As part of the overseas graduate recruitment activities for Singapore and Malaysia, the Accenture Experience was held with the intent to give students a taste of consulting. The event took place on a cold wintry day on November 4 in Central London. Participants to this session traveled from all over the United Kingdom, with some coming from as far as Manchester.

Participants were randomly divided into groups deliberately named after the operating groups of Accenture. With a limited time frame of two hours, participants were expected to work on a case study from the Accenture Development Partnership (ADP), which is Accenture’s program to provide assistance in developing countries, on Campaign on AIDS Awareness.

Similar to the real world of consulting, the students had to work with people they barely knew and whom were from different disciplines, ranging from engineering to economics. Within each team, members had differing opinions on how and what was supposed to be done. For each team, coming to a consensus definitely took some effort. And just when the participants thought they had something worked out, “surprise!” Certain team members had to be swapped and redeployed due to a change in “client requirements”. This definitely stirred things up quite a bit among the teams.

For the teams’ presentation on recommendations, a panel of judges, consisting of Shahrol Halmi and Vishnu Palaniappan each from the Accenture Kuala Lumpur and London offices, were ready to test the solutions. The judges did not give an easy time to the representatives as with most clients. Participants were questioned on their applicable solutions. At the end of the session, the judges were truly impressed with the maturity of thoughts and presentation as well as how well the participants handled the questions that were asked.

At the end of the day, the students took home more than just an experience, (not forgetting the attractive gifts of Accenture iPods for the winners); they have also made new friends among their teams.

Here are a few of their comments:

“Accenture Experience” was unforgettable. It was well planned and structured enabling us to benefit fully from every activity. The experience had two important elements in making any day a memorable one, great company and great educational fun!!! Getting the opportunity to meet members of Accenture and fellow students from other universities was truly exciting. Above all, we were exposed to the business areas of Accenture giving us a better understanding in choosing our career path with Accenture. Thank you for the brilliant experience!

Kim Tat Oon, Former Intern 2006

"Accenture Experience, in a nutshell, provided a brief insight into the daily challenge of a consultant. Teamwork, looming deadlines and ever changing circumstances were just a few of the thrills of the job. This, along with my previous internship with Accenture has shown me how much I truly enjoy the varied work Accenture does and has changed my perspective of what I would like to do after my graduation."

Quah Wui Seng, Imperial College

“I greatly enjoyed my time at the workshop. The Accenture Experience is a real eye-opener into the world of consultancy and Accenture! The case studies are both fun and intellectually stimulating, and working in a team, you feel just as if you were a real consultant handling real projects, rushing to meet a deadline to present it to your clients. And I took away more than just the knowledge of Accenture; I made many new friends, people whom I would probably not forget for some time yet.”

Ko Zhihong, University College London

“The Accenture Experience provided tremendous insight to the work as a consultant at Accenture. In an enjoyable yet challenging setting, I learnt more about Accenture’s core businesses and how the solutions created by Accenture have had positive impacts on us in one way or another. Also, participating in the thought-provoking and intellectually stimulating case study gave me hands-on experience in consulting, where I could put into practice essential skills such as problem-solving, negotiation and collaboration. In all, the confluence of these factors made the entire experience an invaluable learning opportunity.”

Derrick Tan, University College London

“The Accenture Experience was an invaluable opportunity that not only taught us about the scale of challenges consultants face on a day to day basis, but also what it means to be part of the Accenture team; it was a privilege to be working with so many talented individuals.”

Ashley See, Imperial College

“The Consulting Experience held in London was a great tester in learning more about consulting itself and how Accenture operates as a whole. The group case study session was a healthy challenge amongst fellow peers and I felt that it was the best approach in relating a typical client situation in layman terms – especially when my team won the “best innovative solution” award! I certainly enjoyed networking with the Accenture team and making new friends from other universities. The overall atmosphere was indeed a fun and relaxing; the culture of Accenture was seen to be friendly and supportive as portrayed by all the representatives hosting the event. At the end of the day, I was even more enthusiastic about consulting itself and felt privileged to have the opportunity to know more about Accenture in greater depth – definitely worth the three hour journey down to London and back!”

Johanna Ho, University of Warwick