Accenture provides an environment where you can do almost anything

Nigel Pereira is an Operations Consulting and Transformation Analyst, joining in our graduate intake two years ago. He shares some of his experiences and learnings on his time at Accenture so far.

Why did you join Accenture?
I studied commerce at university and knew that consulting was a career path that appealed to me. I strongly believed that technology is at the heart of innovation and I wanted an environment where I could learn more than the usual strategy skills, so applying to Accenture was a natural match.

But of course, as a graduate you apply to many companies. I was successful with a few organisations, but from the moment I got the call from Accenture, I knew it was where I wanted to be. The HR person was so down to earth and lovely, making me feel incredibly welcomed. I thought “If this is an example of the type of people at Accenture, that’s who I want to be associated with,” and that has only been reinforced since I joined. Everyone is so supportive and like-minded, and it’s a fantastic place to be building my consulting career.

What does a typical day look like?
I work in the Operations division, as part of the Next Gen Enterprise practice and it’s a dynamic environment. Depending on the project I’m assigned to, I can be working on enterprise technology, the strategy behind business culture and other problems, mergers and acquisitions and post-separation or concentrating on growing business development work.

As well as client work, I’m also heavily involved in internal activities at Accenture, for example being part of the Melbourne location team and being the Operations volunteering champion. I’m in the social pillar of the Melbourne location team, helping to create a fun and engaging workplace through events like our End of Financial Year party, a Diwali event, and our Lunar New Year festivities. As the Operations volunteering champion, I  increases awareness about the fabulous opportunities at offer: like tree planting and mentoring programs through organisations such as the Australian Business and Community Network (ABCN). Our volunteering programs provide the chance for employees to engage with each other and give back to our community in informal and fun ways.

What kind of flexibility can I expect?
When you start as an analyst, your managers will work with you to try to manage your time so that you’re maintaining a healthy balance. But the nature of consulting work is that the hours required will fluctuate at times, so it’s important to set and maintain your own boundaries. Some days when you’re between projects and concentrating on business development, you might only have a few hours of project work you need to do on any given day (and that’s when you can get involved in some of the internal programs like planning social events), while when a project is approaching a Go-To-Market deadline, there can be longer days required. It’s all about finding that balance, with a big picture view of how do you triage your time.

What is the best thing about working at Accenture?
It’s the sense of possibility. I’ve never been in a situation where I’m told no. For example when I wanted to start a new chocolate giveaway initiative, I was given budget and told to go and do it. Everyone gives you the assets and support to make your ideas – whether that’s social or project-based – successful.

Everyone is so open minded and supportive of innovation, as well as being genuinely caring. People support ideas because everyone wants to help each other be the best versions of ourselves at work.

On the flip side, because there are so many opportunities at Accenture, sometimes this means having to prioritise what’s most important. Ultimately, you need to remember that delivering for clients and adding value for them has to come first, and all the other things you can do at Accenture have to fit around that.

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