I've been to 3 interviews over the past couple of months now, and am amazed at the number of IBM'ers that are interviewing. Who else is in the marketplace, or is it all ex-PwC staff out there hunting for the same pool of jobs ? What happens to the market once they've all found new firms ?

They’ll realise it’s time to hire us, less formally qualified but smart and keen new comers. The consultancies that will be better at identifying, recruiting, training and retaining the right people will do better on the long run, the ones which aren’t as good will lose some ground, maybe? Or it is really just about architecture and whoever you recruit who has got the papers right and gets accepted by the client will perform ok?

This year it's been tricky for all other consultancies to schedule interviews with the dozens of disgruntled IBM employees such that they don't bump into one another in the foyer whilst coming upstairs for a secret interview. Last year, we had the same problem with Atos I seem to recall. Who'll be next year? I'll open the sweepstake on Accenture ('cos we've already seen, and hired, a couple), and the vibes are of unhappy campers.

I recruit for one of the main accountancy firm's consultancy arms. I've found that the number of ex-PWC people coming through the doors is much lower now than it was before. What's interesting is that we are now seeing lots of people who have joined IBM BCS over the past two years now wanting to leave. Having IBM on your CV is now a millstone round your neck. Most CVs really push their pre-IBM experience. Who'd have thought of that a few years ago ?