Project Management Office Support Review

I enjoyed my placement year a lot more than I thought I would. Throughout my first week, I was extremely nervous and wasn't sure how I would cope for a whole year. However, I settled in extremely well and feel very proud of what I have achieved over the year. This is partly due to the company and their goal on trying to make sure every student has the best year possible and really develops in the areas that will support their final year at university and their future career. Each intern (within GBS) is placed onto an Account, which is essentially a 'mini-organisation' within IBM working with different clients. Although my role made it quite difficult to interact with the client, I still managed to gain a lot of real-life experience and develop a wide range of capabilities through the responsibility given to me.

One of the greatest things about my role was the people I worked with. My team all worked in the same area of the office and there was rarely a day where one of us wasn't there, so it was great to get a sense of community between us. We worked really well as a team, learning each others roles to provide the capability to cover each other in absence. Not only did we develop a working relationship, but we also met outside of work for a variety of work-related and non-work related events - such as tobogganing and Escape Rooms - which was great fun! The team I work with provide a great atmosphere, and I was given great support and responsibility by them and the management team to pursue activities I was interested in. This made me feel trusted and valued by others, and that my opinion to make change happen really mattered.

I would say my task manager is one of the most supportive individuals I have met. She was extremely helpful during my first few days when I felt really anxious and unsure of what I was meant to be doing. She was also supportive of anything I wanted to get involved with that was not related to my daily role, and often put my name forward to other members of the leadership team as someone who could provide assistance. She was the type of manager who made it known to you that she was always there to come and talk to, but didn't make you feel pressured to if you weren't that sort of individual - which was a great comfort knowing there was someone there if things went wrong! My Early Professionals Manager (EPM) was also really friendly and an overall nice person. During my 3 and 6 month reviews, she provided guidance as to how to improve for the next review, and what I should be looking to complete before I go back to university. Unfortunately, she was based in a different location which meant that I only got to meet her a couple of times (during my reviews) - but she was always quick to respond to emails/direct messages should I need her.

I found that there was quite a good balance between quite and busy periods within my role. A large part of my role was focused on invoicing, so the pressure always used to build up towards the end of each month, with a lull experienced at the start of each month. As an intern, you need to have the attitude of finding work when you are quieter and this is something I excelled in, for example, there are opportunities to nominate yourself for tasks on the IBM Slack group. In addition, I was quite good at networking with others which meant that they came to me with tasks if I had spare capacity.

This is one of the greatest aspects of my placement year. IBM gives a lot of responsibility to their interns as they see them as the future of IBM. As part of my role, I was responsible for ensuring we were able to invoice for large sums of money at the end of each month. In total, this came to approximately £15.5 million, demonstrating the responsibility I was given. Further to this, I was approached to help other projects outside of my role. Here, I gave presentations to the whole Account (circa 100 people) and drove initiatives forwards. I felt all individuals on the Account trusted me to complete my role, and help others, without the need to monitor what I was doing every day.

As identified, I was extremely nervous at the outset of my placement. If my placement taught me anything, it was to have more confidence in myself and my abilities - something which I have definitely learnt. Through presenting to the whole Account, having meetings with the Senior Client Partner and arranging a visit for the GBS UK&I General Manager to the Account (and meeting him), my confidence has soared! This will benefit me when I return for my final year at university, and when I come to apply to graduate roles. I have also developed my skills over the year. As my role was quite admin-centred, my excel skills have improved greatly. I have learnt how to communicate better to others, and how to manage my time more efficiently. Small things such as prioritisation and delegation, alongside team-working, will benefit me in final year when completing a wide range of coursework and exam prep.

The general atmosphere in the office was good. My team were located together so there was always someone there to talk to, and the other teams/leaders were relatively close-by. We were all a similar age which made communication easier as we could relate to each other. Cake and other goodies were brought in for people's birthdays (which always tended to be left near my desk - perfect!), and sometimes samosas were brought if the Account did particularly well in the month. The leadership team were easy to speak to, and you could always hear them having a joke with each other. This made me realise that, despite their higher position, they too are normal people and are easy to get along with - making the atmosphere that much better.

Overall, my placement was set up well. However, I did initially have a bad experience. I received an invite for an interview for a role at a different site which I feel went well. Unfortunately, I was then informed that role no longer existed via email. This was quite upsetting as whilst I was being interviewed and thought I was getting a role, I was out of the matching pool (a 'pool' of candidates who have passed the assessment centre), meaning other managers could not see my application. Despite this, my current manager found my application when I was put back in the matching pool and invited me for an interview. In hindsight, I am extremely grateful this happened as I don't think I would be as happy as I am now in the other role. In other areas, there are structured reviews (3-month, 6-month and 12-month) which lay out your placement. For each of these reviews, you set goals of what you want to achieve for the next review, and then see whether you have achieved them or what more you can do. This structure was great and really helped me determine what I wanted to achieve.

I am quite torn with this question. In terms of my Account, the support was great. Leaders were quite willing to give their time to help you learn - after all, that is the point of your placement year! I arranged Lunch and Learn sessions where members of the leadership team attended and gave you an insight into their role, and what things you would need to start to learn to follow in their footsteps. Further to this, there was an online portal (YourLearning) where you can take a wide range of courses, from coding to excel skills, to really develop your skills. Basically, if you wanted to seek out learning and training opportunities on my Account, this was greatly supported. As I was based on a client site, and not in the often 'sought out' location of London, I did not feel there was as many training events here. Sometimes expenses were covered to such events in London (such as Careers Academy - which was a great day and I recommend any new intern attending this if you can), however more often than not, they expected interns or the Account the intern is working for to pay for this travel. This was not an option I could really use, which meant that I was at a disadvantage when wanting to attend these events.

There is a great chance that I will become a graduate with IBM as a result of my placement year. Interns get a 'head-start' as such into the Graduate process as they get to apply a year early - via the Intern2Grad process. This means that I will have a better chance of becoming a graduate since my application will be viewed ahead of external applicants, with the initial stages of the process also being bypassed. One thing to take into consideration when applying as a graduate is that your role could be based anywhere in the UK, and I don't think you find this out until late in the process. As such, you have to be flexible in terms of working location - something which is especially hard when you have external commitments in your location.

As my hometown is near to my working location, I had commitments outside of work already. This meant that I wasn't as concerned about the 'social scene' if you like. Saying this, the office did have a monthly First Wednesday Drinks at a nearby pub which was a great chance to see others outside of work and network with those that you do not work with. As there are so few interns at Warwick (6 in this current year, increased from 4 last year), there wasn't a great deal already planned - so we did this ourselves. We arranged a number of events, including; bowling, tobogganing, escape rooms, or just going on a night out in general, which were always great fun. My advice would be that if you want to do something and there is not something already pre-arranged, make it happen! It's your year. You have to do something to make the most of it.

As I already live in the area, my living costs did not really increase. I pay rent to my mum, but I was doing this whilst at university so this didn't really affect me. The cost of me socialising increased slightly as I went out with the other interns/apprentices/grads, and we hosted team-building events, but it was nothing that you couldn't cope with if you managed your money well.

Warwick is very much an 'old town' whereas Leamington Spa (which was equidistant from my workplace) is where more of the nightlife occurs. This was good as it gave us options - if we just wanted a quiet drink after work, or were hosting workplace networking events, we were more likely to go to Warwick. However, if we wanted a night out in proper celebratory style, we were more likely to go to Leamington. There is a wide variety of places to try; different clubs, pubs, restaurants, and places to visit, so there's always something to do!

I feel the opportunities to get involved were great. As mentioned previously, myself and the other interns/apprentices/grads set up a lot of the events (bowling, tobogganing, etc.), but that is what I expected. The First Wednesday Drinks was also a great way to meet new people! The Account also hosted a One Team Event which consisted of an afternoon of team building at Warwick Racecourse, followed by the 'kids' going out into Leamington. Although work related, there is a scheme called Giveback where you can volunteer your time to help the community and IBM simultaneously. I have participated in and arranged a number of Giveback opportunities, such as Careers Fairs and Speed Networking Events - some of which have taken place outside of work. This is a great way to develop your CV and really enrich your placement year.