Accenture 2nd round Assessment Centre

The day kicked off with HR telling us we're great to get this far, then a Senior Manager popped in and to loosen everyone up (six of us ranging from PhD students to 1-2 yrs work experience people) asked to go round and give a 2 sentence background on ourselves and what we're aiming for now. Fairly harmless but good to get to know people's names and make an impression if you can. He then delivered a wonderful 15min powerpoint presentation on Accenture.

Exercise 1 - In-Tray

30 min test with pen and paper all sat together in the boardroom. This specific case was a project hand-over where you had to read and filter all the material and emails in a pack of about 16 pages with graphs, timelines and text; identify issues that will affect i) project delivery ii) project financials iii) other; then pick and prioritise main issue in each case and suggest one mitigating solution; and finally draft an email to the project lead detailing your activities for the week. There is a lot of info, not all relevant so don't waste time looking through all the graphs and tables; focus on main points and ignore the rest. It's better to have rough thoughts written down than spend time thinking and put very little pen to paper. Maybe think about spending a couple minutes reading through the main task page so you know what information you're looking for then flick through the whole booklet for about 30secs to see what there is and get a rough overview. For example, if you looking at project delivery issues - a project timeline graph is probably going to be useful whereas a table detailing contractor rates and hours isn't. And though there were detailed financial tables, I'm sure they don't expect you to scrutinize it as you only have 15 mins for the whole lot!

Exercise 2 - Case Study

20 mins prep in a separate room, 20 mins discussion with a recruiter or the senior manager. The specific case: TWD wines and spirits have invested in an online presence and are now looking at the customer/ consumer market when traditionally their business is wholesale. Revenues are up but profits are down and IT is not functioning properly. There's a booklet of material including company summary, staff interviews, emails from the CEO, their supply chain diagram and two articles on consumer behaviour. You're feeding back to the pm who's talking to the CEO of TWD; what are the key issues and what solutions would you suggest. In preparation, I can't emphasise enough the importance of condensing all the information down to perhaps 3 main issues. Start with these then know exactly where, how and why you identified them so you can demonstrate that you have assimilated the information and are able to use it constructively. Have solutions in mind for each of the issues but don't feel you need to be down with the lingo, just keep it simple and make logical sense eg. implement a more suitable higher spec IT system so they can store more data, re-organise the structure of the company, put together a communications plan to improve morale by getting everyone involved etc. The exceptional candidate will link these solutions to case-study examples found on the Accenture website and present it in a kind of sales-style pitch. Most important, don't waffle, keep STRUCTURED.

Exercise 3 - Group Exercise (teams of 3)

30 mins. Produce a proposal for building a school in Mozambique for 200 kids, with educational themes and complete list of materials required. Put this in a 5-month project plan. After 20 mins we were told that we would each have to deliver a 30sec presentation on a key point about the project. Naturally this one's all about team work. Begin with team communication; the brief is given to each member and the normal reaction is to all turn over and read in silence. Better tactic might be to ask how the team would like to approach this ie. reading out loud together or spending a couple minutes alone. As a team, decide on what the task is asking, break it down into elements and if possible use the flip-chart. Move through each task systematically and keep an eye on the time. For the presentation, say everything you need to in 30 secs, you will be cut off otherwise.

Final Interview

Everyone's back in the room and an analyst/ graduate comes to have a chat and answer questions while people are called through to have their final interview which is far less formulaic and less formal than the 1st interview by this stage.
10-15mins with HR or Senior Manager mainly to discuss how you felt the day went. I was asked also, what 3 competencies do I feel are necessary for a career at Accenture, then to follow up, list examples where you have exhibited those competencies. It didn't help that I kept forgetting what competencies I had chosen; asking the interview what you had said 2mins ago is not a good way to end the day!! And then there's the opportunity to ask questions yourself. The more challenging and precise the question, the more the interviewer will think and the more chance he has of remembering you positively.