Research Consultant, IBM Talent Management Solutions Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my placement year at IBM. It was an incredible opportunity. I have learned a lot about myself, the company and have gained very valuable experience and insight into the work life.

From day one you are treated as a valuable part of the team, and you aren’t given ‘intern’ tasks. At IBM you have an incredible support system that understands the importance of your growth and development, they help you achieve your goals, gain more exposure, encourage training and introduce you to new opportunities. Also, the team has adopted a ‘feedback culture’ they believe in regularly giving and receiving feedback, this contributes to feeling valued.

At IBM you will have a great support system. The team is always willing to help, approachable and open to questions. Guidance by management varies, it largely depends on your manager and the work relationship you have with each other. At IBM it is up to you to make the most of year by striving outside our role for external opportunities, exposure and experience.

Due to the nature of Consulting role, there are periods where you are extremely busy with a lot of client deliverables. On the other hand, there are other more quiet periods. During this time, you can work on personal development or explore other opportunities within IBM (ie: shadowing experience in other business lines). You work very closely with your task manager to ensure you maintain work life balance.

You are allocated a lot of individual responsibility in this role. From the start of your placement you are aligned to client projects in which you play a critical role. The team really puts a lot of trust in your ability, they guide you and constantly help you improve, they will challenge you to move outside of your comfort zone. As you progress through your year and continue to build a rapport for yourself and your work, you will be allocated more responsibility on client projects.

The training I received and the skills I developed and attained during my placement year were very relevant to my degree and for future jobs.

The environment of the office is professional, welcoming and friendly. Everyone is approachable and open to helping you. This is a close knit team and they make you feel a part of the team from day one. There are also regular team drinks and socials.

IBM placement scheme is a very structured and organised internship. All interns attended an induction and onboarding day in which we were set up on all the required systems and technology. We also received training for our role for the first few weeks. During your placement year, you have a support system is made up of a Task Manager, a buddy/mentor and Early Professional Manager (in charge of our development and wellbeing).

There are ample opportunities for training available both online (Think40) and in person (training sessions, coaching, mentoring). There are regular lunch and learn sessions, training run my other placement students and IBM wide training events. IBM values personal training and development and therefore encourages you to invest time in doing in your placement year.

IBM has an intern to grad scheme, which is specifically for placement students who are keen to apply back to IBM as a graduate. The graduate scheme at IBM is well renowned and very appealing.

There is a large placement community at IBM. Most placement students are based in London South Bank, even though I was not based in South Bank I often went there to work on a Friday and socialise after a long day of work. There are also several socials set up by the placement students themselves and also by Foundation (business line in charge of Placement students). The two biggest socials are the Christmas Party and End of Year Intern Party. In the office I worked in, there were 6 other placement students and we would have socials of our own and with our wider teams.

As I was based in London, the cost of living and socialising is expensive. However, I really wanted the London experience and had the best time - totally worth it!

Our office was situated in the centre of London, surrounded by restaurants and bars. Great nightlife!

There are several activities that you can get involved outside of work. IBM runs different clubs (netball, football etc). There is also IBM Club which notifies you of events and activities (such as theater tickets, movie and restaurant deals) – sometimes you also get a discounted price!