What to expect in your Accenture virtual orientation

The first day of a new job is always a bit stressful. When you start in the middle of a pandemic, it can be overwhelming—especially if you’ve never worked from home before.

So, when we designed Accenture’s virtual orientation, our starting point was to make you feel welcome and comfortable—and quickly get you up to speed with working in a remote environment.

Day 1
The first morning, you’ll meet your orientation co-ordinator and connect with a start group of 10–15 other experienced new hires on Microsoft TEAMs. We’ll make sure everything’s working, give you an understanding of the rest of the week’s program. You’ll get to know your new colleagues as real people, invited into their homes—often with kids and dogs running around in the background! By the end of orientation, we hope you’ll have a real connection with these colleagues.

To make sure you don’t get screen fatigue, video calls are interspersed with self-paced learning, including bite-sized videos from our global leaders. You’ll also connect with IT support to make sure everything’s secure.  To assist you on your journey, you’ll access “Year 1 @ Accenture”—a global site designed to guide you from your first day through to the end of your first year. At the end of the day, we’ll get together for a wrap-up call to set you up for what you’re doing tomorrow. This is a great time to raise questions that came up as you watched the videos.

Day 2
After hearing about Accenture at the global level, this is the day you’ll drill down to find out what you’ll experience as part of the Australia and New Zealand practice. You’ll join a larger group of new joiners, often including grads, to meet our local leaders. You’ll hear about local clients and have the chance to ask questions and get to know the leadership team.

In between the calls, you’ll continue to work through your learning checklist, with additional time built in for you to explore and learn on your own. In our wrap up, we play an interactive game of Kahoot! It’s a great way to find out how much you’ve retained across the two days—and a fun bit of competition with your start group.

Day 3
This is when we delve into the actual nuts and bolts of the business. How do we make our money? How do we sell? How will you find different roles or get staffed onto projects? These topics will help you to better understand the organisation. You’ll also discover our learning platforms, which have more detail on key topics we covered in orientation and introduce you to new topics of interest, so you can continue to broaden your knowledge. Again, there’ll be breaks in between for you to digest what you’ve learned.

Throughout the program, you will be introduced to your support network—including your HR partner and your career counsellor—and learn how to  navigate through our systems. And remember, your start group is your first network, a connection to maintain as you go your separate ways and start your new role in the business.

First step
Bear in mind that orientation is just the beginning of your Accenture journey. After three days, you won’t have all the answers—but you will know where to find them. And, every day, more pieces of the puzzle will fall into place. Keep asking questions, expanding your network, using the tools and leveraging your support system. Accenture will soon feel like a great place to grow you career. 

Orientation FAQs

What do I wear? Accenture doesn’t actually have a dress code. Our rule of thumb is “dress for your day”. You don’t need to wear a suit and a tie, but given you’ll be meeting senior people for the first time, think about what impression you want to make.

What should I have in the background? It doesn’t matter. No one expects to see a model home. If it’s a drama, you can always blur your background or upload your own picture.

What if I have concerns I don’t want to raise in a group setting? Contact your coordinator privately via chat and they’ll call you directly.

What’s next? You’ll still have ethics and compliance training to complete within 60 days of start date, so you understand how to conduct yourself within the organisation. We use gamified modules to make the learning experience fun—which helps you to retain this important information.