Sales Support Review

I really enjoyed my placement year at IBM. It was extremely valuable and provided me with the opportunity and experiences to develop my professional skills, which I would never have gained from university alone.

Naturally, I developed stronger relationships with some colleagues than others but in general everyone was very trusting in my abilities and my support was valued by the sellers. Sometimes my efforts were overlooked, so I found it important to communicate what I had achieved to my manager.

My task manager had two management roles so was usually very busy. I therefore mainly worked with the sellers within my team. Although I didn’t often see my manager in person, he was always happy to offer help and guidance over the phone and arranged regular meetings to catch up and talk through my progress.

This varied from day to day depending on the projects I was working on and the stage in the quarter. My weekly tasks set by my task manager were not enough to fill my time so it was important to be proactive and offer my support on client deals.

Many of my daily tasks did consist of spread sheets and admin but from day one, I was trusted with a variety of meaningful tasks, as well as contributing towards client deals which provided the opportunity for customer interaction.

IBM has increased my confidence in my abilities and has provided me with invaluable skills including team work and time management, which I will transfer into my final year at university.

The atmosphere was great and very laid back. Everyone was very friendly and always happy to help.

The overall work placement was very well organised. As well as a task manager, you are also assigned an Early Professionals Manager, who is essentially an IBM version of a university tutor. They track your progress throughout the year in regular reviews and are the person to go to if you are having any problems or need any guidance, especially around career development and HR. You also have a two day induction at the start of your placement where you learn more about IBM and the placement scheme. If your role already had an intern which you are taking over from, you will receive a hand over document, which goes into detail about your day to day responsibilities.

There are lots of opportunity for personal training and development online, across a wide variety of areas and we are encouraged by IBM to take part in this. There are also regular lunch & learns and round table events to attend.

I would love to work at IBM again in the future and have applied to do so. IBM run a well-structured graduate scheme which provides lots of opportunity and invests in your personal and professional development. However, the roles are slightly more limited within the graduate scheme, which may push me to apply to a different company.

Definitely! Within my department alone there were around 15 interns and many more throughout the company so it was easy to meet new people and make friends. There are lots of local pubs to go to after work which also offer IBM discount. Thursday is the best day for this! Although this does depend on your base location, I would say the Southbank office is most lively.

I lived at home during my placement year so only really had to pay for my train into work. However, London being London meant that socialising was rather expensive!

I worked in London so the night life was great, with a lot of variety.

I personally didn’t get involved with anything outside of work but there are options available, such as sport clubs.