Business Operations and Marketing Assistant Review

IBM gave me an opportunity to get a wealth of experiences both in and out of the office. I enjoyed working in a client facing environment and I have developed vastly in my time here.

The team are great for showing gratitude when a task is completed and it felt like I was valued in my immediate team, although I don't feel like I blended in too well with the foundation group (interns and grads), even though I had tried. Some people seemed a little bit arrogant but this is the minority (which is present in every workplace). The majority of people were very nice.

My Manager was brilliant and an exceptional point of contact for support. He did not manage my every minute and there is a great level of flexibility. He provided feedback where required and ensured that I was benefiting from my experience.

The workload is a bit inconsistent. There would be times when I had the right amount to do and other times where I wouldn't have much to do at all. My manager frequently asked whether my workload was sufficient, and addressed it when it wasn't.

My level of responsibility grew as I went on in my placement, which is expected. There have been a number of times where I have been asked to take ownership of a particular task.

I have developed an incredible array of skills that will be hugely beneficial in my career, even if I wish to change direction. A key element of the placement is networking and I have improved my social network considerably. There are a number of transferable skills which I have improved and I also have learned a technical thing or two.

Honestly, the office was a little bit quiet from my perspective. As I have said earlier on, I didn't really blend in too well with my fellow interns so maybe my view is based on this. I felt like my personality contrasted quite a bit compared to my colleagues, but they were all very friendly and happy to help. It was nice more than fun or atmospheric or anything like that.

The foundation year is really well organised. Each intern has their task manager, who is a day to day manager as well as an EPM (Early Professionals Manager (I Think!)), who is the manager for the placement year. The placement follows an IBM Journal of sorts which clearly defines objectives and progress. My day to day role was slightly improvised, as I was only the second student to undertake this role. But in this came a positive experience as I was able to evolve the work of my predecessor. There are also plenty of opportunities to undertake extra curricular activities to boost other skills or for a bit of fun. One thing that I had chosen was to take part in the interview process for my successor as I felt it would have been an important skill to learn and this was very easy to set up.

There is so many opportunities to learn and improve. There are classroom style courses, a weekly/fortnightly conference call with an educational topic, a whole catalogue of online training and of course the learning you get from your colleagues. The President of IBM sets a target of learning for IBMers in order to highlight the importance of personal development. This is one of the strongest areas for IBM

Returning to IBM would be of great interest to me. Not only is it an incredible name to have on your CV, but it is a place which allows you to grow and improve in your career. I will be applying through the intern to grad method and returning to IBM will allow me to build more contacts.

The interns seemed to have a great social scene between them. I am a bit more withdrawn as a person but I did go out a few times with them and they were fun nights out going to quiz nights or just nights out. I also went to one of the Christmas Parties with my immediate team (not with any other interns) and that was really enjoyable.

I worked in Hursley, Hampshire (but lived in Eastleigh). Eastleigh certainly seemed much cheaper than Winchester (the local city) and has a number of bargain shops in the area. Winchester definitely seems a bit more upmarket and this is reflected in rent prices. For those seeking rent, Eastleigh probably seems the cheapest, although I ended up renting a spare room as it was most cost effective. Advice would be to do this or to move in with other colleagues (IBM put you in a facebook group for the intern year, where you can meet fellow interns). IBM is a flexible company and there are a number of locations. As everyone knows, the further north you go, the cheaper the cost of living. Studying in Liverpool, I found the whole area a bit more expensive than my study city.

Hursley itself has IBM, two pubs, a post office and a butcher. It is a tiny, rural village. Winchester, about 5 miles away has two main bars/clubs I think and a number of pubs. Southampton is the nearest proper night out but if you are living in Winchester, then get the train if you can as taxis will cost a fortune. Overall, nightlife wasn't that impressive in the area compared to my study city Liverpool and my original area of Birmingham

There are a number of sports clubs and other communities as well as a giveback scheme, which involves going out and supporting the local and/or wider community. This is encouraged across the whole workforce. An example of what I did was participating at my university's placement fair as part of the IBM stand but giveback can including going to schools or universities and loads more.