Accenture Employee Referral Program
Frequently Asked Questions
To submit a referral now, visit https://employeereferrals.accenture.com
General questions about the Employee Referral Program:
 Why is Accenture focused on making employee referrals the #1 source of new hires?
 Are employee referrals successful?
 No one I’ve referred has been hired. Why should I try again?
 What are Accenture’s hiring plans?
 What specific skills are Accenture looking for? Are roles limited to specific workforces,
geographies or skills?
 What’s different about today’s Employee Referral Program?
 How do employee referrals support Accenture’s growth strategy?
 Why should I refer someone for an open role at Accenture? What’s in it for me?
Questions about open roles, and identifying people to refer
 How do I find available open positions?
 What is Accenture looking for in a candidate?
 Where can I find potential referrals?
 Can I refer the same person for multiple roles?
 Can I refer a person if there is no immediate need for his or her specific skills?
 Can I refer a person who does not exactly match all criteria for a specific open role?
 Can I refer someone in my country for an open role in a different country?
 Can I refer people who worked with me in a previous organization?
 Can I refer someone who was referred before, but unsuccessful?
 Can I refer someone who’s currently working for one of our clients?
 I know someone who I think will be a great fit at Accenture. Is there support available to help me
determine the appropriate open role based on his or her resume/curriculum vitae?
Questions about initiating and following the life cycle of an employee referral
 How do I initiate the referral process?
 What is the best way to search for relevant and applicable open roles? I need search tips!
 Generally, how long does the employee referral process cycle take (from referral to hire, where
applicable)?
 Will I work with a recruiter as part of the process?
 How do I monitor the status of my referral?
 Why can’t I see my referral on employeereferrals.accenture.com site?
 Am I responsible for communicating ongoing eligibility/status to my referral?
 How will I know when my referral is successful…or unsuccessful?
 Will my referral also be considered for other open roles (for which he or she is qualified)?
 When I try to submit my referral, I get a message that “the candidate is already known in the
system.” What does this mean?
Questions about managing expectations
 What do I need to know to manage my own expectations?
 What if the person I refer is hired, but underperforms or leaves the company soon after being
hired?
 What happens if my referral is not a successful candidate?
Questions about what I should (and shouldn’t) say
© 2010 Accenture
All rights reserved.
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What should I say about Accenture to people who are interested in applying for consideration?
What can my referrals to do to make their resumes stand out?
Is there anything I avoid discussing with potential recruits?
Why isn’t “career level” visible in my search results?
What should I say if my referral is not hired?
General questions about the Employee Referral Program

Why is Accenture focused on making employee referrals the #1 source of new hires?
Employee referrals are a win-win for everyone—for our employees, for Accenture and for
successful candidates. Accenture people play an important role in our recruitment efforts
because our employees know Accenture well, and are the best people to help us find the right
person for the right role. That’s important because Accenture’s future success depends on
having the best people, with the right skills and capabilities, focused on performance excellence.
Employee referrals are also a cost-effective way to fuel our growth. More importantly, a
recruitment program that can effectively tap into our employees’ networks also gives Accenture
a significant competitive advantage.
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Are employee referrals successful?
Yes! We hire thousands of talented people through employee referrals every year. Currently, 18
percent of all Accenture new joiners come from employee referrals. We want to increase that to
28 percent by the end of FY11, and up to 40 percent by the end of FY12. Our goal is to make
our people the #1 source for Accenture’s new talent.
Visit https://employeereferrals.accenture.com to see what your colleagues say about their
employee referral experiences.
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No one I’ve referred has been hired. Why should I try again?
You should try again because you still have the opportunity to shape our winning team with
talented people you already know. Employee referrals complement our other talent sources
because Accenture people know Accenture best—you know Accenture best! Not only that, but
there is renewed focus on this channel because it gives us a competitive advantage as we fuel
our growth.
It’s also easier to share open roles with your Facebook friends and LinkedIn colleagues—you
can do it with one click! We’ve made many changes—all based on employee input— to make
employee referrals easier, so we encourage you to give it another try.
Visit https://employeereferrals.accenture.com to see what’s new.
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What are Accenture’s hiring plans?
Accenture is hiring across all geographies seeking a wide range of industry and technical skills
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in all workforces. We hired more than 50,000 employees in FY10. We plan to hire tens of
thousands more in FY11.
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What specific skills are Accenture looking for? Are roles limited to specific workforces,
geographies or skill sets?
Accenture is always in the market for best-in-class talent. We’re hiring across all growth
platforms, operating groups, workforces for a variety of skills and geographies.
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What’s different about today’s Employee Referral Program?
A lot! Visit https://employeereferrals.accenture.com to see all that’s new. You’ll see that the
technology and process are very different from the previous program. What you may not know
is that every change is a result of direct employee feedback. So, the technology and process
bottlenecks you may have experienced before are now history! The “what happened with my
referral” experience? That’s history, too.
Not only that, but you can take care of all your employee referral activities on one page.
Whether you want to find open positions, refer a talented friend or track the status of those
you’ve already referred—you’ll do it all on the same page:
https://employeereferrals.accenture.com
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How do employee referrals support Accenture’s growth strategy?
Accenture is a stronger and better company than ever before in our history. Perhaps more
important, we are a better-positioned company for growth and continued market leadership. The
Employee Referral Program accelerates our growth by helping Accenture find and recruit the
best people for open roles. In FY10, our employees helped Accenture hire 50,000 of the best
people on earth with the deepest and most relevant skills and “been there, done that”
experiences…people they already knew.
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Why should I refer someone for an open role at Accenture? What’s in it for me?
Growth brings opportunities for you to develop and also to make a difference to our clients and
our company. In other words, as Accenture grows, so do the opportunities—for everyone. By
participating in the Employee Referral Program, you’re helping Accenture compete, win and
grow. Employee referrals provide an opportunity for you to demonstrate our core values of
“Stewardship”—helping to build a better, stronger and more durable company, and “Best
People”—attracting, developing and retaining the best talent for our business.
In most countries, you may also be eligible for a referral cash incentive. For more details about
employee referral incentives for your country, select your country from the “Country” drop-down
list on https://employeereferrals.accenture.com
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Questions about open roles, and identifying people to refer
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How do I find available open positions?
Visit https://employeereferrals.accenture.com and use the keyword search to find open positions
in all areas of the business.
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What is Accenture looking for in a candidate?
Accenture is looking for people just like you! People who:
o Seek challenging job opportunities that make the most of their skills, experiences and
interests.
o Are focused on accelerating their personal and professional development by working as
part of a collaborative team—and company—that delivers results.
o Are committed to quality and to high performance.
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Where do I find potential referrals?
Potential referrals are everywhere! You may have already thought about which of your close
friends or family members would make great employee referrals, but what about your Facebook
friends and LinkedIn colleagues? Visit https://employeereferrals.accenture.com to see how
quick and easy it is to share open roles with your social media circles as well!
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Can I refer the same person for multiple roles?
Yes you can, but you have to refer your candidates to multiple jobs during the same session so
we can accurately track that this referral ‘belongs’ to you.
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Can I refer a person if there is no immediate need for his or her specific skills?
Yes. If there is no immediate need for a particular skill set, your referral’s resume will be kept in
the system for a limited time but depends on specific country laws. If you have specific
questions, please contact a member of your local Employee Referral team. Your local Employee
Referral team members, and their Office Communicator status’, are listed in the right panel of
your country page on https://employeereferrals.accenture.com.
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Can I refer a person who does not exactly match all criteria for a specific open role?
Yes, however, the chances of acceptance will likely be lower.
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Can I refer someone in my country for an open role in a different country?
Yes—we encourage you to do so!
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Can I refer people who worked with me in a previous organization?
Yes. However, Accenture’s recruiting abilities may be restricted by the other company’s noncompete clause or other post-employment restrictions of the individual.
Consistent with our Code of Business Ethics, we also expect Accenture employees to comply
with any relevant obligations including those that prevent you from soliciting, inducing or enticing
former colleagues to leave their current employer to join Accenture.
If you have specific questions, please contact a member of your local Employee Referral team.
Your local Employee Referral team members, and their Office Communicator status’, are listed
in the right panel of your country page on https://employeereferrals.accenture.com.
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Can I refer someone who was referred before, but unsuccessful?
Yes, provided a minimum period of 12 months has passed. If our system gives an error
message please contact a member of your referral team on
https://employeereferrals.accenture.com.
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Can I refer someone who’s currently working for one of our clients?
It depends. Please refer to Accenture Policy 909 for details, or contact a member of your
Employee Referral team for guidance when referring individuals who are currently employed by
an Accenture client. Your local Employee Referral team members, and their Office
Communicator status’, are listed in the right panel of your country page on
https://employeereferrals.accenture.com.
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I know someone who I think will be a great fit at Accenture. Is there support available to
help me determine the appropriate open role based on his or her resume/curriculum
vitae?
Yes. A member of your local Employee Referral team can help. Your local Employee Referral
team members, and their Office Communicator status’, are listed in the right panel of your
country page on https://employeereferrals.accenture.com.
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Questions about initiating and following the life cycle of an employee referral
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How do I initiate the referral process? What is the process?
Visit https://employeereferrals.accenture.com and look for open roles. If you know someone
who fits the bill, click on the role and follow the steps to upload the resume.
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What is the best way to search for relevant and applicable open roles? I need search tips!
The search engine on https://employeereferrals.accenture.com works exactly like Google, so
search here as you would there! For example, always include a country entry in your search
like: “SAP Consultant Spain” or “Japan Oracle”. You can also sort the search column by
relevance and add/ remove keywords to your search to get a different set of results.
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Generally, how long does the employee referral process cycle take (from referral to hire,
where applicable)?
It depends on many things and varies from country to country. However, on average, the
process takes about 6-8 weeks.
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Will I work with a recruiter as part of the process?
Maybe. The recruiter may reach out to you for additional information about your referral, but
generally, interaction with the recruiter will likely be limited.
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How do I monitor the status of my referral?
Track the status of all your referrals through https://employeereferrals.accenture.com. Status
updates are automatic so you’ll know exactly where your referral is in the recruiting process
24/7. Make sure that you use your Accenture email address when you refer someone through
the system so we can accurately match your referral to you. If you have an existing account in
the system, please check if we have your Accenture email address on record.
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Why can’t I see my referral on employeereferrals.accenture.com site?
Our fabulous new platform is capable of many things…but pulling in referrals from our old
system isn’t one of them. Unfortunately, if you submitted an employee referral prior to the
launch of the new platform, information about your referral will not be captured and will not
display. If you submitted a referral prior to the go-live date, the recruiter will keep you updated
via e-mail.
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Am I responsible for communicating ongoing eligibility/status to my referral?
No, the recruiter will communicate with your referral.
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How will I know when my referral is successful…or unsuccessful?
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You can track your referrals on https://employeereferrals.accenture.com. If your referral is hired,
you will receive a confirmation e-mail that will include details regarding your referral incentive, if
applicable.
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Will my referral also be considered for other open roles (for which he or she is qualified)?
Yes.
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When I try to submit my referral, I get a message that “the candidate is already known in
the system.” What does this mean?
Getting this message is good news … and bad news. The good news is: someone else from
Accenture has already referred the individual, whom you are trying to refer, for an open role!
The bad news: because the candidate has already been referred, you cannot refer the same
person, even if you are referring the person for a different role, for 12 months. If you have any
concerns or questions, please contact a member of your local employee referral team on
https://employeereferrals.accenture.com.
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Questions about managing expectations
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What do I need to know to manage my own expectations about the outcome of my
referral?
Above all, be patient. Accenture’s goal is to hire the right person for the right role. More often
than not, it takes longer than you may expect before a final decision is made. On average, the
process takes 6-8 weeks.
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What if the person I refer is hired, but underperforms or leaves the company soon after
being hired?
Accenture’s goal is to hire the right person for the right role. If your referral is offered a role at
Accenture, it is because Accenture believes that person to be the best candidate for the
position. If that person does not perform as expected, you may be disappointed; however, it is
important to remember the performance or action of another is not a reflection on you in any
way.
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What happens if my referral is not a successful candidate?
Accenture’s goal is to hire the right person for the right role. If your referral is not hired, you may
be disappointed. However, it is important to remember that Accenture’s decision is not a
reflection on you in any way. If your referral is not successful, don’t give up. Referring your
friends and family for open roles displays our core values of Best People and Stewardship. It
also provides another person with the opportunity to be considered for a challenging and
interesting role at a global company committed to high performance.
© 2010 Accenture
All rights reserved.
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Questions about what I should (and shouldn’t) say
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What should I say about Accenture to people who are interested in applying for
consideration?
Accenture offers challenging and interesting career and growth opportunities, but specifically:
o Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing
company. Committed to delivering innovation, Accenture collaborates with its clients to
help them become high-performance businesses and governments.
o Our vision is to become one of the world's leading companies, bringing innovations to
improve the way the world works and lives.
o Our mission is to help our clients become high-performance businesses and
governments.
o Our core values shape the culture and define the character of our company. They guide
how we behave and make decisions.
o Our Code of Business Ethics reinforces our core values and drives our culture of
compliance, ethical decision making and accountability.
o We have one of the world’s top 50 brands—a brand synonymous with high performance.
o Our clients are the world’s leading companies, organizations and government agencies
in more than 120 countries.
o Regardless of your workforce, level or role, Accenture is committed to helping you
accelerate your personal and professional development.
o Accenture operates as a meritocracy, recognizing and rewarding high performance.
To learn more about what makes Accenture great, visit our Ready, Set, Grow "Did you know?”
page or the About Accenture channel—on the Accenture Portal.
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What should I tell my referrals to do to make their resumes stand out?
Accenture receives approximately 2 million resumes a year. To stand out, candidates should
clearly illustrate experience working in teams, specific skills and capabilities as well as
leadership skills. Grade point average, for recent university graduates, is also important.
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What should I avoid discussing with potential recruits?
Avoid discussing career levels, compensation and benefits because doing so may result in
inaccurate expectations for you—and for your referral. A recruiter will discuss those details with
your referral based on the recruiter’s assessment of your referral’s work history, skills and
experience.
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Why isn’t “career level” visible in my search results?
Sometimes recruiters post generic job descriptions for specific skill areas, like CRM in
Management Consulting, for which roles at several career levels are available. In other words,
one job description represents multiple roles and levels that are available in a specific skill
area. In these cases, a generic career level will be included because more than one career level
is associated with the generic job description.
In general, avoid discussing career levels, compensation and benefits because doing so may
result in inaccurate expectations for you—and for your referral. A recruiter will discuss those
details with your referral based on the recruiter’s assessment of your referral’s work history,
skills and experience.
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What should I say to my referral if he is not hired?
You don’t need to say anything if your referral is not hired. Generally, candidates appreciate
feedback from the recruiter when they are not selected for a role. A recruiter will provide as
much feedback as possible to end the process as suitably as possible for everyone.
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