Consulting and the Internationalization of the Industry
5.2 Booz Allen Hamilton: Personnel Strategy
Booz Allen Hamilton recognizes that it takes talent and unique perspectives to solve today’s most important and challenging problems. The firm believes that its success is enhanced by employees with a wide variety of educational back- grounds. It not only hires graduates, but also recruits numerous former executives from industrial companies.
5.2.1 Personnel Planning
Consulting is attractive to a wide range of applicants – interns, graduates, post- graduates and “young professionals“. Job specifications are comparatively de- manding: they include excellent analytical skills, practical and international work experience, as well as fluency in English. Furthermore, applicants should possess imagination and creativity, motivation, superior interpersonal skills, the ability to work in a team environment and good communication skills. Some professional areas also require extensive experience with functional work.
Capacity is planned at the beginning of each fiscal year and is directly driven by the expectations of business development. Career development is supported by the firm-wide Career Development Service, whereby an assigned Career Devel- opment Manager coordinates staffing on client projects, planning of training, regu- lar performance appraisals.
Theselection process starts with the written application. Candidates who meet the requirements are invited for interviews, so-called “Recruiting Marathon Days“: between five and seven one-on-one interviews are conducted by experi- enced consultants and members of the senior management team. Interviews focus on the applicant’s background and on how applicants apply their knowledge to solving case studies. The aim is to test how a candidate approaches a problem, how he or she structures it, deals with information provided by the interviewer and how he or she ultimately proceeds to solve the case. Based on the results of the in-
terviews, the applicant’s professional expertise and his or her soft skills, the re- cruiting team reaches a final decision.
Consultancies recruit the best graduates from almost every faculty across the board. Nevertheless, graduates of business studies represent the largest group among all employees in the German-speaking region (46%) compared to only 26% being engineering graduates, 12% natural scientists and a mere 5% of con- sultants, who are humanities graduates. This variety of disciplines ensures the consultancy’s success: an interdisciplinary exchange of this kind enhances the creativity and collaboration of teams in their daily work.
It goes without saying thatlateral hires can be found at higher levels as well:
Most of these are executives who have had several years of experience in another consultancy and in industry. At present, a significant percentage of all Booz Allen Hamilton employees have prior industry experience.
5.2.2 Career Planning
Training on-the-Job
Tailor-made Trainings
Regular Appraisals
Support by
„Junior“ and
„Senior“ Mentors Support by a
Career Development Manager
Knowledge database
‚Knowledge Online‘
Booz Allen Hamilton‘s priority in HR is the individual development of each employee
Fig. 5.1.Employee Development
As a strategy consultant, Booz Allen Hamilton is committed to the continued de- velopment of its employees. Career planning and training are of major importance and have a direct impact on the speed of promotion in a performance-based or- ganization.
New employees (consultants, researchers, etc.) start their career at Booz Allen Hamilton by attending the New Hire Orientation (NHO)/Discover Booz Allen
workshop. This international introductory training week provides a broad over- view of the firm and the way it operates. It offers an introduction to firm-specific approaches and concepts which support the work of a consultant – from the typi- cal course of a project to basic information on captive research services. All graduates also participate in the Consultant Program. In addition to Training on- the-job, this program comprises several seminars on business-related topics and methods – elements that form a fundamental part of a consultant’s education.
Graduates who do not have a business background attend a complementary train- ing course on business administration (strategy, economics and finance), based on MBA teaching methods.
Consultants with a business background take part in the Industry Hire Jump Startcourse. It ties in with the experience of the individual, linking it to Booz Al- len-specific working methods in order to facilitate successful integration. In addi- tion, the firm also offers workshops dealing with a variety of topics ranging from conflict management to presentation skills.
Continuous learning is another crucial factor of career development at Booz Al- len Hamilton: In addition to their training on-the-job, consultants are given the opportunity to take part in various courses, designed to further enhance their skills.
Trainings at all levels, as well as a regular exchange of experience with experts contribute to this. One of the company’s main goals is to encourage consultants to find new approaches and innovative ideas, as this fundamentally contributes to their success. Irrespective of space and time every consultant has access to the firm’s know-how pool: The firm-wide intranet-based system “Knowledge On- Line“ includes knowledge and experience from a multitude of projects. Tools like these play a role in enabling consultants to meet the client’s needs with maximum quality and competence.
The survey “Attractive Employers 2002“ conducted by Hewitt Associates, a management consulting firm specializing in human resources solutions, ranked Booz Allen Hamilton amongst the top four of Germany’s most attractive corpora- tions. The major drivers for this result were a high level of individual responsibil- ity and excellent professional development opportunities. The consultancy sector clearly dominates the group of top employers in terms of professional develop- ment opportunities.
The regular career path begins at Consultant or Senior Consultant level, moves on to Associate and Senior Associate level and then progresses to Principal and fi- nally Partner level.
Entry with Masters Degree
Collection/analysis of data Leading small client teams Involvement in Marketing and
knowledge-management activities
Consultant
Entry with Bachelor Degree
Entry with PhD/ Professional
Experience
Leading of consultant and client teams
In-house activities e.g.
recruiting
Quality assurance of project results
Client development/ acquisition Internal management tasks
~ 2 years per level ~ 3-4 years
Typical Tasks
Senior Consultant
Associate
Senior Associate
Principal
Partner
Fig. 5.2. A Consultant’s Career Path at Booz Allen Hamilton
Each of the first four career steps take approximately two to three years. Within the first years, the work covers a broad range of projects, thus guaranteeing the acquisition of cross-industry expertise. Equipped with these „basics“ of strategy consulting, the employee takes the next career step – that of a Senior Associate – in which he or she specializes in an industry or a functional area. Senior Associ- ates already take on responsibility for a project, plan and structure analyses and support the client in implementing new strategies. The scope of duties of a Princi- pal (“Partner in Training“) again broadens: as an expert for strategic transforma- tion, he or she is responsible for clients as well as business development.
After an average seven years of continual growth, consultants may reach the company’s top management – Partner level. In addition to their continued excel- lent performance, Partners dispose of specific characteristics which ultimately lead to a consultant’s success: the ability to support the development of employees, to define and develop clients and markets, as well as general leadership qualities.
- Example of a Booz Allen Career -
Judith Mauel, 29, joined Booz Allen as a Senior Consultant in Spring 2001 and was promoted to Associate level after 21/2years. Her first consulting project as a fully-qualified “Diplom-Engineer specializing in Waste Man- agement” dealt with a topic which was completely new to her:
E-Procurement in a mobile telecommunications company. A team of ex- perienced colleagues helped her get to grips with the new matter. “The re- quirements necessary for the job – conceptual and analytical skills – were no problem for me as an engineer,” says Judith. “My own strong interest and enthusiasm for new challenges were further basic requirements for the steep learning curve.” Simultaneously, her affinity to engineering is not ig- nored. “After a couple of months working in different industries, I joined the “Operations Group” focusing on the manufacturing industry…
I can’t deny the fact that I’m an engineer! “ Assignments Abroad
Nearly all new consultants have previous international work experience and join Booz Allen with the expectation of working on a global level. Thanks to Booz Al- len Hamilton’s presence on 6 continents, the company is able to offer its employ- ees opportunities abroad. Providing the employee has the appropriate experience and the market situation warrants it, such assignments will be either for the dura- tion of a project or as a temporary deployment.
Compensation System
Booz Allen Hamilton’s compensation system offers above-average salaries for en- trants. These are complemented by the usual benefits such as a company car, life insurance and an additional pension fund. Consultants working at the same level receive the same basic salary – their cohort salary. The only differentiation is the performance-related cohort bonus, of which the amount is dependent upon the in- dividual’s overall business performance.