Kendra Simmons

Not long after consultant Kendra Simmons joined Booz Allen Hamilton fresh out of college, a hiring manager invited her into his office and asked about her larger goals. Kendra, who has a B.S. in computer technology, told the manager that she hopes one day to start a non-profit company that provides computer training to small businesses and lower-income children.

To help learn how to run her own business, she told the manager, she would eventually like to go back to school – with the help of Booz Allen’s tuition-assistance program – and earn an MBA in project management. The hiring manager responded by assigning Kendra to project management support for the firm's Information Technology team.

Right away,” says Kendra, “they aligned my career path with my career goals.”

Kendra was attracted to Booz Allen from the start. As a Thurgood Marshall Scholar, she attended a leadership-skills conference that included a career fair. She met representatives from Booz Allen, and liked what she heard.

“They really promote true diversity and unity – there are people from different background, different nationalities, people with a lot of experience, people with a little experiences,” says Kendra. “And Booz Allen is one of the top companies for working mothers, and I want to be one of those one day.”

Kendra also appreciates that Booz Allen emphasizes teamwork, which she says inspires her and others to give their best. And she like the fact that she’s around others her own age, to share experiences and ideas. “What attracted me was knowing that I would be around my peers, and that this wouldn’t be just a 9-to-5 job,” she says.

Kendra is committed to helping others. Thanks to her mother and father, she learned math and computer skills at an early age, “and I think that’s what helped me to advance,” she says. “And I want other children, who don’t have a computer at home, to learn how to use one. I’ve run across a lot of people who don’t know how to use a computer, and so don’t even know how to apply for a job.”

She says she’ll need volunteers for her non-profit – people willing to teach computer skills – and she’s already finding them among her co-workers in Booz Allen’s community outreach programs. “I have met a lot of people who would want to volunteer,” she says.

All this has given Kendra a sense of belonging at Booz Allen, and the conviction that this is the perfect place to begin her career. “You don’t waste a lot of time going from one place to another,” she says, “if you start at a place you consider home.”

profile posted November 5, 2008