At different levels...
In my earlier career, aptitude was king. In my career to date experience was king. The market has changed though, I believe, and I also feel that I'm looking for jobs where those doing the recruiting are not, necessarily, IT Professionals. I can see why the qualification thing is key at a senior level as a result. If my CV is falling before CEO's, Head of Accounts and Human Resource Managers who don't know much about IT, it's pretty inevitable that they need some sort of guide to pick out the wheat from the chaff.
I'm still a great believer of experience over paperwork, and I hire accordingly. With the large number of people currently looking for jobs though, and the pressure of time on those looking to fill roles, I can see that looking for the headline qualifications is the easy get-out for thinning the pile of CV's.
I don't think it's the best way to get the person for a job but I can see the advantages of having acronyms plastered over the CV's in today's market even as I, as an employer, would prefer to have someone who's done the job rather then someone who's simply passed a test.
