Contract Implementation Manager Review

I found the work tasks I was given to be engaging and interesting, There was also a reasonable social scene with the other students on placement at the site as well as good training. These factors made sure that the overall work placement was enjoyable .

We had a very close knit team and I felt that I was fully accepted into this and supported by the other members. I was valued as a member of the team equally as much as any other.

Training was given in a less formal arrangement whereby I was shown the basics of the role and given some simpler tasks to work through initially, progressing forward to the more difficult ones as my understanding grew. I found this to work particularly well with my style of learning as I tend to learn through practicing. In addition to if I had any queries I could ask my manager and be given help or support where possible.

My particular role was self assigned meaning there was a consistent pool of work that I could assign myself. This meant that on rare occasions work could be lacking however for the most part there was a more than adequate supply enabling me to work at a sensible pace but not find myself lacking tasks.

I was given full responsibility for the process I carried out. Initially m work would be checked by my line manager to ensure its accuracy and help my learn how to correct any mistakes I had made, as soon as I was confident this was no longer needed and I was given full responsibility for an entire area of my teams process areas.

The skills of self management and motivation I learned were invaluable, my previous year at university I had found that self motivation and time management were my weaker skill areas. Doing this with the diligence needed in the corporate environment has enabled me to perfect this skill. As well as this I have learned the general administrative skills that come along with working in a business such as IBM which will be invaluable when attempting to find a job once I finish my degree.

With my role I worked 3 days a week at home and the remaining 2 in the office, as this was the rota worked by my team. Everybody in the office was friendly and it was a highly productive environment as any queries you had could be quickly answered by just asking the question in person. It was also fairly regular for the other intern students to meet for lunch.

The overall placement scheme was well organised, starting with 2 days of training and a handover with the student who was previously completing my role. Throughout the placement you are assigned a specific manager to deal with any issues you may have throughout the scheme. As well as this there are regular unit meetings for all the students to enable you to network with them.

With my role rather than having a specific training course most training was done on a one to one basis with my line manager who was also in change of the team I was working in. This allowed it to be tailored to my specific needs which I found to be highly beneficial.

IBM also offers a graduate scheme which works on the same basis as the undergraduate placement however over 2 years with rotations between 4 roles during this time and a more competitive wage. As a graduate role I found this to look highly appealing. IBM also make this scheme easier to apply to to current undergraduate placement students.

The social scene was pretty good between placement students, we had regular unit meetings and fairly regularly placement students would meet for lunch or outside of work.

I lived in Southampton for my role and found that we were paid a more than adequate sum to afford living in the local area as well as any associated traveling that was needed. I also managed to build up a reasonable amount of savings for my final year at uni.

I didn't honestly sample the nightlife in the area too much however being a city with 2 universities there was plenty of choice if you wanted to have a night out on the town as well as plenty of choice of food outlets etc.

I found there was more that enough opportunity to get involved in pretty much whatever you might want outside of work, In my case I played sport in the local area and went to several car shows that happened to be on in the time I lived there. If I'd been a bit less lazy there was probably even more than that to do.