For consulting and auditing firms, September is typically when new graduates arrive to learn the basics of the profession. But as Marco Amitrano, head of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) for the United Kingdom, wrote in the Sunday Times, "The way we do things is changing. Our entry-level intake is lower this year – 1,300 compared with 1,500 the year before." The reason: artificial intelligence (AI). "Job postings for AI-exposed occupations are growing at a slower pace compared to those with lower exposure – and this gap is widening," he warned.

While Silicon Valley giants invested billions of dollars in AI servers, companies pushed to adopt this tool at high speed, knowing their future – even their survival – depended on it. In the United States, any firm suspected of not moving quickly enough faced pressure on the stock market, as in the case of Accenture, which lost a third of its market value since the start of 2025.

Its CEO, Julie Sweet, told financial analysts that she would lay off consultants deemed unable to adapt to these new technologies: "Our number one strategy is upskilling. We are exiting, on a compressed timeline, people, where reskilling (...) is not a viable path for the skills we need."

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