I was engaged by an Accenture representative after over 8 months after my initial submission to their online application system. The first communication, which occurred in December 2010, came from a representative who appeared to be just looking to see if I was still interested in Accenture. After several communications back and forth, the first interview (the Phone Interview) occurred during the first week of January 2011.
During the first interview, the interviewer was getting a good feeling for what I did and if I generally matched the profile for a particular role. It was a simple interview where its much like a discovery. After the interview, the recruiter communicated that they should move on with the process and get to a skills and situational interview. Fast forward 3 weeks with no communication; I finally get a response from the recruiter about setting up times and then to only discuss via phone about there not being a role available.
1 Week later. The recruiter connects me with another recruiter whom said they had a role. We go through an interview set for situational and everything appears to go well - the interviewer asked me questions that were fairly straight forward and clear. Then there is a skills interview a day later. This is where I think the day and night perspective of the recruiting process can be seen.
The interviewer comes on the phone and communicates his background and then randomly begins to complain about how the company is adding a sub-group under a practice they have. The interviewer also complained about how their view of a particular area was not valid and that people who are labeled with a particular title are worthless. --- by now you can just imagine how the interviewee was thinking -- shocked.
The interviewer goes on to ask questions about the job experiences and appeared to be straight forward with their questions.
At the end - the interview was nothing more than a ranting session from the interviewer -- this is what I heard from this person.
My gut reaction to the last interview: I could have done better had I received an open, professional interviewer whom was honorable and had integrity about the company and the perspectives of people whom they worked with.
I cannot say I would interview with Accenture again. Disorganization, lack of knowledge about the role and lack of reliability on the recruiter. Also, from a general understanding of the compensation, I don't think I would have been comfortable accepting a salary much lower than what I received from a competing company to do more work and responsibilities. I was very displeased with the last interviewer whom came off as very negative about Accenture.
My advice to Accenture - improve your process, screen your interviewers and make sure you understand the candidates qualifications - grade, capabilities, level, experience, etc., before you actively engage this individual. This could easily save both the candidate and your company a lot of time.