Sales Operations Review

Personally, I had a fantastic year at IBM Southbank. Working in the TSS UKI Sales Team was insightful and interesting, allowing me to explore a career that I have always been interested in. I was pushed to my abilities, which has only meant that I have grown more as an individual, both professionally and personally. I was also surrounded by another 100+ interns in the Southbank area, which always meant there were plenty of people to socialise with outside of work - and I can truely say I have made some great friends from this experience!

I worked within a great team! Throughout my year, there were many changes with the organizational hierarchy, however, that only showed me how more and more individuals within IBM are friendly, supportive and more than happy to go out of their way to help you out. This attitude made me feel comfortable within my first day of work and helped me to settle in quicker. Although, much of my team were based in other locations, due to it being a multinational firm, that still doesn't stop the team from communicating - everyone is just a phone call away! My managers were extremely caring and supportive, giving me compliments and showcasing my hard work and efforts.

Both my task manager and placement manager were supportive throughout the year. My managers gave me a lot of support throughout the year. Through monthly catch-ups and my regular performance reviews,my progress was monitored to ensure I was managing my tasks.

My role was very demanding from time to time, which kept me busy the majority of the week. During quieter periods, I would extend out to my network and ask for more work to help stay busy and help with my development.

Due to building a strong personal brand for myself very quickly, I was quick to gain a lot of responsibility within my team which helped stretch myself and achieve things other interns had not.

I have developed and enhanced a vast number of skills during my time at IBM. From communication skills, including communicating over the phone and presenting, to teamwork, as completing tasks together is more efficient and quicker with the help and knowledge of others. All of which I can transfer back to my final year at university.

Very positive and lively atmosphere in the office, with lots of individuals from all business units across the globe so a great way to expand your network!

The IBM placement scheme was very well organised as there was a whole team dedicated to organising all the placement students, and monitoring us throughout the year. We all had an Early professionals manager that was similar to a tutor at university, which helped in any situations that you were concerned about, that you could not address to your task manager.

I believe you get what you ask for in terms of personal training and development within IBM - if you want to get the most out of your experience here for the year, then go above and byond to get peoples attention so you can work on your personal development and training. There are also lots of online courses that you could participate in as part of development.

Currently there are limited graduate positions here at IBM, depending on what sector you want to go back in to. However, this may soon change so I will ensure I have applied for the graduate scheme.

IBM hired approximately 100 interns during my intake year at Southbank. That ensured there were a mix of university students I could mix and socialise with during lunch and after work. There are also plenty of activities to do with all your new friends around the immediate area and London, including lots of bars and restaurants!

The cost of living is extremely high in London, as rent and travel soon added to be a great expense.

The nightlife is London is fantastic as there is so much variety and so many places to go. There were not a lot of clubs in the local office area, however lots of lively bars that were very popular with the intern community.

There were a few activities to get involved in outside of work, in the intern community. This included the netball and mixed tag rugby community; as well as local theatre communities and volunteering opportunities as part of giveback.