The Australian graduate recruitment team ran the second annual Accenture Adventure in Melbourne, over one weekend in February: a two-day program designed to identify, assess and be first-in-market to offer top-performing, penultimate-year students a place in our consulting-workforce graduate program in the following year.

A strong online campaign ran in late 2007; university-affiliated groups and individuals like Golden Key, 85Broads and faculty heads from Australian universities across Australia promoted Accenture Adventure as key partners, and over 300 potential candidates were listed. Further promotion, such as via the (SEAAK) Graduate Careers Newsletter, drove traffic to the Accenture Adventure website, where CVs and academic transcripts were submitted online.

31 high-performing students from across Australia were selected. There was a healthy split between the MCIM service lines, especially CRM which was given increased focus this year. And by leveraging Accenture's new SEAAK-wide relationship with 85Broads, the diversity target for the program exceeded expectations with the ratio of women to men at 2:1!

Successful students were flown to Melbourne to participate in the two-day high octane program. All accommodation, catering and program costs were covered by Accenture. Participants were split into teams, each assigned with one Accenture manager as a ‘coach’ who observed and assessed each candidate in their team. By the end of the program, the coach could provide recommendations to progress talented candidates through to the next stage of recruitment.

Day 1: Adventure Team Challenges (outdoors!): After an entertaining arrival-dinner to break the ice, day one kicked-off with a team challenge based in Werribee Gorge, approximately 40 minutes north-east of Melbourne. Combining orientation and team work, activities were designed to enable teams to think laterally to solve a series of tasks at various checkpoints throughout the race.

Day 2: Environmental business case study (developed by the strategy group): This real life simulation of a client presentation was hugely successful. Each team presented their findings to a ‘client panel’ of Australian senior executives.

What participants had to say:

• I found the overall experience of the Accenture Adventure to be fantastic. I especially found the interaction with company representatives to be worthwhile and interesting.
• I thought the program was amazingly well planned.
• Overall, the experience was fantastic. An ideal way to recruit giving all (graduates and the company) a chance to really get to know each other in a variety of situations.
• It was a really valuable experience and surpassed my expectations.
• An outstanding experience that I have gained much from. Lots of fun, I learnt a lot about Accenture and my peers. Very well organised.
• Overall a fantastic learning experience. It was a fun and challenging few days, and at the close of the meeting, the attendees were well-equipped with an understanding of what a career at Accenture may hold for successful candidates.