Graduate Outsourcing Careers at Accenture in the UK

Postcard from Wolverhampton

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 13:59:36 GMT

It is 5.50PM and I am sitting on the train heading back home to London after spending Monday to Thursday at the client site in Wolverhampton. Unfortunately I was not able to snag one of the “good” seats (i.e. forward facing ones with a table) on this busy train, so I am writing this while facing backwards, watching the black country rapidly disappear into the distance.

High Performance Redecoration – Delivered

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 14:48:57 GMT

As you may know from browsing our graduate recruitment site, all Accenture UK employees are entitled to three days of paid leave per year to spend working on charitable activities. The beneficiary must be a UK-registered charity, but apart from that there are no restrictions placed on the type of organization or on the work that we can do for them. Some Accenture people choose to provide their consulting skills free of charge to their chosen charity, working on small mini-projects either individually or in collaboration with other Accenture employees. Other people undertake tasks as diverse as providing career advice and mentoring to younger people, building community parks and gardens or running marathons in support of their preferred organizations.

Back to Work

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 17:15:03 GMT

A short entry this week, as I have just returned from my vacation in St. Louis, and so there have been no project-related events for me to blog about!

New Responsibilities

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 17:16:55 GMT

I have been working from home a fair amount recently, as several of my team members (including my manager) have been away on vacation. Although it is still good to come to the office to catch up with colleagues assigned to different projects, at times it can be convenient to work from home in these situations and avoid the daily commute. When so much work can be accomplished remotely via email or conference call, being physically present in a particular location is oftentimes not necessary. Last Thursday, however, I had some expenses to submit and a couple of faxes to send, so I had to venture out to our London – Fenchurch Street office (my home office).

How would you like to go to Cyprus? (Part 1)

Thu, 22 May 2008 19:05:00 GMT

On Wednesday 27 February, while working in our London – Fenchurch Street office, I received a call from my manager. It went something along the lines of this: Me: Hello, Sam Hooper Manager: Hi Sam, how are you doing? Me: Good thanks, what can I do for you? Manager: Well, what are you doing for the next two weeks? Me: [quickly checking my Outlook calendar and Filofax] Just my normal calendar of events, no other major tasks. Manager: How would you like to go to Cyprus? I have done quite well with regard to travel on my current project, having already visited Seattle, Dublin and Warsaw over the past year. However, I wouldn’t describe myself as a jet-setter, and I normally have a few weeks’ notice when an international trip is on the cards. On this occasion, however, the circumstances of the project required somebody to go to Cyprus at quite short notice to provide some project management support, and my name was at the top of the list. And so after a quick look at Accenture’s travel booking website to confirm flight and hotel prices, I found myself booked to travel to Nicosia, Cyprus from 3-14 March. I was sent to Cyprus to support the Knowledge Transfer activities which are currently taking place with the client. Our client’s subsidiaries in Cyprus and the Middle East were originally intended for a remote knowledge transfer approach, where we use web conferencing and other tools to pick up the detailed process knowledge from the client employees and transfer it to the Accenture operations team in our Delivery Centres who will manage the process going forward. However, for a number of reasons it became necessary to adopt the following (slightly different) approach for these client subsidiaries: For reasons of cost and client availability, it was also necessary to compress the normal 7-week knowledge transfer period into a window of just 2 weeks. In addition, we were to be transferring the process knowledge of 6 countries simultaneously, making the agenda rather tight! Fortunately, I was not heading to Cyprus on my own. One of the Senior Managers on my project was flying out with me to provide oversight for the first few days, and a Consultant-level team member who has been brought on to our project on a short-term basis also flew out to do the main ‘process-leaning’ part of the knowledge transfer. My job was to ensure that all activities were completed on time, the principle activity being the production of the Desktop Procedures (DTPs) for every process. DTPs are the detailed instruction manuals used by Accenture Operations team members in our Delivery Centres, containing step-by-step instructions for performing the various client processes. Though many of the client’s business processes are global, there will always be some country-specific exceptions to ensure that the regional subsidiary is in compliance with the legal or business requirements of that country. The purpose of our trip was to discover these country-specific process steps, and to document them. A typical completed desktop procedure contains very low-level written instructions for completing each task, along with ‘screenshot’ images of the various tools and applications that the operator will use. I flew to Cyprus from London Heathrow Airport on Monday morning, and by late afternoon I arrived at the hotel which would serve as our home and office for the next two weeks. I quickly arranged to have dinner with the consultant that I would be working with, so that we could plan our approach for the upcoming two weeks, and we agreed that the completion deadline of two weeks would be difficult to achieve! However, during this session we were also able to arrange a good ‘division of labour’ that allowed us to divide the work equitably and efficiently. This helped to pave the way for the next two weeks of work, and ensured that we could focus our energy on learning and documenting the client’s processes. Working closely with client team members for a prolonged period of time is still fairly new to me, as my roles to date (Project Management Office Analyst and Remote Knowledge Transfer Tools Lead) have been performed centrally and remotely, requiring many telephone and email exchanges but few face-to-face interactions with the client team. This differs slightly from the typical experience of a new joiner to Accenture’s Mobilisation Team, who can usually expect to spend a significant amount of time on-site with the client. Therefore, I was extremely keen to make the most of this experience of working directly with the client, as my next project will almost certainly require me to work in this environment to a much greater extent. In my next blog post – to follow shortly – I will explain what I did during my two weeks of Knowledge Transfer in Cyprus, highlight some useful things that I learned during the trip, and (if there’s room!) throw in a couple of the more amusing/odd incidents which took place while we were there.

Meeting up with the team

Thu, 22 May 2008 19:04:00 GMT

Every couple of months, the senior executive leading our transition project will call a face-to-face meeting of the Transition Management Team. Because our team is so widespread – based in the UK and US, but with frequent trips to our Delivery Centres and client locations in many other countries – it is not often possible for everybody to be in the same place at the same time, especially during particularly busy periods such as the week before an important milestone or Go-Live date. Yesterday we had such a meeting, and the various workstream managers flew in from Denver, Aberdeen and various other corners of the world to attend. I attend because one of my remaining PMO (Project Management Office) duties is to take down and distribute the action items resulting from these meetings. This is one of the advantages of a PMO role – exposure to the very senior management team from an early stage. This gives me a great “birds-eye” view of everything that is happening across the whole project, a view that many of my more senior colleagues themselves do not have!

Moving Up

Thu, 22 May 2008 19:00:00 GMT

Last week, whilst in Warsaw, I received a telephone call from my career counselor. All employees at Accenture have a career counselor, a senior member of the team (normally a manager or senior manager) responsible for advising you about your career options and acting as your advocate in the twice-yearly performance review cycles. The purpose of assigning career counselors is to provide employees with a fixed point of reference and a person with whom they can discuss career goals and objectives in the medium to long term. Because of the project-based nature of the work that we do, and the fact that supervisors and managers will change with each new assignment, it is good to build a relationship with an experienced member of the Mobilisation team who can take a longer-term view of your career.

One year and counting...

Thu, 22 May 2008 18:58:00 GMT

On Tuesday, 29 January, whilst in Warsaw, I completed my first full year as an Accenture employee. I was one of six new joiners to the UK/Ireland Mobilisation team to start that day, and since that time 14 more graduates have joined the team, in three waves. I mention my one-year anniversary with Accenture because four more graduate joiners are just finishing their Core Analyst School training in Chicago, and will spend their first full day in the office on Monday.

Return to Warsaw

Thu, 22 May 2008 18:57:00 GMT

As I write these words it is 8:45 pm UK Time and I am sitting in seat 12E on the slightly delayed LOT Polish Airlines flight 285 from Warsaw to London. I am heading home after a two-day trip to Accenture’s Warsaw Delivery Centre with colleagues from my project. The trip to Warsaw served several functions, most importantly the opportunity to meet face-to-face with several Warsaw-based team members with whom I will be working as part of my new, expanded role on my project. My blog entry this week will focus on this, my second visit to Warsaw with Accenture.

Day in the life – 17 January 2008

Thu, 22 May 2008 18:09:00 GMT

When I first joined my current project back in March 2007, my role was very much focused on Project Management. Consequently, my weekly calendar consisted of a series of fairly predictable events – weekly status calls, recruitment discussions, reports to produce and so on. However – as I mentioned in my last blog entry – fast-forward 10 months and my role has evolved considerably as my skills and knowledge levels have developed, and although I maintain the nominal job title of “PMO Analyst” and still perform some of my old duties, my day-to-day activities have changed almost beyond recognition.

New Year, (Partially) New Role

Thu, 22 May 2008 18:08:19 GMT

The start of 2008 marks a significant shift in the nature and scope of my role on my current project, as I hand over several old responsibilities and acquire new ones. The meritocratic culture at Accenture means that roles and responsibilities can grow quickly, subject to good performance. As a result, it is not uncommon for junior team members to take on pieces of work involving significant exposure and responsibility after a relatively short space of time. I have experienced this increase in responsibility first hand, and when I look back to my original scope of work it is encouraging to see the number of additional tasks which I now perform and the increased contribution which I make to my team.

Day Trip to Stamford Bridge

Thu, 22 May 2008 18:04:52 GMT

This week I want to focus on something that is not project related. Although project work is at the core of one’s career at Accenture, there are a lot of opportunities to take part in a whole variety of non-project activities. These opportunities include internal work (supporting initiatives by Marketing, HR, Recruitment etc.), charity days (we each get three days of annual paid charity leave) and training. Of these three, training is perhaps the most important, because the training that you do has a direct impact on your personal development and, consequently, on your ability to perform well at your job and be eligible for promotion.

Looking Back at my First Role

Thu, 22 May 2008 18:03:00 GMT

The past few weeks have been a period of transition for me, as although I am remaining on the same project, I have been preparing to hand over many of my old tasks and to pick up new responsibilities. This is quite a common feature of working on an Outsourcing project, and there are always changes to the structure and composition of the team as projects progress through the lifecycle. Because my job is going to be changing in the coming weeks, I thought that now would be a good time to reflect on the work that I have done so far.

My first blog

Thu, 22 May 2008 18:02:14 GMT

Why Accenture / Mobilisation I joined Accenture in January 2007, seven months after graduating from Warwick Business School. I passed the seven months until my start date not by backpacking around the world (though that would have been great!) but by taking a job with a small BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) company where I worked to set up a small Outsourcing deal involving four employees. This was good hands-on experience, but quite a contrast to working for Accenture, a much larger company with a reputation for making outsourcing history.

Getting Things Done

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 02:28:16 GMT

Last Monday, I received an email reminder in my inbox, inviting me to take part in an upcoming training session. I have blogged before about some of the training opportunities that I have had since joining Accenture, but this particular course was a little different. The session was one of a series run by an external training company who provide a number of training opportunities to Accenture employees. This company runs a number of 90-minute so-called “mind workouts” on a number of topics, including people management, delegation, goal setting, time management and so on.

A race to the finish line

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 02:29:01 GMT

This week has been exceedingly busy for my project – specifically, for the part of the project that I am responsible for – so my apologies that this latest blog entry is rather brief!

Questions and Answers

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 02:30:02 GMT

Last Friday afternoon, just as I was about to close down my laptop at the end of the day, I received an instant message from one of my colleagues, asking me to take a look at an email that he had received from a prospective graduate joiner. This individual had met my colleague at one of our recruitment events at the Savoy Hotel in London, and had followed up with an email containing some additional questions about working in Outsourcing and life at Accenture. My colleague wanted me to respond to the email, as I am a more recent joiner (having started with Accenture in January 2007), and have more recent experience of the application and induction process, and the typical work required of a new Analyst.

Mission Nearly Accomplished

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 02:30:55 GMT

This week I have good news to report from my project! After a very hectic previous week, we were able to sign off the knowledge transfer for all 3 client subsidiaries for which I have been responsible – Iceland, Morocco and French-speaking Africa. As the Remote KT Lead for my project, this is very satisfying as it means that my phase of the transition has completed successfully, and I can now focus my energies on other activities.

The Unforeseen

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 02:27:27 GMT

In my last entry, I promised to use this post to tell you about an interesting “mini project” that I was given last week as part of my project. However, events conspired and this week I have had a number of other miscellaneous tasks to do, outside of my normal project duties. For this reason, my blog entry this week will be somewhat shorter than usual, and will focus on a couple of the unplanned activities which have been taking up my time and attention.

Life on a BPO Mobilisation engagement

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 02:26:38 GMT

Looking back over my last few blog posts, I notice that I have discussed topics such as travel, performance reviews, people management and office life here at Accenture. However, it has been some time since I last talked about what I actually do here on my current project! My role has changed quite substantially since I last wrote about it, reflecting the length of time that I have served on my current project, and my increasing level of experience. Hopefully this blog entry will give you an idea of the type of roles and responsibilities that you may expect when (as in my case) you have been with Accenture between one and two years.

Any Questions?

Thu, 22 May 2008 19:11:00 GMT

If you are reading this blog, you probably linked to it from the Accenture UK careers website. Our website contains a lot of useful information for anyone considering joining Accenture’s Outsourcing – Mobilisation team, as well as all other areas of the firm. Before I interviewed with Accenture in the summer of 2006, I used the site to familiarise myself with the company, the Mobilisation team and the typical work that a new joiner to the team might be expected to do.

Managing People

Thu, 22 May 2008 19:07:00 GMT

Having spent the past few weeks thinking about and documenting everything that I have done over the past twelve months as part of the performance review process, I want to use this blog entry to focus on a period in March/April this year, when I had a new analyst supporting me during a particularly busy time on my role.

How would you like to go to Cyprus? (Part 2)

Thu, 22 May 2008 19:05:00 GMT

On Tuesday morning we arrived at our meeting room in the Hilton Cyprus, and met the client team with whom we would be working closely for the next two weeks. It was good to meet the client team, having already spoken to them several times during various conference calls and training sessions. The nature of my current role (Project Management Office Support and Remote Knowledge Transfer Tools Lead) means that it is not often necessary for me to be in the same location as the client, and so it is always a bonus for me to meet the client face-to-face.

Performance Review Time

Thu, 22 May 2008 19:05:00 GMT

Last Friday, after most people had left the office, I spent a rather painful couple of hours sitting at my desk, hunched over my computer when of course what I really wanted to do was go to the pub. This sorry state of affairs was entirely my own fault – the deadline for submitting performance self-assessments was due that day, and the dual distractions of project work and various ‘extracurricular’ activities meant that I had neglected to give the self assessment much thought until the deadline was upon me.