| Booz-Allen & Hamilton | 8283 Greensboro Dr., Mclean, VA 22102 |
| www.bah.com | (703)902-5000 Fax: (703)902-3333 |
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The consulting pioneer
Edwin Booz founded his firm shortly after graduating from Northwestern University in 1914. From the beginning, Booz' consulting firm, one of the first such companies, worked closely with corporations in the Midwest and other parts of the United States such as Montgomery Ward's, General Mills, American National Red Cross, and U.S. Gypsum. Booz was joined by partners Allen and Hamilton during the 1930s. In 1940, the firm worked with the U.S. Government in preparation for World War II. Since then, Booz-Allen & Hamilton has emerged as one of the world's most prestigious management consulting firms. Booz-Allen continues to work for both the private and public sectors and has a strong global presence. The firm's gigantic staff of almost 10,000 is spread throughout more than 100 offices worldwide.
The split
Booz-Allen is divided into two major operations. The Worldwide Commercial Business unit (WCB), headquartered in New York, does corporate strategy, renewal, productivity improvement, growth management, acquisitions, and business restructuring, mainly for international corporations. Within the WCB, Booz-Allen services a wide range of industries: aerospace; energy, chemicals & pharmaceuticals; consumer products; financial and health services; oil and gas; power; and communications, media, and technology. WCB integrates specialized understanding of these and other global industries with functional expertise in operations management, information technology, and strategic leadership. The WCB divisions offer classic management consulting services.
The Worldwide Technology Business, based in DC suburb McLean, VA, caters to government clients in the nation's capital and in other nation-states, consulting on information technology, defense and national security, environment and energy, transportation and space, telecommunications, civil programs, international projects. Whereas WCB hires primarily MBAs from top business schools, WTB hires staff at all levels and seeks technical professionals with backgrounds in information technology and engineering, as well as management consultants with backgrounds in business and liberal arts.
Strong implementers
With an emphasis on creating change rather than merely prescribing it, the firm reports spending about a third to a half of its time on the implementation process. Before implementation, Booz-Allen works with a client's top management to develop a strategy for change - a "strategy-based transformation" - and implement changes in organization, operations, and technology. Booz-Allen involves its clients in the consulting process and frequently integrates executives of a client into the consulting team.
Knowledge everywhere
Booz-Allen garners 80 percent of its revenues from 20 percent of its clients. Part of what the company believes will help make it the best is encouraging innovation. Here, Booz-Allen's strong reputation in information technology systems comes into play. The firm's Knowledge On-Line (KOL) database system - which pools the knowledge Booz consultants pick up while on assignment - is often called the best of its kind. The shared system keeps consultants from repeating each other's work and provides info on an assortment of topics, including resumes, databases, and histories of employees.
KOL is now used widely by Booz-?Allen consultants in both the Worldwide Commercial Business and Worldwide Technology Business branches. The database is set up to promote sharing of information; consultants often spend a considerable amount of time entering their findings into KOL. Booz-Allen achieves this informational exchange partially through an appeal to ego: consultants who contribute the database have their names prominently displayed, their entries are linked to their resumes, and it's simple to search for any given consultant's contributions to the database. In addition, the firm encourages contributions through its feedback process - a consultant's evaluation is based in part on contributions to KOL.
Hard and exciting changes
In December 1998, Booz-Allen's Board of Directors unanimously elected Ralph Shrader to be the firms nest chairman and chief executive officer, taking office when Bill Stasior's term ends. On April 1, Shrader took office as the firm's CEO - he will assume the additional role of chairman in October 1999. Change is never easy, even for those at the top. Booz-Allen COO Brian Dickie resigned from the firm in April 1998, apparently unhappy over the course the firm had chosen. Dan Lewis has taken on the role of new WCB president, and has hammered out a strategy to gain market share in the highest echelon of strategy consulting, and will focus on delivering "Strategy-Based Transformation," a process that addresses client problems created by fundamental changes in their industry or company.
Booz goes back to school
Rumors of change finally crystallized in 1999. With a renewed interest in training and personal development, the firm implemented a new corporate university. The consulting alma mater, not-so-humbly named the Center for Performance Excellence, is located at Booz's HQ in Virginia. At launch time, the school consisted of 20 staff. Amazingly, the school was conceived, planned, and constructed within a 10 month period. Worldwide Commercial Business recently implemented new guidelines to improve the quality of life at Booz-Allen. The 5-4-3-2-1 plane demands that consultants do no more than 5 days of work each week; spend no more than 4 days each week out of the office or away from home; spend no more than 3 nights on the road; have at least 2 client assignments each year; and have no more than 1 assignment at the same time.
Toot toot!
In early 1999, Booz accepted an offer to revamp San Francisco's transit system, the less-than-efficient Municipal Railway. Booz-Allen has promised to make all five Metro lines run efficiently by the end of 1999. Booz-Allen stands to earn $4.4 million in fees and a potential $900,000 in performance bonuses. The rebuilding of the Metro system is a sensitive issue that puts Booz-Allen on the firing line - current mayor Willie Brown pushed hard to involve the consulting firm. So far, the firm has exceeded all interim performance objectives.
Nordic expansion
In May 1999, Booz-Allen expanded its global footprint with the acquisition of Carta Corporate Advisors AB, the leading consulting firm in Scandinavia. With offices in Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Denmark, Carta serves major corporations and government bodies across the Nordic region. Carta's capabilities - in strategy and organization, corporate finance and strategic communications - will be integrated with Booz?Allen's to further strengthen the firm's market reach and delivery capability in Europe.
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The hiring practice for the Worldwide Commercial Business at Booz-Allen has undergone some reconstruction in the past year. With the development of a new commercial business strategy, the firm will focus on a strategy-based transformation. Previously, interviewees had to specify which industry practice or functional group was of interest to them. Now with the new stategy, consultants will be exposed to a broader range of industries and functional areas during the first three to four years. Although candidates are no longer required to identify a specific area, expertise will remain a factor of a consultant's development process. While experience in a particular industry is a "boon," it's not necessary. "We hire people who are simply smart as well," says one insider. If you have your heart set on a particular office, beware - not all practices reside at all offices.
WCB's hiring process consists of four interviews, all in the office for which the candidate is being considered. (Summer internship candidates go through two interview rounds.) Interviews are conducted with senior associates (recent college graduates are termed consultants at Booz, while MBA-level employees are referred to as associates; above them are senior associates), principals (the next level after senior associate), and partners.
In the Worldwide Technology Business, the firm recruits individuals with strong backgrounds in information technology and electrical engineering. In addition, positions remain for those who have backgrounds in business and liberal arts to assist Booz's government clients in improving organization and operations, and in adopting "commercial best practices" to make government more responsive to public needs. WTB gets a bulk of its new hires by referrals from current employees, who receive a nice bonus for recommending recruits. WTB's second largest source for new recruits is generated from its web site. The "current openings" page is updated every Monday morning.
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The independents
Booz-Allen's culture encourages "fiercely independent" thinking without "hand-holding" or a "rah-rah team atmosphere." Employees say that this "sink or swim" environment forces them to learn on the job and to test their "mettle" against "a series of increasingly difficult challenges." Some employees object that Booz's flexibility means there is no career management. Insiders also say that Booz-Allen's policy of integrating its consultants into with the client's management into teams at the client's headquarters results in "constant travel" that can take its toll on consultants' lifestyles. We hear that the workplace can "be very political" and that a "sponsor" in upper management is crucial for advancement.
The upside of Booz
This is not to say that Booz-Allen is a grim, dog-eat-dog sort of workplace. For one, working at Booz is "great for anyone who has a social conscience." The firm permits some pro bono work, and employees say that "unlike most management consulting places, Booz can understand employees who have a conscience and want to help people." The pay for WCB stafff from top business schools is "awesome," with MBAs earning upwards of $120,000 annually (not including bonuses). The best perk of working for Booz-Allen, according to employees, is "the unbelievable opportunities to travel around the world and enjoy yourself in style." One consultant says: "Things I did because of my job there: flew the Concord, went to Lillehammer for the winter Olympics, took a cruise from Miami to the Bahamas, gambled in Monte Carlo, opera at Covent Garden, dinner in the Eiffel Tower, a summer afternoon at a topless beach in Nice, and the list goes on." Working at WTB, one may be offered the opportunity to work on some of the important public sector programs, from restructuring the IRS to designing war games for top Pentagon officials.
Hours (and hours)
Insiders report that "good hours on a project are 55 to 60 hours a week. Bad is 100 hours a week. You will have bad weeks." One associate reports "getting put on hellacious projects that are six weeks long and take 80 to 100 hours a week. After that, though, you will normally get a better project." Some of our contacts tie long hours to specific areas and/or jobs. "All the partners in the weaker practices are always trying to get a foot in the door," explains one insider. "What this effectively means is that Booz will want to overdeliver in result and undercut in price. That is good for Booz-Allen, but bad for the people on the projects, who have to work like dogs." "If you want halfway decent hours," advises another insider, "go to Booz in the practices in which it is strong. That's media, aerospace, oil, and gas. Otherwise forget your weekends."
The satisfaction rate
Job satisfaction at Booz is generally "quite high." Employees remark that they are "proud to be working for a top name consulting firm" that "works with the big names in American and international business." Some employees also take pride in working for a firm "with a conscience and social commitment." One consultant points out, however, that "the satisfaction is higher if you are in a stronger industry group." While one insider finds the atmosphere at Booz-Allen "macho and political," others are happy with "the high quality of work and the opportunity to create a skill set in a specific industry."
Office life
Booz-Allen consultants and associates in New York, McLean, and elsewhere share offices with others at their level. In some offices, such as Dallas, "you get your own office. The firm's WCB New York headquarters was featured in The Associate, a not-very-good Whoopi Goldberg film." That office "is organized by industry practice group. Because of that, you tend to know mostly people in your group." In the smaller offices "you get introduced to people in different groups."
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Human Resources
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Organization and Strategy;Corporate Finance; Operations Management; Information Technology; Technological Development
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