UK Tax Analyst Review

I truly enjoyed my year at IBM and would definitely recommend IBM's placement scheme to anyone doing a sandwich course at University. IBM is a large company so there's many opportunities and there's also a graduate scheme if you are interested in staying on at IBM after completing your degree.

Overall I always felt valued by my colleagues. I was never made to feel like I was an intern and was never treated like an intern. I was never asked to do any dull jobs such as scanning or getting the tea/coffee. Even the CFO, when he was in the office, would make conversation with me if we passed each other in the hallway.

I was given lots of support and guidance by management. They understand that you are an intern and this is most likely your first job in an office, let alone at IBM. If I was ever stuck, I could just ask someone in the team for help. You also have an early professionals manager at IBM who is there to deal with any issues that are not directly related to your job role.

I was fairly busy across the year but I did find that there was certain periods of time where I was much quieter. I used these quieter periods to do some work on my IBM placement journal and University e-portfolio which had to be done to pass the year. Some roles in IBM, however, are much busier.

I was given quite a lot of responsibility over the year and found myself running my own event at a local school, making arrangements for HMRC to visit the office as well as being in charge of several tasks. I had sole responsibility for completing a number of month end and quarter end tasks/files which had a hard deadline to be met.

I have further developed my tax knowledge over the year, for example I am now much more confident at completing corporation tax computations. I have also further developed my communication, organisation and time management skills. I was also required to do a number of presentations throughout the year. All these skills are skills for life which will be transferred into my final year at University as well as in future job roles.

The atmosphere in the office is very relaxed and socialable. The tax team are all lovely people and will always engage in conversation with each other. I sat with the rest of IBM finance and whenever they saw you in passing they'd say hello. The UKI CFO would sometimes join us in the office and was always sociable too - he even bought us all pizza at year end!

The placement scheme as a whole is organised very well. We were given a contact to ask any questions we had and they were always fast at responding to any queries. The whole recruitment process was very smooth and I never found myself chasing for a response, no matter what the situation was.

Only 2 months into my placement I was sent on an Alpha Tax training course. If I passed this course it meant I could help the team complete corporation tax computations. My team are always pushing me further and are always giving me more challenging tasks to allow me to develop my tax knowledge and skills further.

I personally don't think that I will be applying back to IBM through the graduate scheme because none of the roles are in the departments that I would like to work in. However, I would recommend the graduate scheme to anyone who is interested as my time at IBM has been enjoyable.

All of the placement students go to lunch together and sit on a large table in the canteen which is now known as 'the intern table'. We have all also got together after work to go for a drink and some food at the pub. The tax team made a real effort over Christmas to hold social events.

My placement was located in Portsmouth and I lived in the city. I went to Portsmouth University so I lived with University friends who weren't on placement. The cost of living is very reasonable and your salary easily covers general living costs and more. Portsmouth is a big student city so socialising is of typical student prices.

The nightlife in Portsmouth is very good - as you would expect in a largely student populated city! There is something happening every night and there is often big name artists in town to perform live. The clubs and bars are all varied so whatever your music taste is, you'll find somewhere to go.

IBM encourages placement students to take part in something called 'Giveback'. This involves taking part in events outside of the office such as interview practice days at local schools. I was also a mentor for a 1st year Portsmouth University student, went back to University to give a presentation on IBM's placement scheme and how to apply and took part in a get inspired event for kids at the local guildhall.