I have been playing tennis since I was very little; I still fondly remember my first group classes – we were so small that we had a juice and cookie break. I played competitively through high school and socially during college, but now it is only sporadically that I find the opportunity for a match. The last time I played, we were enjoying the gentle breezes of late fall on an idyllic Saturday afternoon, and by the end of the first game, I was drenched in sweat. My opponent commented that I didn’t seem to be having very much fun, for all that I was trouncing him. Between heavy breaths, I retorted that I was having a blast, but he suggested we give up the competition and just rally. As we fell into a more comfortable pattern and my breathing normalized, the stress of competition fell away and I realized I was smiling.

It is easy to define players in tennis, divided by the net, as opponents, but as in most situations, it can still be win-win. He was not my opponent, but my partner. We both won when we had fun. In Stephen R. Covey’s “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,” he identifies Habit 4 as “Think Win-Win.”

This last weekend, I took the opportunity to hurl myself down a mountain. I am not, by any means, suicidal. Rather, I was eager to take advantage of fresh powder. Three fresh feet of fresh snow called to me, echoing my name betwixt mountaintops. In my 25 years, I have pursued a variety of sports. From soccer to tennis, fencing to badminton. But skiing caught my interest this last year as a completely different type of challenge. There was no opponent but the mountain, no score at the bottom, no pace but my own. In fact, the only indicator of my success was how much fun I had going down, whether that was based upon speed, successful turns, challenging slopes, or simply not falling.

In our projects, we are provided expectations, statements of work, and criteria for success; but there are always opportunities to challenge ourselves further. Do we find stretch roles that force us to learn? Do we take on more than our role asks of us? Our personal satisfaction in a role cannot always be the priority, but it is an important factor in the overall success.

As young professionals, it’s vital to show that we are prepared and ready to take on new challenges. Accenture values its employees for their hard work and professionalism. Whenever, I am heading to a meeting, I make sure, I take with me a notepad and a pen. Not always will you need to take notes, but you might be assigned tasks that you do not want to forget. From time to time, I have seen people unprepared and not on time for meetings. It doesn’t reflect well on you and your team if you are not prepared and are late for a meeting. Clients considered this disrespectful and think you are wasting their time if you are prepared.

Dressing appropriate is also important as you do not want to be underdressed. Accenture’s dress code in general is business casual, but at times our clients have a different dress code. I had a client that required us to wear a jacket and/or tie. We follow our client’s dress codes so they know we care about their business and what they stand for. On another note, typing emails, etc on your laptop while on a meeting is very unprofessional. I have noticed this a couple times and to me this shows that the person doesn’t care about what’s going on. I know there are things we don’t want to forget and that’s why I always carry a notepad and a pen with me. When you are on time, prepared, and dressed appropriately you show that you care and are ready to work.

Training is an integral part to learning your job/role functions. Accenture takes a lot of pride in its training curriculum. The past year the company has spent over $900 million in training. On average, every Accenture employee takes 75 hours of training a year. There is a course for just about anything related to consulting and the industries we serve. I have mainly been staffed at Pharmaceutical and Government projects. Therefore, I have taken many training courses to learn about the Pharmaceutical and Public Service sector to stay up to speed with these evolving sectors.

Depending on your role, it’s very important to take some training on that industry/sector. Learning about your particular sector will allow you to get up to speed with your role, project deliverables, and terminology. Your first couple years at Accenture, you tend to work across industries as you go from project to project. As you move around, you will see that although you might have a similar role, different industries function in different ways. Whether you join our company or go elsewhere, I strongly recommend taking additional training courses. Learning about different industries, software systems, functions, etc will make you more marketable for future roles.

Last week as was on the train returning home after a long week of work, I reflected about my career at Accenture. I have had many opportunities and am glad that I have taken advantage of many of them. As a young person it’s always difficult to know what you want to do or where you want to take your career. I have had many opportunities at this company and have learned from every experience. The key to success and furthering your career is to be open as in consulting there are difficult roles and/or clients. I myself have had roles that haven’t been the best but I have always been open to them. From each of my roles and clients, I have learned something new. Although at times, I have been stressed or disappointed, I never give up. Regardless of the company you work, you will face challenges and being open is the key to striving through these challenges.

It’s also very important not to be afraid of asking questions if you are stuck, confused, or need help. My advice is to ask questions as long as each question is unique. Several of my previous supervisors have told me that they enjoyed working with me. That is because I have not been afraid of taking on new challenges and asking questions. I believe there is no such thing as a stupid question. I prefer to ask questions instead of making a mistake that could affect my team. Being open and asking questions will help you further your career at Accenture. As young individuals it’s vital to be open to new experiences as each experience is different. Being open to the any possibilities at Accenture will allow you to learn new skills and technologies. These skills and technologies are good resume builders that will enable you to land a particular role and/or client you may like. Ask questions and be open to the many career opportunities!

Like in college, it’s important to get involved in extracurricular activities besides your general work routine. Getting involved with the many organizations available at Accenture is a good way to network. Working for a big organization such as Accenture can make it difficult at times when building your network. At times we get caught up in our immediate world and don’t make time to expand our relationships and knowledge. Accenture has many organizations that employees can get involved in. There is practically some sort of organization or committee for everyone.

Since, I started at Accenture; I joined the diversity recruiting team and have been back to my alma-mater several times. I find it great to go back to my university and recruit its finest candidates to our company. I recently returned from recruiting and had a really good time, as I was able to meet other Accenture employees and network them. I enjoy working with the Analyst Action team to plan happy hours, cultural events, professional workshops, etc. These events are a great work to continue building my network as I navigate through my career at Accenture. I am also part of the Philadelphia’s Communications team and am in charge of writing an article for the newsletter on new hires. This allows me to get in contact with new hires and can build a professional relationship with them.

The past several weeks my team has been busy preparing for our project release in August. We were very busy and had other work that came from other directions. Since, we are testers for one of our client’s applications; we had many scenarios to test in order to assure we were ready for the big release. The week before the release it was crunch time and several issues arose that were unexpected. Luckily, the team is great when it comes to prioritizing. We reviewed the items that needed to be completed and prioritize them to ensure the most important items were being completed on time.

After working a lot for the past couple weeks, it was time for me to go on vacation. I was not around for the big release, as I was on vacation in Boston. I felt confident that my team had done its best to prepare for the release. I had a great vacation but wondered how my team was doing. Now that I am back, I see that we are on track and that the release was a success. I am completely rested, and am ready to take on any challenge that may arise during the next couple weeks as we prepare for future releases.

After a year of working at local projects, I recently got the opportunity to start traveling to my current project. I always dreamed of having a traveling role and to experience the life as of a traveling. My dream came true and I am now traveling to Washington, DC for my current role. I am based out of the Philadelphia office and like Philadelphia a lot, but I like DC a lot as well. There is nothing better than being in two cities every week. Everyone has a different opinion when it comes to traveling roles, as some like it and others don’t. I really like traveling and enjoy every minute of it.

My team is great to work with and I enjoy going into work every day. Although, traveling can be tiring at times, I have yet to have a day that I do not want to go to work . It is great to be in DC during the week and in Philly during the weekends. I get to spend time with some of my friends in DC during the week and other friends and family during the weekend. Washington, DC is great city as there is so much to do. I couldn’t be happier as I am enjoying my role and am able to continue networking with other Accenture employees.

After a year with Accenture and being staffed at my third client something always sticks out in mind about the projects I have worked on – team support. I have been fortunate to have very helpful team members that are always willing to provide me with help and input when needed. When completing important deliverables I always ask my team for their input. I have been working on a large vista implementation at a large pharmaceutical company. My role requires attention to detail, organizational skills, and time management, and I have been able to improve in these areas. I have seen improvement in my performance as I always try my best and think of ways to improve the completion of deliverables. No matter how busy my team members are they always make time to help me.

Recently, I was offered an opportunity to move from program management to a more technical role at another client. This new role is at a large government project in Washington, DC. I feel privileged that my current team is supporting me in moving to another role. I really value their support as this demonstrates that Accenture people will support your goals and aspirations regardless which project you support. I have been doing program management related work for a year now and think now is the best time to move into a role that will further develop my current skill set. Being part of multiple program management teams have allowed be to see how all teams work together to deliver our best to our clients. Thanks to my previous roles, I am now aware of the areas, I would like to explore.

A few weeks ago, I received the call that I have dreaded my entire life. My mom informed me that my grandmother was in critical condition. Given that my family lives thousand of miles away, in the most difficult to reach country in Europe, Albania, I did not have much time to prepare for my trip home. I needed to quickly make arrangements for traveling, if I wanted to say my goodbyes to my grandmother while she was still in this life. To make matters worse, the news came to me as my teammates and I were working on tight deadlines to complete a project. But, as everyone on my team found out about my circumstance, they were very supportive and understanding. They helped me to quickly transition my work to them and allowed me to take the time to focus on my family. Other friends at Accenture helped me find and book the easiest flight into Albania, and dealt with other logistics, that I was unable to focus on in my sad and rushed state of mind. I am very grateful to have had such wonderful teammates helping me through the most difficult times. In such situations, you realize how important it is to work and be surrounded with people that truly and personally care about you, and not simply your work.

I am writing as I travel back from Washington DC., after presenting to the C-level suite of one of our major clients (a large cable company). It was a unique opportunity for two reasons: First, this is not an opportunity that many junior employees receive at other consulting firms or any other company. Second, I was tasked to gather and lead a team in the preparations for the presentation. This is a testament that at Accenture hierarchy is translucent: you are recognized by your level of knowledge and expertise, not by your level.

My teammate and I worked very hard to prepare for the presentation, which was much appreciated by the client, and therefore very gratifying for us. Now, I am looking forward to taking three weeks of vacation, to spend some time with my family in Greece and to get some R&R in Puerto Vallarta.

Hello and welcome to my first post for Accenture!

As I open my laptop to begin scripting such a historic moment, the setting is all too familiar – flying high above the Appalachian Mountains this early Monday morning en route to my client in St. Louis. The 7:50 a.m. weekly departure from my home in Charlotte, North Carolina, is a flight I’ve taken regularly for the past 11 months – nearly always returning Thursday nights – a duration which begins to seem longer considering I know which airport security lines move the fastest and which seats are the best for a morning snooze.