I have provided the above ratings based on my assumption as I haven’t worked in Accenture, this review is entirely based on my Interview process with Accenture.
I had got a call from a Staffing agency regarding an opening in Accenture for a Team Lead Role. After working in SAP on the technical side for 5.5 years, I thought of making a change in my career and provided all the necessary details to the staffing agency regarding my Current CTC and Expected CTC details. They have registered my profile in Accenture Database. After a couple of days I got a call from Accenture recruitment team asking for my compensation details and expectations and scheduled a F2F interview over the weekend. I agreed for it and a day before the interview, I got a call from the staffing agency mentioning that the Interview has been cancelled due to unavailability of interviewers.
After a week, I got a call from Accenture saying that I need to attend a Telephonic Interview on a weekday which I have accepted. Just two hours before the Interview time, I got a call from Accenture saying that I need to attend a F2F interview over the weekend. When I have told them that my interview has been scheduled for today, they said that I need to ignore the Telephonic Interview and attend the F2F Interview.
After 15 minutes of the scheduled Interview time, I got a call from a guy with Accenture just letting me know his name and started asking me Question without any Introduction of his Profile. I just introduced myself and gave him a brief introduction regarding my Profile, experience and skill sets. He just asked around 10-12 basic technical questions to which I have answered and there were no Process related Questions which are needed for a successful ERP Implementation when they have considered my role for a Team Lead.
After the Questions have been answered from my side, he just asked me whether I have any Questions. I just asked him regarding the Project for which the current position is being interviewed. He said that he has no idea for the project being interviewed for, I just got little nervous and asked whether the position being hired is for a Team Lead position or not and he said’Yes’. Without any other communication regarding my next round of interview he just disconnected the phone.
The following day, I received an email from Accenture mentioning to submit my documents for further processing and I did it on the same day. I have been receiving the reminders even after submitting the documents:) .
After 4-5 days, I got a call from Accenture HR mentioning that they would like to have the next round of Interview process. She just asked me about my prior organizations details, once I have provide her with the details, she has just asked a question regarding the steps you take to handle the client if the delivery hasn’t been done to which I replied that it should be brought up to the client with immediate notice with the cause and request him for additional time to solve the issue. She said "OK" and then she started saying that my CTC is very high compared to Accenture standards and cannot assure the CTC right now. She said that she will get back to me shortly on this and hung off the phone.(This Interview round just went for less than 7 minutes:), the shortest of my life).
I was wondering what "Shortly" means in terms of HR, I haven’t got any reply for a day, so I wrote an email asking for response and stating that I am open for negotiations.
To my surprise, I got a call in 5 minutes from the same HR and said that she would like to continue on the discussion. I have asked her what is the best she can offer in terms of compensation, she told me that she can’t offer not even the same as my current fixed CTC and mentioned that the "Senior System Engineer(SSE)" CTC in Accenture is par below my current CTC. I was astonished and asked that my profile has been considered for Team lead and you are mentioning that you are considering the CTC as a SSE? Here comes a solid answer saying that my assessment of team lead position was done based on two rounds of Interview to which I replied that I have undergone only a single technical round with no process related questions. She came up saying that the two rounds of Interview are the Technical round and the 7 minutes of HR round. I questioned them what are the parameters being considered for my assessment and how can a HR do an assessment review for the position of a Team Lead in ERP and that too in a span of 7 minutes to which the following bullets got triggered from her.
- Prior Employment(I have worked for 4.5 years in world’s third biggest company which doesn’t form a Good Assessment)
- Education Background( Engineering in Computers is not enough(probably they should know that there aren’t enough seats in IIT’s, NIT’s to serve the ERP requirement around the world).
- Work Experience(5.5 years in SAP with 6 Implementations, 1 up-gradation and 3 support Projects are not enough for a team lead position as per Accenture standards)
-Onsite Experience(Having 2.5 years of experience in US and Europe is not sufficient for her)
When I have raised the same Questions, she has mentioned that they have some processes and they can go only according to it.
In the end I got a mail mentioning below.
"We have currently placed your candidature with us On Hold since we are unable to match your compensation expectation. Based on Accenture standard’s we will not be able to match with your expectation.
If you decide to rethink your expectation please do let us know. We will review and confirm if we can proceed.
Thanks for applying to Accenture."
So I have nothing to say but to decline the offer.
I do not understand the kind of dumbness Accenture has in terms of recruiting where they claim themselves as Market leaders. I do feel that they believe in Luck rather than in talent for hiring process.
Last thing I would like to suggest Accenture is that IT Professionals tend to make a change, but it is not a necessity to change for getting paid less.