GBS People Operations Review

Through out my time at IBM, I thoroughly enjoyed the corporate life. The internship gave me a great insight into the corporate world as it was my first corporate job. Although my role was quite repetitive this allowed me to perfect my craft and get better at the tasks which I was performing on a daily basis.

I worked in a great of 4 other colleagues. All my colleagues were placement year students therefore, we were all at the same stage of our lives. At IBM there are a lot of interns and the intern community is quite big, therefore it allows you to network with different interns around your base location.

When I first started at IBM, I was given a great knowledge transfer from the previous interns performing the role I was taking on. After they left,both my task manager and career coach supported me greatly with any issues I had. Many employees were always willing to help me which made me feel quite secure and satisfied.

My role varied in terms of time. As there were 5 interns (including me) performing the role, each person swapped roles at some point. Some roles were more time consuming and demanding than others. I would say that overall during my placement year, I already had work to do and was kept busy.

My role was very intense and had high visibility. I was given a lot of responsibility during my placement, sometimes a bit too much. The responsibilities I was given during my placement made me work harder as I knew that I had honour my responsibilities and ensure that each task was completed to the highest quality.

Coming from a business and computer science background (probably more technically's based), I don't beleive that my role will help me in my degree as my role was not technical and I feel that without University, I would still have the skills to perform the role that I performed at IBM.

The culture at IBM was great, we often had drinks at a bar every first Wednesday's of the month. At this event, you can network with both early professionals and experienced professionals. Everyone in the office were often quite relaxed but I believe this might differ depending on what business area you work in.

IBM Foundation did a great job with organising the placement scheme. There were often events and educational training workshops for interns in order to allow us to progress and grow. A placement year was definetly one of my best experiences which I have undertaken in the past few years of my life.

IBM heavily invests in their employees. There are thousands of online training exercises and badges to be completed to help aid your learning and development. IBM also hosted many workshops and a career's fair for all interns at the end of the internship. This was help us identify what the future holds for us.

In order to come back to IBM, you have complete an application form, complete a check point journal (should be completed through out the year) and a 12 month presentation where you present all your development and learnings through out your placement year. Afterwards, you are either offered an interview or declined.

Yes definetly, the intern community was great. We had a christmas party (just the interns) in december which was great for networking with fellow interns. We also had a christmas celebration event where experienced hires were present. This gave interns like me a great opportunity to network with experienced employees.

I lived at Home through out my placement therefore, I saved a lot of money in terms of food and othe costs of living. However, I had to take a train into work which was roughly about £131 a month (with a student 18+ oyster card). Without the student oyster I believe this would be about £181.

I worked in Southbank, in central London which usually has good night life. However, I rarely went out after work (especially at night) as I lived in London and wanted to go home early for gym and other activities. However, i would recommend going out in Southbank if that is your base location.

100% IBM offers many opportunities to get involved in outside work. From supporting executive workshops and events to creating competitions for interns to take part it. I took part in the "Win with Wimbledon" competition where I got the opportunity to actually go to the wimbledon tennis courts and get a tour.