Typing this on phone, there will be typos. I was laid off in 2009, and being axed s—s. It s—s big time. I was a consultant in C&HT at the time, based out of the NYC office. It was difficult to find any projects, I ended up sitting on the bench for way too long (about 4 months) and I got caught in one wave of cuts. I was devastated, I thought Accenture was the firm that I was going to stick with for a very long time. My network was great, my peer group was fun and supportive the career counselor was top notch, I had one Outstanding and one Exceptional year, so things were going well.
And then the crisis hit. Heads were rolling, my career counselor got axed, I had hard time finding projects and then I got axed too.
But then things took a different turn. My career counselor got an amazing high level position at a top notch company, she called me a month into her new role and I had a new job that paid better, had more responsibility and eventually turned out to be more personally and professionally rewarding than my ACN gig. Honestly, had it not been for all skills and knowledge I’ve picked up at Accenture, I would have never gotten this new position.
In the end, things worked out and I am still grateful for all opportunities I was given at Accenture. Don’t get me wrong, there was a sh–load of things that were upside down at Accenture (work life balance, rating process, backstabbing, occasional shallowness of relationships, etc.) but in the aggregate I am still a big fan.
If you’ve been affected with these cuts (I am hearing about 10% of folks were affected) then good luck! Believe in your skills and all the knowledge you are taking with you – things will work out, they always do.
Godspeed!