School Leaver and Undergraduate Recruitment Coorindator Review

Overall I had a very enjoyable placement, this was because I was apart of a very friendly and comforting team. There were also plenty of other interns at my base location which gave me the opportunity to make friends. There were however some stressful points throughout the year which were difficult to cope with.

I felt very valued by my team as I knew the work I was given to do was important not only to our team but the wide IBM community. I was given extra responsibility throughout the year which showed that my team did value me.

In my main role I was given plenty of support, my team were always on hand just encase I needed them and they were always more than happy to help. At the beginning of my placement it was made clear my team would walk me through tasks until I felt comfortable to do them myself. However I feel that I did not get much guidance on areas outside of my role, e.g. expense claiming.

My role revolved around the academic yearly cycle, which means that from October to May I was very busy and had a lot to do. But my first couple of months were very slow, and I was given very little to do due to my role not really starting. At times during my busy period I sometimes felt I was overwhelmed by the amount of work I had to do. Although once I spoke up about it my team, they helped me and shared some of my tasks.

My role was to bring candidates through the beginning of the recruitment process and those that are successful go onto my manager to finish the process. If it weren't for me and my role IBM would not have been able to hire the number of candidates that we have done. Also my manager has had holidays in which I covered her work load that gave me even more responsibility,

I have learned a lot about my self while on placement, I have become to release how capable I am of doing tasks, and my ability to multi task. This will prove me well when I go back to university as I will have to juggle a lot all at once. I have also developed employability skills (such as time management, problem solving, team work and working under pressure), all of which will assist me well when applying for graduate jobs.

Usually the office atmosphere was positive, there were always people to chat to and socialise with while working. As I had interns that were my friends as well, there were always people popping by my office to see me. However as my team and I had very stressful roles there were times where is caused a negative atmosphere which did make me feel uncomfortable at times.

My role has previously been for interns for a number of years now, so the role was well structured with very little flaws. The scheme it self was well organised and set up, on my induction it was explained how the year will run, and where I can go for help. There was also an internal web page that I could refer too throughout my internship.

I did a two week hand over which the previous student in my role, this gave me the opportunity to do open the job learning. There is also an internal website I can go to learn more about IBM and the technology they create. There were classes and seminars scheduled throughout the year to develop various skills, e.g. presenting with confidence. The only issue I had was trying to find the time to use these resources to their full potential.

As I have done a placement with IBM I do have the opportunity to apply for the intern to graduate scheme. This gives me the opportunity to potentially skip areas of the recruitment process and get a role quicker. However, it is not guaranteed I will be able to skip steps, if I am unsuccessful at any stage my application is closed out, and I am not promised a role by the end of it either.

There was always events going on inside and outside of IBM. Inside of IBM there were lunch and learn events, meals, and events within my role. As for outside of IBM there were plenty of parties and interns to organize events with. The only issue I found was at times I was so busy in my role I was not able to attend the social events and so had to miss them.

My rent each month was £400, and my bills ranges from £30-£50, the majority of housing was roughly £400. Although I do know some interns were paying as much as £700 per month. Within Winchester there isn't a great deal to do so I was always having to travel to Southampton or Portsmouth. However the expense of doing so was not too much.

Winchester is a very quite city, there isn't as great of a clubbing scene compared to the bigger cities (Newcastle and Durham). However there are plenty of bars to go too, although I found some were expensive.

Outside of IBM I was able to join a gym, attend local bootcamp classes, and there was a small shopping centre too. There is plenty of walking/ running routes through the town as well. The issue I found was finding the time to go to these activities due to my busy work load at times.