Pros
Good benefits; wide variety of work; smart, educated, interesting colleagues
Kontras
Booz Allen has gone way downhill and it's out of balance. More than ever, it is all about the numbers, billability and new business. GO Team objectives trump all. Functional expertise, strategic thinking, and client service -- the art of consulting -- risk being devalued as a result. This will hurt the long-term, institutional stature and brand strength of the firm. Now that LOW letters get issued on a strict time frame, without asking if an employee about to be sacked might be able to contribute to the firm in ways that more than pay for the cost of an extra few weeks of billability, the real strength of the firm -- it's people -- the Innovation, creativity, and taking the time fully to think through and look "around the corner" at a client problem are less important than immediate revenue gratification, quarter-by-quarter. Management communication to staff is full of spin about work-life balance and core values, but really, it's all about the numbers. Booz Allen used to have a higher risk tolerance. It made strategic and longer-term investments to develop new service offerings based on the application of cutting-edge technology and management science to the operational challenges facing government. Not so much anymore. Brand strength will suffer in the long term because of all these things. But, of course, by then key insider shareholders will have already cashed, so who really cares?