Graduate offer at IBM BCS - is it really worth turning my back on?

'The atmosphere is toxic'...'everyone is trying to leave'...'its a horrid place to work'.

These are all statements from this forum which don't exactly inspire confidence for me to join. Are they only from bitter exPWCers? Surely BCS is just going through a transition and looking to develop its graduate intake.

The counter argument to the above statements is Tony's article in the news saying IBM is just fine and the situation there might be being exploited by the media etc.

As a graduate, the recruitment process for consulting is particularly gruelling. My first attempts for Deloitte got me to the final round only to be rejected as with Accenture. i am over the moon simply to get a consulting offer, esp from a name such as IBM. I have yet to apply to CapGemini which seem to be doing better now....is it really worth me rejecting IBM and taking a chance with CapGemini...i might end up with nothing?

I have been reading this forum for a while...some extremely helpful individuals here...I would very much appreciate some objective standpoints on my situation.

A couple of points to consider. The transition is long since over, IBM bought PWCC in late 2002, so it is well and truly embedded. The reason many of the PwC people are leaving is that they joined a professional services firm, rather than an IT vendor, but staff attrition is also high among the existing “Deep Blue” IBM’ers. IBM’s mentality is one of “burn and churn” with a very high staff turnover rate, limited training and pay rises, and poor staff morale. The article in the newsletter was very likely paid for by IBM, or related to IBM’s advertising spend on this board. Interesting that no right of reply was offered to dissenters, and the words of an anonymous IBM source were presented as fact. As for whether you should accept the offer: of course you should, it would be reckless to do otherwise but keep applying elsewhere. KPMG, E&Y, and PA are all recruiting and are far better places to work.

One other thought: you may also want to post this query on Vault to see if opinions differ there.

http://www.vault.com/community/mb/mb_main.jsp?forum_id=6068

As an ex IBM BCS person I would advise you to avoid IBM at all costs. It is a horrible place to work, very low morale, limited opportunities for training, impossible targets, high staff turnover, poor management, lack of strategic planning etc. Get yourself a job at a nice company instead!

Take the job, and if you get another offer that you are more happy with -> drop it. Not "nice" but it works, just dont spend any signing on bonus(!) and read the contract carefully.