In a way, my work story is very simple: I’ve worked at Accenture for nearly 8 years now after joining as a graduate back in 2002. However, my working life has been far from simple: I’ve found that consulting has offered the variety and challenge that I was seeking after my studies.

For me the economic climate in 2002 was similar in many ways to 2010. We were seeing the beginnings of recovery from the bursting of the “dot.com” bubble. Then, as now, consulting was one of the first industries to suffer from the economic downturn, but one of the first to recover. This is because it’s very easy to for companies to decrease spending on consultants when budgets need to be quickly cut, but soon after the dust settles, progressive companies realise that their situation and outlook has changed, and they may need help reacting to that and planning for the future.

Accenture has consultants in 120 countries around the world and we work with three-quarters of the global Fortune 500 companies. In my time here I’ve worked for 9 global clients in over 12 different roles and in 7 countries! So as well as keeping my interest I think this gives me a really good range of experience as I progress further in my career.

While we still have a business strategy practice, I’d say the majority of the work that we do now at Accenture is related to business technology. However, that’s not so say that the majority of consulting roles are ‘technical’. We have a ‘Solutions’ workforce who have the deep technical skills, so we expect our Consulting workforce to have the skills to manage these projects, communicate with client stakeholders, be involved in our sales and client relationship activities and always be mindful of the business impact our projects have.

Graduates and postgraduates are invited to apply to our Analyst Consulting Group (ACG). I think joining the ACG provides a great career starting point - whether as a graduate or postgraduate - due to the great initial training and the peer group you’ll gain. See the picture of my team at our Chicago training facility (for once I am at the back!).

If you do have more than 12 months relevant experience in consulting you may be invited to apply for an experience hire position.

We do ask that candidates with a strong business or management consulting focus attend a third interview on business strategy. Successful candidates are then aligned to our Management Consulting and business strategy practice, and have a greater opportunity of moving into that area after promotion from the ACG to Consultant level.

Oh, and if you’re interested in money (!) the starting salary at the moment in the UK is £31k with a £10k joining bonus paid over the first 2 years.

For additional information, please see www.accenture.com/ukgraduates or www.accenture.com/ukpostgraduates.

If you’re interested in finding out about life at Accenture I’d be happy to talk to you directly. I can give you some more details about what we’re looking for, give you some interview tips and can also refer you through our system. Please contact me initially through my profile page (www.businessbecause.com/profiles/thomasgwalker.htm), type in Thomas Walker in the "Search" box or click on my name at the top of this article!