Project Co-ordinator Review

My team and manager were very relaxed which meant I had freedom to choose my own path. The opportunities given within IBM were amazing including on the job and extra workshops and shadowing. This meant that is was really enjoyable and I would not have chosen another company to do my placement.

All my colleagues were really supportive. There was a perfect balance of people who were there to push me hard and get the best out of me, but also people there who were always ready to help if I needed some help with something. I was doing the same job as people who were there full time and therefore, I was treated as an equal colleague, rather than being looked down on because I was younger.

We were given two managers for the year. My task manager was very relaxed and allowed us to be more independent within our placements. This was great as it encouraged me to find opportunities and it would be up to me to get permission off my manager. This allowed me to do things that I was interested in. I also had my Early Professionals Manager who was there specifically for placement students and graduates. He was there for support and gave suggestions and listened to things we were interested in so that he could spot and suggest potential workshops/training days and other activities we may like to get involved in.

My busyness fluctuated quite a bit. When I first joined there wasn't much work to do as all the clients were quite quiet. This then changed throughout the year depending on when they wanted workshops or assessment centers. This meant that there was always some free time during the day but this was quite nice as it meant I was allowed shorter working days. Having some free time was great as well as it allowed me to do other things, such as work within the Security department once a week, as well as balance university work.

I was doing a job which IBM employed full time staff for. This meant that I did have quite a bit of responsibility however I would have liked more. Within 4 months I had taken over my own clients and was running them will little/no supervision from the project manager. However, I would have liked to take on more responsibility but felt like people were often reluctant to give me more projects as I would only be able to stay on them until I left my placement.

The training and workshops I received were great. I didn't even know how to write a client email before starting my placement and now I feel much more confident with all kinds of work. My skills on programmes such as Excel have improved hugely as I've had the opportunity to take on maternity cover for part of a finance assistant's job. Other courses were on things such as innovation and consulting which helped hugely.

The atmosphere in the office was ok. At the beginning it was better as more people were in. However, since we merged with another part of the business and our office became hot desking, less people have started coming in. This meant the office could be quite quiet some days and often I would end up working from home on Mondays and Fridays if no one else was coming in. However, there were always people around going for drinks on a Thursday as well as regular lunch time meals during the week.

The placement wasn't really very organised at all. I joined during a time of quite a lot of change. The induction was great and really well arranged, however, as the placement went on it became clear that there was no structure. This wasn't necessarily a bad thing though, as it allowed me to shape what I wanted my placement to be.

Lots of courses on things such as sales, excel, innovation, consulting, security, the dark web. There are all kinds of training programs going on however it is hard to find out about them all. As a placement student they are big into encouraging your professional development and suggest that everyone should invest at least 40 hours a year into this.

Having done a placement with IBM means I have a much greater chance of getting a graduate scheme with them. Although I still have to reapply and perhaps go through more tests/assessment centers, I have a roughly 1 in 3 chance of getting a graduate job. This is in comparison with a 3 in 100 chance of getting a graduate job with them if I reapplied externally.

It was very expensive. I worked in central London near the Tower of London so it was a huge tourist zone and therefore prices were even more expensive.

Central London so it was amazing.