CIS & Business Asset Project Support Review

Though stressful and hard work at times, I have fully enjoyed my year with IBM. I was always encouraged to strive for better and the difference in my skill set, work ethic and confidence now compared to last year is astounding. The great thing about IBM is that they care about you. They're not just concerned with what you can do for the company but also what the company can do for you. This is why I have also learned a lot through other activities and events outside of my role that IBM have encouraged me to take part in. I have had chance to run IBM stalls at careers events and speak to students about the company and its' schemes. This was a very rewarding and exciting experience as it pushed me out of my comfort zone and helped me develop skills that I may have not gained through my job role alone. I cannot express enough my appreciation for the company and the opportunity they have given me, it is invaluable. It's no shock to me that the IBM University Placement scheme is award winning - it is well run, well organised and provides students with a solid base of experience and knowledge to kick-start their career.

From day one you are treated as a fully fledged 'IBMer'. Within my two teams, it is the project managers that I work closest with and I have always felt valued by them throughout my placement year. From my first day to now, I have always been treated with kindness and respect by my team. As time has gone on and I have become more established in my role, their trust has increased in me also. Working on quite an isolated account within IBM I was expecting their to be quite noticeable divides between senior management, apprentices, placement students and graduates however this has not been the case. There's a great community feel among the account and I have had the pleasure of making friends for life with not just University placement students but apprentices, future students and graduates also.

The great thing about the IBM schemes is that you are given two managers - your peoples manager (also known as PDM or EPM) and your task manager. You will meet your peoples manager at your induction and they are your contact for anything that is to do with the University placement scheme. So if you have queries regarding Giveback (events for IBM outside of your job role such as careers fairs and presentations etc.), your internal reviews, meetings with your University supervisor, personal development and general queries, then your peoples manager is your go-to. Also, if you are finding yourself over-worked or unhappy then you can go to your peoples manager for support and they will talk with your team and task manager to ensure the issue is resolved. Your task manager on the other hand is your day-to-day manager who delegates work to you and establishes your official job title/ role. They will be the ones to provide feedback to your people manager during your reviews about your performance in your role. My EPM was always there to answer queries that I had throughout the year and is always joyful and enthusiastic when I meet him. He has been the one ensuring that we all push ourselves to develop personally and encouraging us to get involved in more giveback and attend more online courses / 'lunch n' learn' sessions. My task manager, although he hasn't necessarily taught me anything in specific, (as a member of my team did that instead), he has always been there to answer my questions as I have them. He is very flexible when it comes to holiday and giveback requests and does not mind you working from home when you wish to. As long as you do your work to a high standard then there is no issue. I have always felt comfortable asking him for help and he has always given me feedback in good time for my reviews. Overall I feel I have had great support from my supervisors and I cannot thank them enough for their time and help throughout the year.

The bulk of the workload in my role is from Monday to Wednesday each week. My weekly tasks should, preferably, all be completed by Wednesday however often problems will arise that can make this pretty impossible. However my overall workload varies per week depending on the amount of projects running at the time. In addition to this, I always have one week per month that is very busy and can often get quite stressful. During these weeks, my workload can be quite excessive however I do not think that this is a bad thing. I feel that having these stressful periods has benefited me in numerous ways. I have become even more organised, learned to manage my time better, understood the importance of task prioritisation and now work very well under pressure and timed conditions. So overall I would say I have had a well balanced workload with periods of stress every few weeks that have played a big part in my personal development.

Before walking out the office on my first day I was given 3 projects to manage financially and was already sending out emails to my team regarding these projects. This just shows the real responsibility that you are given at IBM, from day one. As I became more established in my role, the number of projects that I managed financially started to increase. By 6 months in, those 3 projects had turned into 12 and by 9 months I had 22 projects on my hands. This also meant that each month, the amount of money against my name increased to the point where I was responsible for getting up to a million pounds per month from our client. Although daunting at first having this responsibility on your shoulders, it was great to feel trusted with this from such an early stage and given the opportunity to rise to the challenge.

Through my placement year I have developed all my skills both within my role and outside of my role. Within my job role I have improved vastly in the areas of organisation, time management, working well under pressure, analysis, taking initiative and problem solving. However I have also had the chance to develop in skills such as communication, adaptability, flexibility and commercial awareness through the Giveback activities that I have been encouraged to get involved in. Though officially the responsibility of personal development is down to you, the amount of support, material and personal reflection deadlines you are given by the IBM Foundation team really motivates you to think deeply about your future career and the skills you need to develop to pursue such a path. These sorts of skills will be great going into final year of study as my work ethic and career drive is so much higher now than it was last year. I have a lot more understanding of the working world and the path I want to go down. Applying for graduate schemes will be a lot easier now I know the career I want to pursue, understand my strengths and what I can bring to the company I am applying to.

My review of the office atmosphere is that it is what you make of it. Everyone is friendly and up for a laugh and it's how you want to engage with people that sets the overall tone of the office. If you make the effort with people it is mostly reciprocated and I have had the joy of working in a team that is very fun and friendly. We have funded team meals at least every quarter which gives everyone the chance to bond outside of the work environment and then there are always meals organised for the whole account for leaving do's/ special events. Also as there are numerous student schemes that IBM run, there are always great young communities within each office to socialise with in and out of the work.

The University Placement scheme was well organised and well run. The expectations of each individual was outlined in good time before each review and feedback was given instantly. I particularly liked the encouragement of innovative and creative expression when it came to our final review. It was viewed highly if you were creative in your final assessment and did not just conform to the usual powerpoint presentation. Having this knowledge prior to my assessment it motivated me to push the boundaries and think outside the box. I feel this is something a lot of companies may not appreciate but it just shows that IBM's 'treasure wild ducks' principle really is something they strive for.

The company put a lot into the personal development of the students on their schemes. They provide you with a journal at the start of the year that you must fill in alongside your job which focuses on personal reflection. They have high expectations of each student to reflect fully on their experience and skills that they are developing during their time at IBM. This has given me a deeper 'drive to succeed' attitude which will benefit me massively going forward into my career.

The way the IBM graduate scheme works is they aim to take half their intake from their interns and half from new applicants. So as there are thousands more graduate applicants to current interns, your chances of getting on the graduate scheme are far better if you complete a placement with IBM. However, getting a graduate place doesn't automatically mean you have a job as they still have to find you a role and this can take a while, so do be wary. However once in, there is so much potential that you can achieve at a company such as IBM. There is so much room to move around the country and around the world working with numerous different clients and teams. It is a great company to go to for a long term career and they invest a lot into quality training and employee development so if I was lucky enough to get on to the graduate scheme then I would jump at the chance.

As IBM has so many schemes (apprentices, futures, university placement & graduates) there is a massive young community within the company. I have made some friends for life during my time here and I socialise outside of work with these friends at least once a week. Do not think just because you're now working full time that you won't have fun because I found myself going out more this year than my friends at University did.

I worked up in Preston so the cost of living was quite low and you are entered into a facebook group with fellow UP's in the same area so a lot of people house share which makes the cost of living even cheaper. Also, Preston is a student town so a lot of the places to socialise often have student deals on, making them also very cheap.

Being in a student town the nightlife is very good, with fun club nights to go to each night. Through a lot of my placement I found myself going out mid-week at least once every 1/2 weeks. This side of my life was part that I thought would be the biggest change going from the student life to working life however with so many young people on our account I found myself going out quite regularly.

You were encouraged to get involved in what IBM call Giveback. This could be anything from careers fairs to presentations, running assessment centers to hosting an open evening. This gave you the chance to promote IBM and give out your advice to students thinking of applying. The foundation team encourage you to do this and you are given days off to attend such events.