Business Operations Review

I really enjoyed my year at IBM. There were loads of other inters, plenty of work and responsibility during the day and a huge amount of exposure to senior manager. I feel like I also developed a lot of skills which I know will be crucial in my final year at uni.

I definitely felt valued. During the year I was treated like a regular employee and was overall relied upon quite heavily. It was also nice to feel helpful as well when people came to me in need of help or information.

I was given a lot of support and guidance during my year. In IBM, you not only have a task manager, but an EPM (Early Professional Manager) as well. The task manager is there to give you day-to-day tasks and your EPM is there for guidance and to generally make sure you're doing okay.

I was relatively busy. However, as most jobs, there were some days that weren't really busy and other days where I was working until 7. That's a part of IBM though, usually no one works less than 9-5:30 every day and it's just a typical part of IBM life.

I was given a fair amount of responsibility quite quickly. This was good but also slightly difficult sometimes as I found it quite a lot of pressure when I first started. However, I soon adapted and it was nice to feel like I was an important part of the team.

I developed a huge amount of the skills during the year. Presentation, communication, teamworking and attention to detail were all a large part of my day-to-day role and so naturally all of these improved significantly.

The atmosphere was really nice as everyone was very friendly. It was a bit strange at first though as everyone pretty much hotdesks. I also had to sit with other interns everyday as most of my team either worked from home or other bases.

The overall placement was really well organised. We had reviews at 3, 6 & 12 months where our progress was tracked. Also we had to keep a placement journal where we stored information on our year, this came in very handy when doing uni work.

As an intern there's not much training. This is because you're seen as a temporary resource and so they don't want to invest the money when you may not return. However, as a grad there are training opportunities all over the world, so that's definitely something to look forward to if I return.

Future employment prospects are really appealing. There's load of opportunities as a graduate and being a placement student really puts you ahead of the competition.

The social scene was really good amongst the interns. After work drinks were always held on a Thursday and anyone was welcome. There were loads of things planned by the interns as well which everyone could get involved with too.

The cost was really expensive but then it's London. Personally I wouldn't want to be based anywhere else though, mainly because that was where the most interns were based.

Nightlife was great because it was London, always loads to do and lots of great nights out. Usually on a Thursday, interns would travel to other bars and stay until 12 or later so that turned into a weekly thing.

Yes, plenty of opportunities outside of work. There's things like giveback where you can go and help out with activities like mentoring, helping out on assessment centers, etc. There were also plenty of sports clubs to get involved with and even corporate games, an event where loads of companies go to compete in sports events.