UKI Acquisiton Integration Support Review

Overall, I feel that my placement year has been a valuable experience. Although the job role was not to my personal preference, I have definitely learned new skills which will be useful for when I graduate.

The extent I felt valued increased as my workload did towards the end of my placement. I became relied upon to report information back to people in my team and was therefore essential in keeping them up to date. I felt extremely valued by acquired employees who I worked with closely as they often came to me with queries.

At IBM you're given both a personal manager (EPM) and your task manager and I felt fully supported by both. I was lucky enough that the team I worked with were very tight knit and all members were more than happy to support/assist with any queries which I had. The team in general went above and beyond to make me feel supported and welcomed and for that I was thankful.

This varied massively - largely due to the nature of my role as my workload depended on the UKI acquisition activity of the company which was usually unpredictable and always confidential. During the first few months especially I had very little to do. I found this both boring and demotivating. However during the last 4 months my workload picked up considerably and I always felt busy which I found a lot more enjoyable.

This definitely wasn't a 'go and make the coffee' placement. From day 1 it was clear I had a real role with real responsibility attached to it. The number of tasks which I took ownership of gradually increased throughout my time on placement.

I personally do not believe the skills I have gained through my placement will help with my studies. I feel like I perform well academically and already possess the skills to enable me to complete my degree. However with regards to the workplace, communicating with people professionally and applying to graduate roles I definitely feel a lot more prepared. The training was minimal and a lot of the processes which I picked up were IBM specific but key skills such as problem solving will be universally beneficial to me.

I was based in an area of the office which had dedicated desks to an acquisition I was working with. This meant that what I experienced may not be reflective of the entire office as the employees there were close, integrated and very much a community.

The placement scheme itself was very well organized and thought through by IBM. We were required to keep a placement journal and also had 3, 6 and 12 month reviews to track our progress and keep us working towards specific goals. The only part which I did not find useful was the initial induction which we had during our first two days. Although it was a great opportunity to meet some of our new colleagues, there was a lot of drawing/sweet-throwing activities which seemed like a waste of time.

I didn't feel there was a lot which was "personally" given to you at IBM. More that opportunities were there it was up to you to go and find them and decide to enroll in that particular training. IBM does have a Think40 scheme however where they encourage you to take part in 40 hours of learning a year.

I can see how the future employment prospects within the company are appealing to many. The Placement team gave us a very detailed overview of how we can apply back as grads and there was a lot of communication with regards to applying back. However, I personally cannot see myself applying back to the company. I am looking forward to leaving and feel that this alone would not be the case if I wanted to return.

Definitely yes. There was a large community of placement students and grads at the South Bank office and we often went for drinks after work and out at the weekends too. Particularly in the summer months there was a lot going on socially although this died down a bit in winter.

If you currently go to uni in the North somewhere and decide to do a placement in London prepare yourself. For half of my placement I lived in Zone 2 with fellow placement students and paid around £820 a month incl bills. On top of this was the tube cost and I soon realized why people complain about London being so expensive. After moving back home my main cost was the train commute which wasn't too bad with a railcard. I also ended up saving a ton of money on rent/bills so would recommend if you live close enough to commute!

Being in Central London meant we were never short of nightlife. How much of it our salary's could handle is a different question..

There was a lot you could get involved in if you looked for it. IBM had their own sports teams for netball and football which some of the placement students and grads got involved with. There was also a Christmas and End of year party which were both planned by interns for the interns. IBM itself didn't do much to get involved in terms of events. Our team did go out a couple of times socially which was nice.