STG Field Marketing Assistant Review

I really enjoyed my placement year. There are so many opportunities to take advantage of and you get to meet and network with so many people.

In a large, constantly changing team, I felt valued by my colleagues for the work I completed and thought of, but I felt that I had to notify members of my team as they are based elsewhere.

When you join the foundation team you are given a PDM and there are there for support and help that your manager may not be able to help with/is a different topic to your job. They are always accessible and you know they are always there if you need any support or guidance, should it be with graduate application forms or about expenses.

Depending on projects available, or the job you do, I was very busy for the majority of the time. However in periods where there is a limited amount of work, there are other activities that you can get involved with such as Giveback which, depending on what you get involved in, will take up some of your time.

Again, depending on the size of the projects, I was given as much responsibility as my team needed. However I felt like my actions made a difference, so I earned the trust to take on as much responsibility as possible.

I don;t think my specific degree knowledge was used at all throughout the year. However realistically that is not the point of a placement. My aim was to gain professional experience and I gained plenty of that. My confidence, professionalism and communication skills all grew throughout the year and I feel I will be much more focused going back to university.

Bit of a mixed bag really. Fridays were particularly dead in the office as most people chose to work from home, if allowed. The rest of the week the office was always busy and good fun. The open desk areas make it really easy to meet new people giving you great networking opportunities.

Very well organised. We had an initial induction/training session and before we left we were provided with Graduate application training!

I think IBM values all of their employees. You are always encouraged to develop yourself however it is entirely your choice how much you make use of these.

I have got a full time position with them and I will be joining this year.

Always things going on at the weekend and drinks whenever anyone felt the need! I think there were approx 80 other students in my Southbank office so it was great fun throughout. There was a Facebook group setup before joining allowing you to find other students to live with.

London is always was going to be expensive. However Opal/Walkabout happy hours certainly helped with that one.

The nightlife around Southbank is pretty good with loads of bars and restaurants. For a later night out Shoreditch isn't a far Tube ride away and a walk across the river takes you to Strand and beyond!

You are encouraged to take part in Giveback, where you give something back to the community. There is a database where you can apply for these or you can run your own! I personally ran a half marathon in aid of READ International which was organised through IBM.