Alison Tringale is a senior manager in Management Consulting & Integrated Markets aligned with the Supply Chain Management service line. She brings a wealth of experience in sourcing and procurement to Accenture. Alison discusses joining as an experienced hire below.

Prior to Accenture, I worked for PepsiCo sourcing agricultural commodities and food ingredients for their Quaker Oats and Gatorade divisions. I was looking for an opportunity to expand my experience across industries. I joined Accenture to be part of an environment where I would be exposed to different industries, companies and best practices.

Since joining Accenture, I’ve focused on strategic sourcing and human performance work for procurement organizations. I work across industries, but focus mostly on retail clients.

As an experienced hire I’ve been able to leverage my industry experience from PepsiCo. It has been extremely valuable in establishing credibility with clients, knowing that I have been in their shoes before. It also helped establish my credibility with colleagues at Accenture.

Upon joining Accenture I’d say my biggest challenge was simply getting up to speed on all of the tools that Accenture uses. Although PowerPoint and Excel are straightforward, I had to learn the “Accenture way” to format PowerPoint slides and build databases.

I was surprised at how helpful people were when I joined. I thought consulting was going to be a “cut throat” environment, but it turns out that Accenture people are happy to help. Not only that, but we have such a strong network of experts at Accenture. No matter how random a topic, you can find someone here that knows it.

For me, having an open mind is a key to finding success as an experienced hire at Accenture. Moving from industry to consulting was a major change for me.

I came into it thinking that I would be doing basically the same thing I had done in my industry job, but for different companies. That was true to an extent, but what I didn’t realize was that Accenture has formal and diligent methodologies that I needed to learn. I had to take what seemed like a step back in my level of responsibility in order to learn the “Accenture way.” However, after I was acclimated to the Accenture methodologies and culture, my level of responsibility increased quickly and much faster than it would have in an industry role.

My advice to new experienced joiners is to have patience when you join. Your first project may not be exactly what you were expecting, or the work or client may not be as interesting as you’d hoped. You will also be adjusting to the new culture, expectations, and lifestyle (if traveling). But there is always the next project, and that is what I like about consulting. The change keeps things interesting.