Business Consultant Review

To date I have absolutely loved my placement year at IBM. I was given an opportunity from day one to be myself, and this opened many doors for me. I was immediately given the opportunity to work on client site, and I got to add real value. The nature of my role meant traveling to client side and staying in hotels. There was never a dull moment, and it's constantly fast paced and challenging. Simply put, I don't want my placement to end.

I have experienced two different roles in my placement with the same client. Once I found my feet I was given free reign to implement my ideas, and be a significant member of the team. I managed to build a reputation of being reliable, and productive. This meant that colleagues trusted by judgement and I felt highly valued.

While I have nothing else to compare this to I feel like my management very effectively led me. They quickly trusted me to get on with the tasks I was assigned with, and I ended up almost creating work for myself. My management left me to get my head down, but they were very quick to act if they saw I was overloaded, or I need some support. I'd use the phrase: "watchful eye".

Very! Every day was different, and there was always a new challenge or issue that would need resolving. For the majority of my placement I'd be in the office by 8:30, and be lucky to leave by 6:00. While many people may argue this is excessive I brought this on myself by fully emerging myself into a consulting lifestyle. I took on additional work which meant staying an extra hour, or two. However, this is one of the key differences that has made my placement excellent, not just good. I liked to be busy as it meant I could add more and more value.

In my second role I was working in a client side role as the lead Business Analyst on a project. This in itself came with a very high level of responsibility to deliver for the client. They really invested time in me, and they trusted me to do a good job. This level of responsibility came as a result of my hard work, and consistent high delivery. It's definitely a case of “what you make of it”, if you're happy to do the bare minimum then you can have a low level of responsibility. However, if you want to develop, add value, and really maximise your placement you can reach a much higher level of responsibility.

My ability to wake up at 6:30, and work a full honest day’s work is something I'm very keen to take back to university to maximise my chances of a very good degree. My placement has given me an invaluable experience, and the skills learned in consulting will be useful throughout the rest of my career. IBM has encouraged me to not settle for second best, and to work to my potential. I've managed to make a psychological shift from I can't to I can and this is something which will stick with me forever.

The office definitely had a Work Hard Play Hard attitude. While everyone would get their head down as required we worked in an agile environment. This encouraged everyone to engage more and go and speak to people rather than sitting behind emails. Everyone was very approachable, and willing to help.

Again, while I have nothing to compare it to It felt very well set up. There was a lot of interns and there was many events to get to know them. There's regular reviews, and everyone's keen to know how you are getting on and if they can do anything to help.

For someone only on a placement year I was very impressed with how much time and effort the company invested in me. They really gave me an opportunity to get involved, and it felt like they were investing in my future.

Good. I'd love to return to the company once completing my degree. There's no guarantee of a job, but I'd hope the work I've done, and skills I've shown will show.

Because I was working away on client site I didn't get the opportunity to socialise with any interns in the week. However, with colleagues it was great we'd always be going out for dinner, playing golf, and having fun.

In London, there's no denying it it's expensive. I was lucky to be leaving away in the week which definitely helped. But in London it's you have to keep a close eye on your pennies.

It's not something I've particularly experienced while away in the week. In London, there's loads of places to go, it's just the money element again that's the worry.

I was encouraged to take part in wider intern events outside of my day to day role. There were always opportunities to do this, and it helped me maximise my placement year.