Sales Operations Review

My placement year allowed me to work within a professional environment, grow my network and move to the capital of the UK, London! This made the overall experience very enjoyable as I managed a work-life balance and had the chance to seize different opportunities for my personal and professional development.

On my second day (this is including a one day induction) I had the opportunity to travel to Madrid and work there for a week at a conference. This was evidence for my colleagues and management valuing me. Six months down the line, my colleagues started commending me for all the help I had provided so far and stated that it will be detrimental to the team when I leave. I was taken on several resedentials abroad throughout the year.

At the beginning I was given a vast amount of support. A few weeks in I was left to my own devies 80% of the time. I personally preferred this management style as it allowed me to be proactive and learn quicker through researching myself and getting help from fellow interns. Additionally, it has helped me within job applications as the majority require being able to work effectively under minimal supervision.

The start and the end of the year were very quiet. For the middle six months, however, I had several projects I was working on at any one time. This often meant early starts and late night but it taught me a great deal about prioritisation and also that it is okay to reject opportunities if they are out of your bandwidth. My free time towards the end of my placement year enabled me to take on new opportunities and learn about different lines of business within the organisation.

I was responsible for collecting and analysing information for reporting back to the worldwide management team. I was also allowed to join in on these calls, too. Additionally, it was my responsibility to get travel approval for many of my colleagues for IBM's biggest yearly event. During meetings, I was given the opportunity to give ideas around how I think revenue could be increased which were taken on board.

I learnt priortisation like never before. Deadlines were tighter than at university, therefore, I was able to reach deadlines with no problem when I returned. I learnt how to be more productive with my day and had often achieved more by midday in my final year that a whole day's worth in my first year.

Due to the sheer amount of interns, the atmosphere was very similar to that of university and often involved after work socials. However, sometimes within the open office environment, the atomosphere from some senior colleagues would make coming into the office less enjoyable and also as though we were being monitored.

We were given a comprehensive induction, laptops to work on and software set up meetings to give us a kick start. We had regular reviews and were also given several opportunities to complete work to give back to the company. Additionally, there was an event that was very well organised to inform us of future opportunities and to help us gain employability skills.

I was sent to two conferences, one in Madrid and one in Las Vegas. As you can see, this showed the company's committment into investing in my education of the products my business unit used. Additionally, a large budget was allocated to the interns only event where we attended different sessions to help us understand and achieve our future plans.

I applied for the graduate scheme at IBM as I throughougly enjoyed my time there and I believe they are leading the way in many technologies. I also believe the progression, if you are dedicated and hard-working, is also a reason to reapply. My extensive network has also come into use in terms of finding a graduate job at IBM.

We had a big student community in addition to a big graduate community. This meant we could extend our network even further. Additionally, we had several intern socials that were organised by interns themselves. Other after work socials meant that we could meet interns from different locations, in addition to other areas within the large office.

London was a very expensive place to live and socialise. On an intern salary, it was often very difficult to enjoy London to its full extent. However, this has motivated me to move back as a graduate to enjoy more perks of the city. Some after-work socials were less costly and meant more interns attended.

Nightlife was very good on any day of the week. There is a place for everyone to enjoy in London, despite your music taste. The only downfall is the cost of entry and price of drinks. Most interns lived in and around the centre meaning to get to the venue was easy for all parties and also returning after the night.

I managed to make a great deal of friends at IBM which allowed me to attend out of work activities. Additionally, my team often had out of work activities, especially during our resedentials, such as attending dinners, going to bars and other activities such as escape rooms. This included both national and international opportunities.