Catherine Emerick
, Senior AssociateWhy did you choose Booz Allen?
What intrigued me most about Booz Allen was its clear commitment to long-term employees. Generally, firms in the defense industry are very focused on contracts and often let employees go at the end of a job. I wanted to join a different kind of firm—a firm that I could invest in and know that it was willing to invest in me. Booz Allen was that company.
Why have you chosen to stay at Booz Allen?
I feel that I’ve found my home here. I’m no longer always worried that I have to look for work at the end of a contract. My time here has been very exciting, and I am very happy here.
What type of work do you do at Booz Allen?
I work in the Mission Readiness group as a program manager. We run support exercise events around the world and develop modeling and simulation training systems. We’ve built four different interfaces to support training for military units before they are deployed. These training modules help our troops be ready for real-world events when they encounter them—so our troops know ahead of time how to protect themselves and protect others.
What excites you about your work?
I’m excited that we’re preparing our troops before they go off overseas. The tools we build help keep them safe. I’m happy about that—I feel that I’m contributing to something important.
Do you have a mentor at Booz Allen?
I have several mentors, and each one has helped me to understand the Booz Allen culture and how the different groups in the company work together. They also help me network. Being here in Orlando, away from Booz Allen headquarters, when we need information, we can’t just walk down the hall and ask someone. It’s been great to be able to reach out to a mentor for advice, to find out who I should reach to and how I can get help when I need it.
What differentiates Booz Allen from other companies that you could work for—what makes Booz Allen special?
Booz Allen invests in its staff—it hires people for their expertise and wants to keep them. I work with people who have been here over 20 years, which is very unusual in the defense industry, where people typically stay in jobs for only 2 to 5 years. And at Booz Allen you are part of a large family. I enjoy my work, but I love the people I work with—they feel like my family.
How has Booz Allen helped you be ready for what’s next in your career?
Booz Allen actively encourages employee training, and I’ve been able to work toward getting my Project Management certification. The Booz Allen assessment process also shows me what it will take to move to the next level. In addition, my Officers and my Principal help me get exposure to different Booz Allen teams. The company really does want people to do well and move up in the organization.
How does the work you do help your clients be ready for what’s next? How has your and your team’s work made an impact for your clients?
The company’s range of capabilities is a real benefit to our clients because we can leverage different functional teams and in-house expertise. For example, in our work, we deal with many projects requiring security accreditation. Instead of hiring additional staff or calling in another firm to handle this work, we can call on our own Assurance and Resilience team to provide counsel and expertise.
Can you talk about a time when you saw one or more of our Core Values displayed?
The most striking example for me was when our Human Resources group sent out a call to help one of our employees whose wife was terminally ill. People in the firm were able to help support the family by donating their vacation time. That was something I’d never seen before, and I thought it was wonderful. Companies I’ve worked for in the past required employees in that situation to take leaves of absence. Here, colleagues both known and unknown stepped up and donated their vacation hours so their co-worker could spend the time he needed with his wife and family.
