I applied to Accenture online. A couple of week later I received an email from the recruiter asking if I was interested in an interview with the System Integration Group.
The first round interview was a screening interview over the phone with a manager/consultant. Basically, you just simply go over your resume and experiences. I guess the best advice I can give you is know your resume. Be prepared for the question, "Can you run through your resume for me?" Funny enough, this sounds very straight forward, but it is a good idea to work on creating a narrative for your resume in preparation for this round. The interview lasts 20-30 minutes. The person will ask you a few quick questions about yourself, and probably talk about his/her experience with the company. There are a few minutes for your questions, so think about a thing or two you'd like to ask. This round really is meant to see if you are who your resume says you are. At the end of the interview, the interviewer told me that I would hear back from my recruiter in 5 to 7 business days.
About 5 days later, I received a phone call from the recruiter telling me I had made it to the second round. The recruiter sent my information to the Accenture Interview Scheduling department, who emailed me a couple days afterward to set up an interview time.
The second round interview is a "situational" or behavioral interview done over the phone with another manager/consultant. The person who interviewed me had been with the company for over 10 years. This is the interview that many say is the most important, and I tend to agree with that assessment. Basically you get two or three questions asked about your work or school experience i.e. "Tell me about a time..." This interview was pretty structured and the interviewer was very business-like. The questions I received were "Tell me about a difficult project you have been on?”,"Tell me about a time you have had to work with a difficult coworker." "Tell me about a time when you had a lot on your plate, how did you manage?" With these questions the interviewer asked follow up questions based on your answers. Make sure you good examples in mind for particular questions. I went online and looked up common behavioral questions, as well looked at this website. There is actually an interview app for your phone that is pretty helpful. Take some time to think about these questions and possible answers that relate to your work or academic experience. Always be prepared for the why Accenture question, which will be asked by every interviewer. This interview went pretty well, but don't be shocked if the interviewer does not give you any hints about how you did, because like I said my particular interviewer was very professional and business-like. The interview only lasted 35 minutes. Again, there was time for my questions. The interviewer let me know that my recruiter would contact me in 3 to 5 business days.
Three days later, my recruiter called me and let me know that I had made to the final round. The final round is an in-office interview and consists of a presentation by a group of young analysts and consultants about working for Accenture. During the presentation an HR rep will come in and talk to you about benefits. It is common to have a small group of candidates with you during this half-day affair. After the presentation, you are taken for two 1-1 interviews with managers/senior managers. Both interviews were situational/behavioral interviews but definitely more laid back and personable. They asked similar questions to the ones I had in the second round. I enjoyed this round a lot more than the second round because of the fact that I was actually talking to somebody face to face. A good question for you to think about is "Tell me about a time you made a decision that was the wrong one to make or the outcome wasnt as positive." Thats a good one to think about, because it could definitely catch you off guard. The managers were really pleasant and easy to talk to. They were willing to talk about their experiences both positive and negative, and I felt that I got a lot out of the interview. Ask questions. At the end of the interview, I was told that I would hear back in a couple of weeks.
Luckily, a couple of days later I heard back from the recruiter, who told me that Accenture wanted to extend me an offer. I accepted the offer a couple of days later.
My best advice for this interview process is to do good research. Go on Accenture's website, read the CEO's remarks, learn about the values and how they do business. Think about how you fit in and try to convey that message during the interview. Go online and look up common behavioral interview questions and think about how you would answer those questions. Relax and show confidence. This is a great opportunity and I am very happy to have this chance. Good luck with your interviews.