IBM Sales & Distribution, Financial Services Sector Integrated Accounts Review

My placement was very enjoyable; a flexible and friendly work environment meant that work was never laborious even when my schedule was busy and my deadlines were tight. Always an opportunity to learn something and grow.

I was part of the team through and through; I would say that as an intern, your jobs are more admin based and it is easy to feel like you're given grunt work. All I can say is to stick at it whilst seeking out extra credit jobs- these are almost always enjoyable and may lead to the people who gave you admin jobs to trust you with more challenging tasks.

Your EPM isn't there for full time support, only to guide you at intervals. You are expected to find things out for yourself and explore the company solo. Your Task Manager, or your day-to-day boss, will obviously guide you more often but will not baby-sit you. This company expects you to bonce your learning off of your team, rather than be lectured.

There are very busy days and very quiet days. Working on an Integrated Account, these days were quite extreme. As stated before, the workplace is very flexible, You will be notified by the team about periods of time that will be quiet so you can focus on individual learning and projects; you will be notified of when the office is busiest so you can timetable effectively and be on hand to help.

This is down to yourself and your own attitude. I was given a fair amount of responsibility to oversee important processes within the account as I consistently showed I was capable and effective. If you do not present yourself as such, you may not get the chance to take charge of anything.

There is no doubt that everything I have learnt will come in handy for my future studies and roles. There are no 'ifs' or 'buts' about it, IBM is THE place to learn the realities of business.

The atmosphere was always friendly and always buoyant. Whenever there was any form of crisis, the team came together to keep spirits high whilst the issue was resolved. People were always welcoming and there was always time for a joke or two.

Personally, my experience was quite mixed at the start. Because my team had not applied for another UP in the year before my arrival, there was nobody to overlap with me and teach me my role; as it was a busy time of year for the team, there was quite often nobody to guide me. A lot of my start was independent, but I believe that it came together and I was able to gel well into my role.

The company doesn't really invest heavily into the interns it seems, as the meaningful training is mostly given to the Grads. There are some mandatory 'training' days which may help some people, but a lot of them are lessons in common sense; this does mean that I cannot say it was non-existent. I got a reasonable amount of training from my team in the processes, with people booking time out of their day to sit with me and talk me through things.

Future prospects are quite appealing as the company is very good to work for; there are a lot of good bonuses that I may miss in any other job. My only apprehension would be going from working in an Integrated account to a normal account within the company. The processes are different and so is the way of working. This is a minor thing however and will not greatly impact my decision.

From the looks of things there was a good social scene to be had but, be warned, it seems to be somewhat of a clique. The placement students act as if they are on the school playground and have very specific tastes. If you are not a fan of nightclubs and 'getting wasted' for every social gathering, then you will not be a fan of the Mean Girls microcosm that seems to grow here and will not be welcomed easily. There are much better times to be had with your team; I have been invited to parties, meals and celebratory drinks after work that have been lovely. I only put a score of 1 here as you are expected to socialize with the other interns under fear of a bad networking score or such like; let your own tastes guide you.

I personally stayed in my university town of Kingston. This was great for me as living costs remained reasonable, travel was fast and cheap (one 30 min train each way, £7.90 with student rail) and let me remain close with my friends. If you wanted to socialize in London with your colleagues, Kingston still provides an easy place to travel from; I would recommend it for Southbank workers who don't want to pay central London prices.

I worked in Central London, so the nightlife is quite obviously fantastic. However, no nightlife I had in London was related to work in any way bar the meals and drinks I shared with the team. Central London is expensive, so it may be best to spread out your painting it red carefully so as not to go bust.

There are plenty of opportunities to do things outside of work; many of the extra curricular activities get snapped up fast so you have to act quickly for anything you would like to do. As for social activities, there will be a lot of things organized in your team (leaving drinks, welcoming drinks, celebratory drinks) but nothing organized that often by the interns. if you want an intern party, you can easily organize it yourself.