Hi all. Your advice needed please. After years of leading change projects in the City for various blue chip banks and Insurance companies, I am looking to move into consultancy. I am currently being courted to join IBM BCS in UK, to work in a senior capacity on Financial Transformation in Financial Services. I wasn't impressed with what I saw at the interview I had. The South Bank office seemed downtrodden and uninspring and so did the partner that interviewed me. Because of this poor impression, I was reticient to proceed further. They are persistent however, and have asked me for a further meeting in a couple of weeks with the senior partner in the practice, to attempt to allay my fears about the lack of charisma and absence of dynamism I'd encountered there previously.Most of what I have seen, heard and read (both here and on the "Vault.com") about the practice suggest I should run a mile. However, could IBM BCS be on the cusp of turning around? Could the new blood the company is hiring make a difference or is the core of the place too diseased for any new hires to make a material impact (assuming new hires are of the same quality that I consider myself to be)?Your thoughts on this would be welcomed.

Go ahead--take the plunge! And by the time your feet have left the diving board, I'll have filled the empty pool with a garden hose. Sounds as though you have a lot going for you. Why fall prey to rescue fantasies? I encourage you to take your skills to a firm that understands what you have done, the significance of your projects, and the responsibilities you have undertaken as a business leader.

Was it porter who said that one method of beating the competition was to buy them. Even if your not ranked as highly as the 'other' consulting firms, you have to remember that they are simply banks of people. People can be bought, products can be bought, in fact given an infinite bucket of money everything can be bought.Learned a lot since the early days of MS-DOS.......Assimilation is painless...

Run a mile... the process-bound nature of the orgaisataion along with the internal politics will stifle every ounce of creativity you have....good luck...

Firstly sources such as Vault may prompt questions but should not be treated as true or representative.Secondly you need to prioritise what is important. If you want to work for a large organisation then bureacracy comes with the territory. And if you want to work in consultancy then you will be based on client site so office quality is irrelevant.My advice in assessing any potential career move is to focus on what is important rather than getting distracted by window dressing (positive or negative).