Foundation Business Administrator- Graduate Onboarding Review

IBM makes an effort to hire into specific roles. Therefore you have a unique job description which means that your time isn't wasted because you constantly have tasks relevant to your role and you're not just used to complete menial jobs. I enjoyed lots of elements of my placement including all the training and giveback opportunities, the high level or trust and responsibility and the chance to work with many fantastic people.

There is a formal process in place for holding regular reviews. This meant that both at 2, 6 and 10 months my managers and peers got the chance to feedback to me. The feedback showed how highly I was valued and made me realise to what extent my work is appreciated.

I have both a task manager and a professional development manager (PDM). My task manager is on hand day-to-day to support my activities and queries, providing managerial guidance and approval. My PDM is solely focused on my personal development. This means I always have someone to talk to about my career and how I'd like to move forward and what support I require in order to do so. There were few times when I couldn't get the support or guidance I wanted.

For the first 6 months, I was extremely busy. I had very full working days, which could be stressful at times. However, as I progressed, got faster at my job and knew the answers to more and more queries I was able to complete the same job quicker. Now I am still busy: there are always calls/meetings, projects being worked on, a new graduate enrollment in process etc However, I don't need to come in especially early or leave often after 5 so long as I work productively in the day time.

From the moment I started, I was given a huge amount of responsibility. I was accountable for all onboarding processes for 300 new graduate starters in to the company. For them I was the face of IBM. I delivered their training and got them set up. I was answerable to multiple internal and external clients across the business.

I cannot describe the amount of learning I have done. The experiences and opportunities I've been involved with over the last 10 months have lead to an insurmountable level of learning. I've learnt a lot about the professional environment, administration processes, HR & Recruitment, IBM and myself. I have learnt what matters when dealing with people and how to achieve the most possible from each situation and person.

The office atmosphere is very friendly. However the offices are open plan and so many teams will be placed on desks near each other. Team members tend to go for lunch and tea breaks together which is nice, but equally there are lulls in the day when it goes quiet as everyone is quietly getting on with their work.

IBM is well set up to take on huge volumes of students each year. The initial induction is effective and streamlined. Task managers are made aware of their role and responsibilities when taking on a placement student. There is a formal review process which works well to monitor development.

There is a huge investment in training. After induction training, there are placement student roundtable, business line introduction calls, careers academy and more. As well if you are in a specific job role that requires further training or you eagerly seek something out and can build a business case for it then the chances are you will be able to do even more.

IBM has a process for placement students whereby whilst still on placement you can internally apply back to the graduate scheme. At the end of the placement year all students get ranked and those in the top percentage that have applied for a grad role will be taken straight through to business interview, missing the whole assessment centre.

In Winchester the social scene was not as active as base locations in the rest of the UK however, for those of us that were there we still made the effort to engage in social activities like summer bbq's and drinks in the on-site pub.

The Winchester area is expensive to rent in. Socialising is fairly expensive too. Another thing to bear in mind is that you will need a car and this alone has cost me £3000 to run this year. It's not as bad as in the Capital but is still a serious consideration.

Both Southampton and Winchester are close by. Southampton is the better one for nightlife with more bars and clubs to choose from. However, there isn't the variety in styles or choice like in London. For a year though the area has enough going on to keep you interested.

There are SO many opportunities to get involved with outside of work including many sports clubs, volunteering in the community on IBM funded projects, as well as loads of IBM organised events which have a strong social element.