Graduate Careers at Accenture in the UK

26th March, 2008

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 17:31:41 GMT

As a snowsports fanatic, the first part of the year is always hectic for me – fitting in those all important weeks of mountain air around project responsibilities. Forward planning has meant I have squeezed in a record three weeks of snow this year, and of course, a lot of project milestones in the weeks between – but these have also been a bit snowy!

10th April 2008

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 13:44:51 GMT

The system build has ended for the release I have been demonstrating and validating with the client for the past weeks. This means I now have an opportunity to tie up loose ends, and start to make some exciting plans for the next phase of the project – more of which over the next couple of weeks as things are confirmed.

5th June 2008

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 14:23:28 GMT

Back on the road this week, as we start analysis in a new country. This time we’re watching the heavy rain at the foot of the Swiss Alps whilst conducting now familiar process workshops.

10th July 2008

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 13:39:21 GMT

After waiting last Friday, a hasty call from my colleague whilst he was in the airport, confirmed that the Swiss office have agreed that we will start deployment of our project there. This is of course good news, and means that for the next couple of weeks I will be working with my colleagues on ironing out the details of this, including:

17th July 2008

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 16:27:34 GMT

As promised, as I start to put together some project plans for a new market joining our program, some examples of other type of roles on my project from people who are more involved in the ‘phase 2’ or ‘deployment’ part of things. This should give you an idea of the other types of activities that analysts and consultants could be involved in at Accenture.

30th May, 2007

Thu, 31 May 2007 13:03:45 GMT

No real news to report on the project this week. The rest of our team has now joined and delivery is well underway for the training programme. We have a taken a couple of day trips up to Manchester to begin to get knowledge transfer from the client’s SAP developers and are beginning to plan training sessions and materials. Things are steadily busy – but no long hours and still time to take our routine half hour sit down for lunch with our client in the canteen! (That’s a luxury compared to lots of companies!)

18th February 2008

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 19:47:00 GMT

As the design phase of my project draws to a close, and we hand over to our build team in Spain, I’ve had the luxury of some time in the London office to tie up loose ends. The humdrum that lots of people tire of – walking to work, lunch in the same place, going home to potter about and do some washing – is actually very nice after tearing around Europe for business and pleasure most weeks since September!

21st January 2008

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 17:18:16 GMT

Weeks are becoming a little bit more routine for me now, as the project settles into its delivery cycle. That of course doesn’t mean any less busy or challenging.

4th January 2008

Fri, 04 Jan 2008 15:59:20 GMT

A new year at work, but for me the same project is continuing, as we all try to remember where we left off before the festivities kicked in!

30th November 2007

Tue, 04 Dec 2007 19:37:02 GMT

When I joined Accenture, I wasn’t quite sure where I’d be in two years time. Would I be a thriving newly promoted consultant? Would I find it’s really not for me and not be at Accenture at all?

22nd November

Mon, 26 Nov 2007 17:09:30 GMT

A hectic two weeks for me in Accenture towers as our design phase really starts to hot up. I’ve been in London for most of two weeks for a change, enjoying the free bowls of fruit around the Old Bailey office (the bananas always go first) and getting engrossed in our initial mockups of system screen designs.

31st October 2007

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 17:15:33 GMT

Happy Hallowe’en! I am sat in an office just outside of Hamburg, and autumn has crept in without warning. The view from my window is already pitch black at 5pm – it seems I will only experience Germany with the night sky!

4th October 2007

Fri, 05 Oct 2007 18:43:35 GMT

Settled in to a routine of Monday-Thursday in Madrid now, as the project whizzes along. We are in the final stages of our "Diagnostic." All of the processes the client currently uses have been mapped, and compared to the standardized ones. The key people in the organization have been interviewed in relation to their business’ key strategic challenges, and current CRM (Customer Relationship Management) capabilities.

6th September 2007

Thu, 06 Sep 2007 21:06:18 GMT

Buenos dias!

18th September 2007

Tue, 18 Sep 2007 14:57:36 GMT

Mid week two in our client’s Madrid office and already lots to contend with. I feel very comfortable with the application now – my Siebel training has helped immensely in understanding what is and isn’t possible to implement of the client’s requirements – and to identify which are sensible and which a little more than ambitious!

3rd August 2007

Tue, 07 Aug 2007 13:57:00 GMT

It’s been non stop 8am-6pm this week! I’m in the thick of a training course in Accenture’s training centre which is a short way out of Chicago. I’m on a two-week course in Siebel – the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software I have been working with at my client for almost a year now. My experience up until now has been largely functional – dealing with the application from the end’s user’s perspective, and I was very keen to build up my knowledge so that I had a technical grounding in the system too. This should help me to secure a different type of role – I’d like to get involved in some more system design.

17th August 2007

Mon, 20 Aug 2007 13:07:38 GMT

A manic week in the client office – catching up with what’s been happening during my absence for training, and also some new impacts on my client plans… but first the training!

23rd July, 2007

Mon, 23 Jul 2007 14:55:02 GMT

This week has flown by in a series of meetings and brand new bits & bobs of work that have landed on my to-do list. In fact, to write this blog I'm going to have to look back at my ticked-off list and diary as a memory jog!

6th July 2007

Fri, 06 Jul 2007 14:55:26 GMT

This week I was interviewed for a graduate recruitment magazine about what it’s like to be a woman in IT (as we’re still a bit of a minority!), and what Accenture are doing to work towards diversity. When I get the transcript through next week, I will put down some of my thoughts, but for this past week the answer has been "a lot of fun!" what with having been a poster-girl for systems integration, attended our Health & Life Sciences Community event and ball, and finally completed the British 10k run with my team! A combination of associated silly outfits can be seen below – from my bright orange running vest, to my very feathery 1920s getup.

8th June, 2007

Fri, 08 Jun 2007 14:46:50 GMT

A very busy and productive week this week – my team are starting to make concrete progress on our deliverables now, so I have a nice green status report to give to the project board on Monday. The client’s change management lead is away for two weeks, so I’ve been holding the fort a bit – this has given me a chance to get more involved in planning, budgets and resourcing – all good stuff as I prepare to move up to consultant level.

26th June 2007

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 16:54:16 GMT

Apologies for the brief gap in blogging – I’ve had a few days off ill, and a quick stint home with the family being looked after!

Career Planning

Tue, 08 May 2007 12:55:41 GMT

Last week was busy again – even though lots of it was spent in uncertainty as we worked to redefine my role at the client. There was still work to be done, meetings to go to. On top of that deadlines loomed for performance reviews, and I got to do a bit of soul-searching about where I want to direct my career with Accenture.

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Fri, 27 Apr 2007 16:43:54 GMT

It’s been a funny week. Last time I blogged I was gearing up to start my new role as system test lead for the system implementation aspect of my client’s project. This week we learned that the client no longer needs the system changes planned, so the role is cancelled!

Spring is Here!

Tue, 10 Apr 2007 12:35:38 GMT

The sunshine & daffodils have finally made an appearance, and with this a flurry of activity at work – so sorry for the blog drought last week!

Taking a Bow (The End of a Performance Period)

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 18:34:11 GMT

I decided to top off a hectic work and social week last week with a hectic weekend (family visiting for some fun out on the town!), and am following everything up with an even more hectic work week – so I’ll keep this a short & sweet interval before I get back to the increasingly busy project!

You Know You've Got an Office Job When...

Thu, 15 Mar 2007 14:23:11 GMT

… the daily fresh air from a few days skiing has you sound asleep by 10pm every night! Skiing was a nice break, and a good chance to catch up with my much neglected family (there are just too many exciting things going on in London!).

The Consultant’s Guide to Globetrotting

Wed, 07 Mar 2007 13:48:56 GMT

I’m off skiing again mid week (having performed some negotiations with the team about having a few days off at such an early stage in the project – I think I will be bringing back Swiss chocolates!), but it seemed like a prime time to talk about one of the hot topics for Accenture newbies – travel.

Carly B, Queen of the Jargon People

Wed, 28 Feb 2007 16:59:43 GMT

Forget the last blog, it’s been confirmed. My client project manager was teasing me that I’m a geek yesterday.

Gadget Girl or Geek?

Fri, 23 Feb 2007 15:21:31 GMT

They say to join Accenture you should have an interest in technology, and as more and more of what the company does with its clients involves technology in some way, it wouldn’t do to be a cavewoman! But as a thoroughly arty Classics graduate before coming here, I would never have classed myself as a techy!

All Systems Go

Wed, 21 Feb 2007 13:51:02 GMT

Yikes, there’s a lot to think about at work at the moment! I’m taking a five-minute break from project work to do a bit of a brain dump on my blog.

All Change! Finding My Feet on the New Project

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 14:46:12 GMT

One of the things that’s really important when you are an analyst (or even a consultant or manager) at Accenture is the ability to be pretty flexible – be that working the hours that are needed, moving about locations, working your 30 days of holiday around project commitments, or taking roles that suit business need as well as your personal priorities.

Moving On Again

Wed, 07 Feb 2007 15:56:25 GMT

I have just got off the phone to the Senior Exec I will be working with on my next project – and I’m excited to be moving onto something new!