Sales Enablement Review

My placement year has been a massive learning curve. It has helped me to develop both personally and professionally and I believe that the skills I have learnt this year will continue with me into my final year of University. I have enjoyed aspects of my time with IBM, mainly in the beginning when I was getting to grips with my role and responsibilities. However, I do feel that a 1 year placement in just one area is too long - it would have been better if there was job rotation as at this age not many people know the exact area they want to go into.

Generally I felt valued by my colleagues - some more than others. Most people appreciate the time and effort you put into your work and they do show this in the form of feedback. Throughout the year, as a placement student, you undertake numerous reviews - this helps to reinforce the good we have done and to help us reflect. There are still some people who do brand you as the typical 'intern' which can be frustrating.

I was very fortunate to have an extremely invested and caring Task Manager - this made the year and also the role much more enjoyable. Throughout the placement you are definitely given the guidance and support you need (more so in the beginning while you are still learning). Everyone is really friendly and always happy to help clarify / offer up assistance when necessary.

At the beginning of my placement I was very busy - I had taken over from 2 interns previously. I soon learnt how to manage and prioritize my workload as I got to grips with the tasks I was undertaking (and why). Towards the end of my placement I was a lot quieter - I don't know if it was the time of year or if it was because I would soon be leaving, but there just seemed to be less going on.

I feel that from day 1 I was given a lot of responsibility (which I enjoyed). I was often asked to lead different tasks and be the one to organise / run external Business Partner calls. I also spent time working directly with the Vice President of our department which shows how much responsibility I was given. This was something that surprised me, as before starting at IBM I thought I was just going to be doing meaningless tasks. I think my attitude at the start really helped me gain this much responsibilty. I was also keen to help wherever I could and get involved with things outside of my job role.

This year has definitely helped me to get into a routine of waking up early and planning my day so that all tasks are completed - I will definitely take this with me into my final year to help me plan around my deadlines and improve my work ethic. I have also improved my presentation and communication skills which will assist in both my University degree and job search.

The majority of my office worked part time, which meant the atmosphere wasn't great - It was often quiet with not a lot going on. The only time social events would occur was Christmas... Thankfully there were a few other interns in my office - but I think due to fixed desks we were not able to take full advantage of collaborating.

I think the overall placement was organised well. Before starting we received numerous emails, were added to a number of communities (to find out more about the company) and also added to a location specific Facebook group in order to contact other interns prior to starting so we could get to know each other/sort living arrangements. Upon starting we then had a 2 day induction in London, where we received our badges, laptops etc - we then set up all our online accounts, emails etc which definitely came in handy!

As an IBMer you have access to a range of sources and are encourage to complete 40 hours of learning over the course of the year. I think everything is available to you, but it is down to you to go out and find it/complete it. The foundation community do offer weekly webinars and send out reminder emails when they have updated their community with other external courses - which is useful as without this I don't feel like I would know about half the stuff that is available.

I am grateful for the year experience that I have gained within IBM - I have definitely improved some of my already existing skills and gained some which I will take forward with me. However, I do not feel that a large corporate company like IBM is for me - especially for the area that I would like to go into in order to apply my degree.

There was a great intern community! In NHBR there were around 40 of us, which definitely made the experience a lot more enjoyable. Especially at the start when the weather was nice and everyone was getting to know each other and the area, we would be out doing things a few times a week. There is still usually something still happening every week. There is a large group of interns who all take lunch together too.

As I also go to University in this area, I was used to the cost of living and socialising. Portsmouth is very affordable and would say it's on average with a lot of other places that the other interns were from. I would not of wanted to spend the year somewhere more expensive due to the wage we were on.

As said previously, I got to University here so was used to the nightlife. Due to Portsmouth being a very much student orientated City, there are lots of different student nights out so it suits all. There are also many pubs located in a similar area, so it didn't always have to be a nightclub (as there are really only 2 main ones to choose from).

There were very few opportunities to get involved with activities outside of work as we were not based at the main office in the South bank. I think this was definitely a negative of working in Portsmouth as it seemed that the large project/activities were always held in London - and to get travel expenses for this would've been impossible. I feel like this did have an effect on our overall experience. Thankfully, there was such thing as giveback - I tried to sign up for as much as possible in our area which including helping at Assessment Centers, being a Mentor and Interviewing school students.