Is BAH family friendly?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, what company is BAH? Glassdoor.com might have some employee reviews to check out as well.

Booz Allen Hamilton?

Ahh Booz, of course. Thanks

[Anonymous]

14:37 and 14:39, thank you so much for your detailed input, especially re: the branding. . This would be located at a booz allen office and not a client site.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I'm not sure what internal vs external means but it's a senior consultant position and the client is a government agency (not DOD...think stethoscopes, not security ), if that makes any difference. In any case, I appreciate the input. The job duties are much more interesting to me than what I'm doing now but in the event that they make me an offer (and maybe they won't and all of this will be moot) I'll have some questions.

14:39 paints a very accurate picture. I am also a current employee and have been fortunate to have a very family-friendly team. I do an eight hour day at client site and leave by 4:30 to pick up my kid. Anything else that needs to get done waits until after she goes to bed. Maybe once or twice a week I put in those extra hours at home. The occasional marketing effort takes up nights and weekends but on the whole my schedule works well.

I am not in "stethoscopes" but many of my friends are - I would suggest talking to someone in that market if possible because many of them have had very different experiences from me. Also, as a senior consultant you will not have nearly as many demands for marketing efforts, unless you are looking to get promoted quickly, so work/life balance will be better. Just out of curiosity, how much experience do you have relevant to the job you're applying for? Since you're on DCUM I'm assuming you're a more seasoned worker and might want to push for a higher title...assuming you are interested in more responsibility.

Last, I totally agree its an unstable time for all government consulting. I would think long and hard about the decision before going into the industry - and that goes for all government consulting companies, not just Booz Allen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think Booz will be around for long. And I would have said that before Snowden, too.

+1000 I have sources!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think Booz will be around for long. And I would have said that before Snowden, too.

+1000 I have sources!

OP here. Can you please elaborate a little? I obviously don't want to go to a sinking ship.

[Anonymous]

they are screwed i would stay away

[Anonymous]

I was at BAH for 10 years. Came in as a senior consultant, left as a senior-level senior associate. Before I had kids, I would have thought it was family friendly. Then I had kids. The expectations are that you are committed to the job 100%. As a senior consultant, if you are a good one, they will have you work some proposals and then promote you to associate where you will do more proposals. This is on top of the billable client work (aka 40 hours) that you are doing. And since you have to maintain high billability as a sr consultant, you will end up "eating" the extra time that is not billable. And you are not bonus-eligible. For those that go part-time, that means working 40 hour but being paid for the part-time hours that you signed up to do. Expectations are less so that is good, but if you are good, you will be pressured to go full-time. I left BAH 3 years ago and haven't looked back. All of that said, it really depends on the team. I think the classified, defense side is easier than civil because they - on the whole - work saner hours. Overall, it is not family friendly.

[Anonymous]

Booz Allen is NOT family friendly. And the only way to get ahead on the GO Team (non-consultant side) is to sleep with your manager.

[Anonymous]

22:51 - I totally agree. And the folks in the finance and legal departments are the worst - male managers are
completely lecherous and eager to hit on their younger junior staff. Those guys are only in it for themselves.

[Anonymous]

I used to sleep with all the new interns. If you want to fuck constantly, I suggest you go there.

[Anonymous]

They have the Bright Horizons daycare at the McLean Campus, a plus if you work in this location. Overall at Booz Allen you work hard and stand your ground on worklife balance. The company is also set up as a hoteling environment so you sign up to be in the office as needed, depending on your team and role.

They are running a tight financial ship since going public. At times being questioned for taking large loans to boost share value while laying off tenured officers and employees. They continue the lack of work/ position eliminations, so ask questions about the client base and project POP. A colleague was laidoff while on maternity leave - horrible I know- but that's the state of the gov contracting industry Booz Allen is mainly in. The general morale of the employees are low, so your colleagues may look at you poorly if your percieved as not carrying your weight - perception is important when the appraisal process is 360.