Accenture invited a group of Careers Advisers to sample their bootcamp.
Bootcamp is a supercharged skills session that lasts for 3 days. Its purpose is to get students to experience what its like to be a consultant.
It includes a high-pressure business game called the Juice company, lots of networking with Accenture people, a psychometric instrument called the Hermann Brain Dominance Instrument and much more. It is a precursor to an assessment centre (if desired and approved).
This was the most interactive Careers adviser experience I have ever done. It was at an oak-paneled manor house in rural Oxfordshire- which sylvan setting is the very one they use for the students.
Accenture are upping their recruitment targets this year (240 and rising).
Quite a lot of the Accenture staff I met are working part-time, back from Maternity leave, joining after gap years travelling or working for charities. One Technology consultant was doing 3 days per week because he was caring for his ageing parent. This last little snippet – gathered while chatting and waiting for a bus, did more than anything else to impress me. A serious business which takes its people seriously.
Bootcamp is not easy to get on to but well worth the effort.
