Commercial Operations Review

To a large extent I did although it wasn't perfect, the year was extremely valuable and far more useful than another year of the same at University.

They certainly value you as you make their lives easier by supporting their work and allowing them to get on with creating revenue. I believe your true value shines when you aren't there and they realise they don't have anyone to pick up those tasks, but sometimes they forget.

A lot, personally my managers were quite active in trying to get me involved in new work and new projects, even though we were remote to one another. They are a great source in finding out who would be best in the company to shadow for example, or in recommending an area of the business outside your department to look at.

This depends, I certainly was not the busiest intern and did have some days which were a lot quieter than others, however a lot of this was down to time management just as much as work load. I did have busier days, but it was rare for me to leave the office late.

I had certain projects that I either lead or was given to another intern to lead and I supported, which gave a great insight into how to run a team or a project. My day to day work was not that high responsibility as most roles are in supporting and supplementing the existing teams but it is the extra work you take on which give you a lot of responsibility.

In terms of a degree it probably will only help a little bit - however I didn't take a placement on to do better at my degree and my degree isn't business related so this really doesn't bother me. In terms of giving me an insight about how businesses run and work, how to network and creating networks, spotting new opportunities and practical business experience and ideas, a placement is completely invaluable.

This depends on where you sit - my team was all remote so I sat in an office with other interns which was a good laugh at times as you got to make new friends and you could often find opportunities through them. However in general the whole of my office (South Bank) had a very laid back atmosphere, and often didn't feel like you were working for one of the biggest companies in the world!

Quite well - they set you up with an Early Professionals Manager who you can talk to regarding your progress and opportunities that you want to look for, and who you can lead on for guidance. The induction was done well too, giving you a relative couple of days to get to know more about the business and the other people joining with you.

There were opportunities for education online as well as conferences in the office which often gave us new perspectives on a number of things: from other business sectors to our options as a grad. However as I was leaving there was a temporary education budget freeze which meant we could only look for things locally, which would cause a problem for those still there a few months after

Appealing, there are some big opportunities for important roles next to important people so I would be stupid not to apply really, there are some roles which do really appeal to me. However I know there aren't as many available as there were previously, which I guess is a microcosm of the wider grad job market as a whole, so I won't put all my eggs in the one basket.

Excellent! A lot of great opportunities to talk to other interns, a lot of great local bars around London too and Thursday night drinks are almost a religion at the company. Obviously this depends on where you're located but there are a lot of opportunities in terms of events where you can network with other interns.

Its London so it's really expensive there is no getting around that but they increase the salary as a result, and as long as you aren't stupid with your money you'll never be looking over your shoulder. It won't be like uni so you won't be clubbing in week days so to be honest there isn't actually that much opportunity to spend your money barring the occasional after work drink and weekends

A lot of great bars local to the office in which you get a disocunt for being an IBMer, not particularly cheap but they're fine. There are also great transport links for obvious reasons around London so nothing is far away

Not as many as I'd hoped, but as you meet a lot of new people you can get in on them yourself through your network or even set them up yourself, for example I set up an IBM football team with some fellow interns.