Joining as an experienced hire
Pros
They have a great benefits program, generous PTO time off (which includes sick days), good training programs. They will promote the experienced hire program, though there is not much of a structured program. Accenture is a great brand name and will enhance your resume. They are a very demanding company to work for. You will be expected to work overtime. They will talk about how work-life balance is really important and how you should use flex time to your advantage. Just don't do it during busy times and that is most of the year. It is a very stable company however I was laid off due to budget cuts and I had the least tenure in my group. They do provide the opportunity to move around if your position gets cut however it is limited time and the hiring process is slow. It took me 7 weeks to get hired, when you only have 30 days to close on a new opportunity, you have to move fast and hope they do too. It is admirable that they give you the opportunity.
Cons
Experienced hires are well respected and they bring in new blood and new ideas, they are so happy to have you on board. What I actually experienced is that Accenture has many "lifers" who have been there forever- right out of college, 10-20 year tenures. They are heavily invested, promoted through a laddering system by their peers, and to experienced hires, you are reporting to people, typically younger than you, with less overall years of experience in the business. All they know is the Accenture Way. I had a few very successful years, I tried to get promoted, I would always be trumped by a lifer. It is also very difficult to get credit for your work. Typically it melts into your Sr. Managers and executives and you will not be spotlighted for your efforts. Folks at Accenture evaluate you by "the time you have been with Accenture". They do not recognize for one minute your past years of experience with other firms when it comes to recognition of your capabilities and promotion time. They also promote and assign bonuses through a system called Laddering where your peers chime in and vote on who deserves the promotion and bonus the most. If you are popular and have been around a while, you will of course get the most votes. A Sr. Manager I was interviewing with recently told me that the turn around for experienced hires is 80% in less than 5 years. They also made a comment that Accenture chews up and spits out experienced hires and why was I still here at 3 years? These blatant comments really concerned me and maybe getting laid off was not such a bad thing.