UKI GBS Finance and Planning Analyst Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my placement. I was given the opportunity to expand both my personal and inter-personal skill sets. I worked with a fantastic team who made me feel like a member of the team from the very first day and enjoyed working in a role with a high level of responsibility. I would have preferred to be based in London, but this does not take away from my experience with the company. Working in Finance was very interesting and enjoyable for the most part, but did become somewhat repetitive towards the end of the year.

I always felt valued by my colleagues, and became an important member of the team quickly into the year. My role allowed me to work closely with almost every member of my team throughout the year, and I was given the opportunity to work with CFOs and COOs, who also treated me with equal respect. I was trusted with a number of tasks which involved a large amount of responsibility.

I was given a lot of guidance by both my task manager and other members of my team. My manager enabled me to develop over the year by providing me with a diverse range of opportunities. I felt that I could have been given more room to contribute on certain occasions, and my manager was sometimes too busy to set tasks.

I was fairly busy on most days, quarter ends being my busiest periods. I found that my role fluctuated between being very busy and relaxed. I would have liked there to be a bit more consistency with the busyness of my role, but I managed to use my free time to be proactive and also gain valuable knowledge via IBM's large education channel.

I was performing a role which involved preparing reviews for high ranking employees, this involved a lot of responsibility. One part of my role also required me to the final level of approval for a process, through which i would make business decisions and apply my judgement to save the business money. I was given certain responsibilities because I showed myself to be capable of them.

The skills that I received during my placement are definitely transferable, they have made me a more employable individual. The experience helped to improve my work ethic and drive, and I have become a more goal oriented individual. I am studying Finance, so my role was somewhat related to my degree, but some of the practical knowledge and technical skills that I gained are non-transferable, and are limited to IBM.

The atmosphere was friendly and jovial, the team was always cracking jokes. It could be tense at times but that was to be expected in Finance. Not once did I feel that the atmosphere was bad or unwelcoming in anyway.

The placement was set up well, I had the chance to have regular meetings with the EPM and communication from the Foundation team, informing us of what is going on and events taking place. I felt that there could have been a more efficient way to record my progress as an intern, as it was easy to forget to fill in the check point journal. There could have been more courses and events for interns to enjoy the placement more.

IBM helps with educating their employees, a minimum of 40 hours of online education is required and I was encouraged to attend Lunch and Learn sessions which provided useful knowledge outside of my role. I was also able to attend an accounting course, provided by IBM. The placement is focused on personal development but it is easy to lose track of this if there is too much work. I would have appreciated more courses such as the accounting one.

The employment prospects are very appealing as the graduate scheme seems to be better than a lot of others. I will be applying back to IBM as a graduate consultant.

I made some good friends and we regularly organized things together.

I lived in Portsmouth which is considerably cheaper than London.

The nightlife in Portsmouth was good for pubs and bars, there are some decent clubs.

There are Giveback opportunities which involve giving back to the community, outside of this there was not much else.