Human resource management

Project report on recruitment process in Accenture

Submitted by-

Sourabh Arnikar Kundu
Sec-A; Roll no.-11202005
MBA-1



Company profile
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company.
Committed to delivering innovation, Accenture collaborates with its clients to help them become
high-performance businesses and governments. With deep industry and business process
expertise, broad global resources and a proven track record, Accenture can mobilize the right
people, skills and technologies to help clients improve their performance. Accenture Ltd. is a
management consulting, technology services and outsourcing organization with over 110 offices
in 48 countries. The Companys business consists of using industry and business-process
knowledge, service offering expertise and insight into, and access to, existing and emerging
technologies to identify new business and technology trends, and formulate and implement
solutions for clients under demanding time constraints. Accenture helps clients identify and enter
new markets, increase revenues in existing markets, improve operational performance and
deliver their products and services more effectively and efficiently.

The Companys business is structured around five operating groups, which, together, are
comprised of 18 industry groups serving clients in every major industry. Resources. Accenture
offers expertise in consulting, technology and outsourcing to help clients perform at the highest
levels so they can create sustainable value for their customers, employees and shareholders. We
use our industry and business-process knowledge, service offering expertise and insight into
emerging technologies to identify new business and technology trends and to formulate and
implement solutions for clients. Our industry focus gives us an understanding of industry
evolution, business issues and applicable technologies, enabling us to deliver innovative
solutions tailored to each client or, as appropriate, standardized capabilities to multiple clients.

Our three key service areasConsulting, Technology and Outsourcingare the innovation
engines through which we develop knowledge capital, build world-class skills and capabilities,
and create, acquire and manage assets central to the development of solutions for our clients.
ConsultingAccenture clients draw upon our companys extensive industry and functional
expertise. To complement our industry teams, Accenture offers expertise in strategy, business
transformation, and specialty and functional consulting. TechnologyAccenture helps
organizations manage the full range of their information technology needs. We develop and
deploy custom and application software to streamline and integrate business processes and
systems. We provide solutions to help organizations optimize their IT infrastructures and also
turn data into insights. Working with our alliance partners Microsoft, Oracle and SAP, and our
Avanade subsidiary, we develop and deliver cost-effective, innovative, technology-enabled
business solutions.






OutSourcing Accentures outsourcing services include the business process
outsourcing(BPO), application outsourcing and infrastructure outsourcing. Through our BPO
services and units, we manage specific business processes or functions for clients, providing
solutions that are more efficient and cost-effective than if the functions were provided in house
Our global delivery model allows us to draw on the benefits of resources from around the
worldincluding specialized technology skills, foreign language fluency, proximity to clients
and time zone advantagesto deliver high-quality solutions under demanding time frames.
Emphasizing quality, reduced risk, speed to market and predictability, our global delivery model
enables us to provide clients with price-competitive services and solutions that drive higher
levels of performance.


Accenture to recruit thousands of IT staff through Twitter and LinkedIn
Accenture plans to recruit 50,000 people this year, with 40% sourced through social media and
websites such as Twitter and LinkedIn.
In the UK, Accenture decided to set up its social media recruitment initiatives in-house with
existing workers developed as experts and used to train others.

The UK operation is using sites such as LinkedIn and Twitter to help it fight the war for talent,
says Suzy Style, Accenture's head of recruitment.
Style says social media enables a business to build relationships with professionals who could at
some point be the perfect employee.
"Currently there is a war for talent and we believe an organisation's ability to develop long-term
relationships with candidates will become part of their competitiveness," says Style. "The
recruitment industry has changed and our sourcing strategy has changed.
"Social media gives us the ability to build networks with people and find niche skills we might
not nornally see."
She says the company will continue to use traditional recruitment methods but needs to broaden
its net. Social media helps ensure it can reach all potential recruits and as a result have better
choice.




Accenture decided to retrain staff that demonstrated a good understanding of social media. These
staff then became the trainers of larger groups of staff. Style says the company had to set this
new strategy up in a short period and it chose not to buy external consultancy. "We had people
that could become experts quite quickly and roll out this training to others," she says.
What Accenture UK is doing:
1. Monitoring CVs on social networking sites Twitter and LinkedIn.
2. Making Accenture jobs available for application on social media platforms.
3. Creating and building qualitative talent community with long-term two-way relationships.
Already there are clear indications of where different social media vehicles fit in recruitment.
So far, Style says it is becoming clear that LinkedIn is a good way of building relationships with
high-end consultants and Twitter is good for developing contacts with graduates.
Within the 50,000 wanted recruits, Accenture is looking for a diverse group of employees,
including telecom consultants, finance experts and software specialists. Style says social media is
particularly good for recruiting technology consultants because they tend to be in existing
networks.
Social media is growing as a recruitment tool. LinkedIn recently announced that although it has
been offering recruitment services in Europe for two years, it is increasing its focus on and
investment in these services. LinkedIn said the number of job postings and applications triple in
the past year.
One of LinkedIn's customers, Microsoft, has had success looking for people with niche skills to
fill roles on short notice.
It is clear that social media and recruitment are comfortable bedfellows. Recruitment companies,
businesses and jobseekers can all benefit from its use. If used successfully in Accenture's current
recruitment push, where it will run alongside traditional recruitment, it could become an industry
benchmark.
Global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company Accenture has
180,000 employees and offices in 49 countries and brings thousands of new employees on board
every year. As you might imagine, recruitment in a professional services company this size is a
mission-critical business process. Accenture is already quite successful with new college grads
BusinessWeek named the company #8 in Best Places to Launch a Career in 2007. To even
more effectively reach what the company thinks of as the Facebook audience, in March of
2008 Accenture launched a careers island in Second Life.
The island features fairly traditional-looking reception and meeting spaces designed to feel like
Accenture and effectively represent the corporate brand in a way that is appropriate in Second
Life. Accenture uses the island to network with prospective employees, answer questions job
candidates have, and candidates that recruiters couldnt easily get together with otherwise (e.g.,



students in universities Accenture couldnt visit on a road show). The Accenture Careers island
also offers a series of interactive games to engage peoples minds (e.g., memorize as many
details about a complex picture as you can, or calculate the counterbalance required to catapult
your avatar onto a landing pad) or encourage teamwork (e.g., balance your avatar on a disk while
not knocking other avatars off their disks). Signage is available in six languages. To help
Accenture marketing and HR folks easily leverage the island for their recruiting and networking
events, the project team developed and distributed how to tools, templates (e.g., for marketing
communications), and best practices information.

Based on latest recruitment drives by Accenture, let us discuss the 4 stages that generally would
constitute the recruitment process by the company.

Stage 1: Aptitude Test :

This one hour test would carry around 50 - 60 questions from quantitative aptitude, verbal and
non verbal. Unlike most other companies the weightage given to quantitative aptitude would be
lesser and would constitute around 20 marks out of the total 60 marks. (However there could be
variations in this distribution)

Stage 2 : Group Discussion :

GDs would be conducted among a group of around 10 to 15 candidates per batch.
Communication and leadership skills would be tested. Generally the elimination would be
around 50% in this round. (GDs may be skipped in some placement drives.)

Stage 3 : Technical Interview :

This is an usual stage like most other companies where you will be grilled on your course
subjects, areas of interest, basic programming concepts etc. While there is no hard and fast rule
regarding subject matter of the questions, its good to stay prepared (at least revise basics) on all
probable areas.

Stage 4 : HR Interview :

This is again the same as many other companies, where the interviewer would check if you carry
necessary attitude to fit into the organization. There could be questions on your goals,
achievements, real life problem solving

Accenture Graduate Recruiting Process - at Accenture in the United States

The recruiting process

Your first step is probably to review this website to get a feel for who we are, the type of work
we do, our working environment, our people and who we employ. Alternatively, contact your
campus careers services office to find out about positions that are available or contact the
recruiting division in your local Accenture office.




Your campus careers service will also have information about whether we will be visiting your
university. If so you can come and meet us in person and discuss the appropriate way to submit
your resume or CV. This will likely be by filling in an application form, giving your resume or
CV to one of our recruiters or applying online via our careers website. Your campus careers
services office will have a listing of recruiting events on your campus that Accenture will be
attending.


The interview process

To ensure that we hire the most appropriate individuals for Accenture opportunities, we conduct
a rigorous interview process. A recruiter may contact you to discuss your resume or CV. This
may result in a first interview with a recruiter, who will want to discuss your experiences and
interests at a high level. You will also have the opportunity to get additional information about
the position and what it is like to work at Accenture. If you are selected to participate in the next
stage of the process, you may have interviews with Accenture executives and require a more in-
depth discussion of your skills and experiences.

Your recruiter will contact you to let you know your status in the recruiting process.








Accentures Recruiting Process for Experienced Professionals at Accenture in India



The recruiting process

Your first step is probably to review this website to get a feel for who we are, the type of work
we do, our working environment, our people and who we employ.

If you decide Accenture is right for you, please search our jobs database for available positions
that match your skills and interest, and follow the instructions to submit your resume or CV.


The interview process






To ensure that we hire the most appropriate individuals for Accenture opportunities, we conduct
a rigorous interview process. A recruiter may contact you to discuss your resume or CV. This
may result in a first interview with a recruiter, who will want to discuss your experiences and
interests at a high level. You will also have the opportunity to get additional information about
the position and what it is like to work at Accenture. If you are selected to participate in the next
stage of the process, you may have interviews with Accenture executives and require a more in-
depth discussion of your skills and experiences.

Your recruiter will contact you to let you know your status in the recruiting process.
The Math Behind Accentures Restructuring

Will more cuts come?

Accenture announce that they were going to reduce their senior executive ranks by about 7%.
The company stated:
Approximately $128 million of the charge is for severance and related costs of workforce
actions, primarily at the senior-executive level, which are designed to ensure that the companys
global workforce is properly aligned to best serve the evolving needs of its clients and its
business. Accenture said that these actions will reduce its senior-executive ranks by
approximately 7 percent.
Global Services magazine estimates that a 7% reduction in Accentures senior executive ranks
equates to 336 personnel who will be let go. By their math, Accenture would have 4800 senior
executives. That number feels about right and a recent departee from Accenture pegged an
almost identical number for me. Accenture would be setting aside approximately $350,000 per
ousted executive. I made my own inquiry regarding that figure and learned that depending on the
executive, severance packages could run from 20 weeks pay for more junior executives to 1 year
for more experienced executives and maybe more for the highest level executives. Given the
amount Accenture is reserving, the firm may be culling more of the middle to top level
executives this time around.
Accenture stated:

The realignment of our senior-executive workforce will help ensure that Accenture has the right
people, skills and capabilities, at the right levels and in the right places. The affected executives
are highly skilled and valued professionals, and we will be working with them, as appropriate, to
help them find new opportunities outside of Accenture that take advantage of their experience
and expertise.




But what is likely to also happen is that the company will terminate a significant number of non-
senior executives, if it already hasnt done so. In a firm like Accenture, when you ax a senior
executive, these firms often ax those in the pyramids under those executives. For a large systems
integrator, you can expect a staff to senior executive pyramid of 50:1. In an outsourcer, expect
the ratio to be closer to 100:1 while a management consultancy might have a 12:1 or 20:1
pyramid.

In Accentures case, their 2008 annual report indicates that the company has 186,000 employees
(54,000 of these were new in 2008). If my estimate of Accentures senior executives is correct,
then Accenture has a staff to executive ratio of approximately 39:1 (i.e., 186,000
employees/4800 senior executives). If Accenture culls the full pyramids of these exiled
executives then a total of approximately 13,000 employees will get the ax sometime. Thats a lot
of people.

So, how many people will Accenture let go? It will likely be considerably more than the 336
executives but nowhere near 13,000 people. If they were going that deep, their financial reserve
would have been significantly larger. My guess is that theyll cull mostly from their senior ranks
for now as these persons are the most expensive to carry from a payroll perspective. Lower level
staff will be culled as they roll off chargeable work. As in any integrator, those persons who are
not chargeable are the most vulnerable to being let go. The involuntary or managed attrition
of these staff people will likely not incur high separation or severance costs that would be
separately indicated in Accentures financial statements as the bloodletting will be continuous
and gradual. The severance costs for these people, on a per capita basis, probably will not be as
generous as that offered for the senior executives.

Also, note that the company may have been actively managing its involuntary attrition for its
non-executives throughout the year. If so, the senior executives may be some of the last cuts
theyll make for now.

Should readers care that Accenture is thinning its ranks? Yes. The company may be signaling
that a broad based economic recovery is not showing up in their pipeline. They may be reducing
their executive ranks as they dont need as many executives to sell, deliver and manage the
reduced workload they are anticipating. They hung onto these executives hoping the economy
would be improving substantially by now but new client work is not trending in the way it used
to do so. In fact, Accenture management may believe that some market changes may be
permanent and no longer require the services of so many executives.