GBS UKI Spend Analyst Review

I enjoyed my work placement with IBM greatly, it provided me with an insight into business and finance functions, which will help me in the future both in my post-university career and also final year studies.

Throughout the year I have always felt part of the team at IBM and everyone in the company is always willing to help you and set aside time with you for any queries you may have. My close team in IBM also helped me to feel valued in the team from day one and are a great team to work in and made my placement thoroughly enjoyable.

All throughout my placement I felt valued by the team and they always were on hand to guide and support me throughout the year. Whether it be with new processes within the team or expanding myself to see other parts of the business and make the most of my placement they were always there on hand and supportive of any activity I took part in. This involved taking time off work for giveback opportunities, education courses to shadowing exercises

My workload varied from day to day and was very much revolved around a month end schedule as my role was in finance. This is due to at month end we have set responsibilities we have to complete each day whereas during the middle weeks of a month it revolves largely on an ad-hoc analysis basis.

All throughout my placement I was given a large amount of responsibility within my role. I was delegated tasks which would be shown to senior management and also forecasting monthly numbers which would then have my name against them if there were large variances. This has then caused a large responsibility and pressure on myself to achieve the numbers.

I believe the main skills I have developed throughout the year are personable skills, for example I have drastically improved on my confidence, time management and the ability to manage expectations. On top of this I have dramatically improved on my excel skills and my ability to formulate data. These are all skills which I can use in my future education and career.

The atmosphere in the office was always a positive one, it made it a joy to come into work each day as everyone was really friendly and helpful. Also there were a lot of other placement students in my location so the average age in the office was also very low and was therefore very easy to settle into office life.

The placement was set up really well and support was always on hand throughout the year through IBM's Foundation department. They offer you an early professionals manager who is designed to review and guide you through your placement offering help in making the most of your placement. They also offered a facebook page prior to starting so offered the chance to meet fellow placement students before you arrived.

There is always lots of training offered throughout the year. One of the main events this year for placement students was the University Placement Careers Academy 2016 which allowed all students to come to the Southbank offices and speak with IBM graduates and Exec's to find a suitable pathway for if we would like to join IBM in the future.

IBM is a great corporation to work for and I have thoroughly enjoyed my role here this year. I will definitely be applying back to go through the financial consultancy graduate scheme. However the lack of actual finance roles that IBM offers graduates which is the path I would like to take in the future makes me believe that maybe I would like a more financial job role in the future at a company other than IBM.

Yes, I would say the social scene at IBM is one of its main attractions to incoming placement students. There is a large number of placement students at each location and therefore is always something going on socially throughout the week. Also through my team we also try to get out for a team lunch/night out at least once a month.

The cost of living I believe to be quite high, living on the south coast I believe we were paying just lower than London prices when we were going out, etc. However it should be noted that I am used to life in a Northern city where prices are considerably cheaper.

The nightlife scene around where we worked was very good, it offered Portsmouth city centre which has a large student community therefore it was always buzzing whatever night you wanted to go out. Also there are lots of bars and restaurants around so offered up lots of different options if you were looking to go out on a night.

Yes, myself been very sporty there are lots of sports clubs and places to play in the local area. Examples of this include we have set up a 5 a side team, we play tennis most weekends and we also try to go golfing at least once a month. So there is always something going on and to do.