Booz Allen Hamilton reviews

The management works in a crisis mode all the time. They work their pricing people to the point of burnout. They have a high turnover rate. The Pricing Management lacks direction and doesn't think through their decisions before implementing them. That is indicative of the company as a whole. They hired a lot of people before knowing on which contracts they were going to work. If your manager gets a bad review...expect yours to be bad. Their evaluation method is torturous at best! You have to write LONG (10,000+ word) essays every year justifying your value. It is also very subjective and that allows managers who have been passed over for promotions year after year to be vindictive on their subordinates. Unless you will be working in a client facing position you will regret accepting a job at BAH. I know I and a LOT of people do.

Biggest problem: the enormous amount of sitting around "on the bench" that often occurs because of lack of client work or fed bureaucrats not moving contracts quickly. Result: I've only had actual work for for about 1/3 of my time at this company, which is bad for my career development and a waste of tax dollars because that's what pays Booz. As an MBA, I expect to be challenged. That hasn't happened. I've seen a LOT of people at my level leave because they are very smart, very motivated, and this place wastes their time and talents. Government consulting is a misnomer. It is NOT consulting. It is contracting out what the feds don't want to do or aren't staffed for. Booz has become a "butts in seats" place, where they just try to get you client site basically doing the same thing as a bureaucrat. And trying to help entrenched, unmotivated career bureaucrats make progress on important national issues is frustrating. Management: Senior Associates usually SUCK, and they are the middle management you'll likely work for. Principals are usually good, but there's limited interaction because they're senior to the Senior Associates.