IBM is 1st in IT & Telecommunications Top 100 Undergraduate Employers 2020 - 2021
- IBM
- Placement Year (10 Months+)
My job role is an Executive Succession and Development (ES&D) Partner support role within GBS. I provide assistance to the Europe cross brand ES&D Partners in all matters pertaining to executive role planning, approvals, succession, and development programs. I have particular focus on the GBS/ Consulting group covering 500 executives and take direction both across brands in Europe and Globally up the GBS ES&D line.
I use people reporting and organisational reporting tools such as the ES&D Repository, the EPT Tool and Microsoft Office. I possess strong professional communication, time management and teamwork skills. I’m in charge of taking the minutes for particular meetings, dealing with spreadsheet data manipulation and usage, and keeping on top of e-mails and meetings, contributing to taking ownership of tasks within projects.
Some of the largest projects and processes I have been a part of is the Leadership Assessment Programme 2020 and 2021(LAP) which looks at promoting Band 10’s to executive on a global scale. Similarly, I have been a part of the data management for the Executive Promotions process 2021. Outside of these larger projects my day-to-day job involves me assisting my team and HR colleagues with information extraction and collection.
It is important smaller tasks are completed accurately and efficiently as the majority are part of or preparation for larger ES&D/HR Projects. Due the current change of organisational climate, I have had to adapt to virtual change and alter processes and projects to the virtual environment, the majority of which previously having taken place in person. The experience and skills I have gained during my placement year will aid my growth in the Talent and Transformation service line thus being directly transferable into the HR Reinvention and Strategy and Digital Culture and Change areas.
- IBM
- Placement Year (10 Months+)
I worked in the Global Markets (GM) Public Sector (PS) sales team, supporting Central Government, Defence and Health Care & Life-Sciences. I had three main responsibilities:
The first was in cadences/deal reporting (using PowerPoint, Excel, Atlas). I updated bi-weekly roadmaps and helped client executives to accurately report their pipelines. I attended key business stakeholder meetings, increasing my understanding of UK PS and my presentation skills. I identified trends and created visual representations (waterfall charts) of the revenue plan for quarterly budget growth.
My second core responsibility was owning the OJEU/procurement process for IBM UK PS. I was the main contact point between IBM and clients during the tendering process so, set up meetings on behalf of clients and submitted bids for work. I used agile tools (Trello) to track bid progression and learnt that work with PS clients is usually procured via Government frameworks. These provide fair, pre-agreed Ts&Cs to allow suppliers an equal chance of winning work. A percentage of each invoice associated to contracts procured via a Government framework must be paid to the Cabinet Office within a monthly management fee.
My third key task was processing/submitting these fees every month - a lengthy process, involving collecting data from all the brands regarding the invoices for all work procured via frameworks. This gave me a view of the whole of IBM through a PS lens. I additionally worked alongside business controls/legal to complete the 2020 self-audits for each framework. This allowed me to develop a relationship with UK Government contacts.
Finally, I joined the HowTo Community in the Careers Corner. This intern group provides guidance on topics like career development. My favourite HowTo project was leading 1-2-1 sessions, coaching people on improving their LinkedIn presence.
