Pros
In some ways the company has a lot going for it including the backing of a much larger Group structure (the UK consulting divison has tiny revenues compared to UK Group) and the brand recognition that comes with its multi-national presence. They can manage to recruit able and personable professionals who tend to be enthusatic for the company and their carers. It is wise to acknowledge that the 'power' rests firmly in Paris (such as the recent name change from Consulting to 'Invent'). This has implications (see cons*).
Cons
In two words: senior leadership. The current crop of UK senior leaders (from VP and above) are in the main sub-standard in their vision, integrity and capability. As Capgemini is not a partnership model, the leaders are in essence highly-paid salarymen and women and tend to adopt a limited and limiting mindset. Those enthusiastic recruits who are seduced by promises of exicting consulting work opportunities, quickly find their hopes dispelled by the company business model and the limitations of its leaders. It is model that is predicated on what is known in the trade (and Capgemini are well-known) as 'resource augmentation' - essentially human resource body-shopping for central government departments and the private sector equivalent in financial services industry (HMRC and Lloyds Banking Group represent an unhealthy and undiversified proportion of company profits). Therefore consultants are required to be resourced on these professionally unfulfilling 'projects' and 'roles' for sustained periods of time that help and reward neither them or in the case of government work, the taxpayer. Consequently, the organisation's annual turnover rate is eye-wateringly high. Consultants are faced with the inevitable choice between 'putting their heads down' on bodyshopping projects dressed-up as consulting engagements and playing the counter-productive and dysfunctional internal politics game (for which Capgemini is well known) to achieve promotion or serving time to make it look credible to other employers, brushing-up their CVs and handing their (short) notice period. Hence other reviews and reviewees refer to using the unfortunate colloquialism that is 'Crapgemini' in describing their experiences.
