SM1s who have given up hope of making partner and are just in it for the 9 to 5. They will shelter you.p.s.it's only funny because it's true.

Definitely sleep with Senior Managers (SM) and Senior Executives (SE). Do not turn down any of the "jestful" propositions you will receive. This is a tried and tested strategy for accelerated advancement. I wish I was joking.

Cheers for the advice - it's much appreciated and makes a lot of sense :)RE Survival Tips comment, could you clarify what you mean by the "CW" group - i feel relatively aquainted with ACN's neverending list of acronyms but that one escapes me!

CW = "Consistent With" expectations within the performance management processMore commonly understood to mean "Crap Work (but not quite bad enough for the client to sue us)"

CW stands for crap work or consitent with our low expectations

Thanks again for the help - if anyone happens to think of anything else feel free to add it at a later date!