Product Management and Marketing Support Review

I worked in one of a few business roles based in the Hursley Software Labs. Most business placements are based in Portsmouth or London. It was a great experience with a lot of opportunities to get involved outside of the daily job whether it is education workshops or taking part in the company's corporate social responsibility activities such as halping out at schools or visiting universities.

I was always made to feel like a key part of the team and was given a lot of responsibility right from the start. Everyone was very open to taking the time to chat, even if it is just a chat about career possibilities or shadowing.

At IBM, industrial trainees have two managers: the professional development manager (PDM) is separate from your job role and looks after your career progression and performance assessment and the task manager will supervise your daily job role and support you on any tasks you have been set if you need it. Everyone is very friendly and you are always encouraged to ask for help when you need it and they'll be happy to help or point you in the right direction.

I was working in a global role, working with teams in the US, India, China and Europe as well as the UK. This meant that I would always find emails in my inbox at any time of the day or night, allowing me to have enough work to get involved with. There isn't really a peak time of work in the role but you will find that there are slower periods and busy periods throughout the year. I found that I set myself my own work when there wasn't much on and asked other teams if I could get involved in different projects.

I had a lot of responsibility with several projects that I worked on. If I didn't complete the jobs and tasks that I was set, I would be letting the team down. I also worked a lot with customers and sales reps, which was a lot of responsibility to make sure the customer was receiving the best service we could offer.

This placement has dramatically helped in my final year at university already. I am able to apply the theory I am learning to practice within the company. I am also more driven now to complete my degree with the best grade possible in order to return back to work and hopefully get a good graduate job.

I worked in an open plan office with the rest of the team. It wasn't overly exciting in the office, obviously because everyone was working on their own tasks but since there were a lot of other students working here (roughly 50 students), it was good to be able to grab lunch with people outside of the job and it felt very much like a campus atmosphere. Since IBM has a flexible working hours policy, you can also get away from the office and go to the free gym or sports hall/fields/tennis court as long as you put in the right amount of hours and complete your work in time.

There is a placement scheme that is soley responsible for looking after placement students within the company so it is very well organised. You can always go to your professional development manager to get advice or direction to possible opportunities to get involved with such as shadowing someone for a few hours at a different office.

If you have the time, you can take part in a range of courses from employability skills workshops to learning about software programming or project management or even learning Chinese. You just need to make sure you can juggle your workload with the courses that you get involved in so that it doesn't affect your work.

As an industrial trainee, you have the opportunity to apply to the company's graduate scheme at the end of the placement. It is a very good company to work for with very friendly people. I have been told by many people that all you need to do is get a job in the company and then you will be able to move around to different jobs every 2 or 3 years if you so wish so there is a lot of opportunity to progress in your career.

There were roughly 50 students working in the Hursley office and a lot of others based in Portsmouth and London. We organised several events at the end of work and on weekends, throughout the year, including a ski trip, go karting, paintballing, trips to the beach, a christmas party, meals and nights out, and BBQs in the summer. It was very much a campus atmosphere with such a large number of students and we would always meet for lunch everyday. A lot of students sort living arrangements with eachother once they have been offered a placement and I lived with 3 other students at IBM.

I lived in Southampton, which was very average in terms of living costs. Some people live in Winchester which is slightly more expensive but overall it was a good cost of living socialising with a lot of pubs, bars, shops, cinemas, etc, in Southampton and Winchester.

It's not the best area for nightlife but there are a few bars and a weekly pub quiz in Winchester. Southampton has a few clubs and bars and Portsouth's not very far to try out the nightlife there.

As long as you show an interest in getting involved outside of work, the opportunities will present themselves. I got involved in the campus team for my university which meant that I could visit the campus for graduate recruitment fairs and workshops with students. There is also a quad departmental games competition in Hursley which brings together any employees who wish to participate in all sorts of activities to compete. These included football tournements, basketball games, cricket, badminton, cake baking, football table games, snooker, etc...