Booz Allen Hamilton: An insider guide - Gymkhana

UndergraduatesCurrently, Booz Allen is not actively recruiting undergraduates into itscommercial-sector unit. But according to one recruiting insider, “Universityrecruiting is not a large percentage of the recruiting we do for the governmentbusiness, but we still hire a large number of undergraduates.” Expect severalrounds of interviews. Undergraduates with engineering, computer science,business, and public policy degrees are likely to attract the most interest. Besure to highlight any government, national security, or defense industryinternships on your resume as well.“We look for a candidate,” says one WTB recruiter. “We don’t look for aposition per se, but we look for the best talent. In an interview I try to probetheir analytical thinking process. A typical interview question I’d ask of acollege hire: Give me an example of a project you had, the problems youencountered, and how you solved them.” Insiders also emphasize that communicationand writing skills are important. Says one recruiter, “We’re lookingfor someone who can communicate their thought processes. Interpersonalskills and analytical thinking are probably the top two criteria, then obviouslyrelevant experience. I like to tell people to come prepared with three thingsthat they’ve built and white papers. We like to have writing samples. I want tomake sure these people can write. We’re doing analytical work, but we have tocommunicate that to our client.”Getting HiredOnce you’re in, Booz Allen will help you move ahead. “We do hire a lot ofjunior staff coming right out of school. A lot of them go back to school aspart of their work with us, and we support that.” says a recruiter. Where theWTB side used to encourage only technical degrees, it now promotes thepursuit of MBAs for some of its employees. “The firm gives $5,000 per yeartoward tuition,” an insider reports. “We try to encourage folks to go to more ofa state school, where they can take more classes [for that money].”66