Channel Marketing Specialist Review

I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of my placement. I couldn't have asked for a better year, I learnt so much and got to experience what working life was really about. Most importantly I now know what I want to do in the future.

All my senior colleagues respected me and valued me, they saw me as a full time employee and not just as an intern. They gave me jobs that were important and critical to our teams success. Many times my work counted and was praised.

My managers were fantastic, they led very busy lives themselves but still took hours in the day to cater for me and help me. One particular manager would advise me for everything and make sure I was in the best position. They gave many tasks and made sure my day was very varied.

Usually I was extremely busy, as I had an events marketing role, leading up to an important event was very hectic. Many times I worked overtime and sometimes 14 hour shifts on event days. However I completely thrived off this environment, as they allow you to take a day off in lieu. I loved being busy as many do not have anything to work on. All my tasks were varied and fun.

Surprisingly I was given a lot of responsibility. I was relied on by managers to perform tasks that they would do themselves or couldn't do themselves due to time or skill set. I specialised in visual marketing creation that no-one else in my team specialised in, so often I was asked to create branding for events or posters on Photoshop.

I learnt so much in the year that I was on placement. I have learnt more in this year that 3 years in uni! I learnt valuable transferable skills such as Photoshop, team working, innovation, problem solving skills and general work etiquette. Being in a work environment that encourages such productivity and fun, is a delightful aspect.

I couldn't have asked for a better atmosphere. I sat with other interns on my team who shared similar goals and great work ethic. All managers were understanding and very accommodating. There was a buzz almost everyday. In other areas it was very relaxed, very down to earth and certainly not a "you vs us" attitude anywhere in the building. Many days I spent laughing my head off in the office with managers, but still being very highly productive.

Very well set up, during your placement you have a Early Professionals Manager that makes sure that you are well looked after throughout your whole placement. They offer support and different learning events at different intervals. It is highly structured and they expect journals to be carried out so they can track your progress.

IBM are fantastic at facilitating learning. They are so many free courses you can take through IBM to help your personal training and development, whether this is through soft skills or work skills. There is so much available to you, however I rarely had time to dive into this!

Unfortunately IBM do not offer many marketing roles for Grads and hardly have anyone in the whole company doing what I want to go into. However it is easy to apply back into the company as a Grad and I have done so. There are many roles available, just not roles I particularly want to do.

It was fantastic, there were many of us in one area and we had every lunch together. Also we did many things outside of work including big parties and gatherings. I even lived with some of the interns! Everyone was great fun and I was lucky to have many in the same boat and share expertise.

Extremely expensive, usually the only time we could go out was on pay day! Every bar, restaurant and club was top London prices, especially where the office was based. Luckily we got a small discount along the riverside. Also living in zone 1 was very expensive, so most of your wage goes on rent.

Nightlife when you had the money, was amazing! Endless possibilities and places to go, literally anything you fancied, London had. You would never get bored there, its just keeping up with the cost! If you were good at saving and lived from home, London was perfect and so much fun.

There were lots of things to do outside of work, there were a few things that didn't involve money, but most of them did. I joined an IBM netball club that was loads of fun. Some of the boys joined a football club together. Other than sports, there were loads of other activities you could do too.