HR Business Development Coordinator Review

My placement challenged me through out the 14 months I was an employee. I think that the experience was invaluable for preparing me for a graduate position and making me a better candidate in future job applications. My work was interesting and I had a high level of responsibility from the start.

My colleagues respected me and came to me for advise and to check on my progress. They recognised my achievements and offered opportunities for me to learn more about their work and how it affected the business.

My manager was incredibly supportive through out my year, checking on my progress and giving me constructive advice on how I could progress further. She recognised my achievements and never made me feel like I was "just an intern" but rather that I was an equally valued member of her team.

My workload had peaks and troughs but I was able use quiet periods to invest in my own development through the IBM Placement scheme with learning activities and shadowing opportunities which developed my understanding of IBM and allowed me to develop skills I would not usually use in my day to day role.

I was responsible for distributing and processing employee information in acquisitions and outsourcing. I went to high level client meetings and represented the company at public events. I had a clear role and my work had a real impact on the performance of the team.

I have grown in confidence and feel more able to achieve my goals. I am more organised and this has already had a marked effect on my work at university. My presentation skills are considerably better than they were when I started my placement and my lecturers and tutors have noticed an improvement. I feel much more able to achieve a higher grade this year.

Our office was going through an exciting time with a high level of investment in making the department have more of a "community" feel. Everybody was helpful, friendly and genuinely interested in my progress.

We had a lot of support from the Personal Development Managers who were responsible for ensuring we were making progress and giving us any help or advice we needed. They also helped us to prepare for Graduate roles.

My experience at IBM was fantastic and I don't think I could have had the same level of investment anywhere else. During the first part of my placement I ran events for interns and students and took part in learning activities and skills workshops. Near the end of my placement I was given the opportunity to take part in a global intern scheme where I worked with IBMers from America and China, giving me an invaluable opportunity to network and improve on my skills even further,

I have been offered a job on the HR Leadership Development Program at IBM. I start after graduation in Malaysia and then spend three years rotating around different countries and teams. I would not have been able to achieve this without the help of my team and colleagues during my placement.

I worked at the Headquarters in Portsmouth where there were 80 other interns. I made lots of friends and we had a great social life.

Portsmouth was a student area so there were plenty of places to go out which often had cheap offers. Accommodation was reasonably priced, especially considering we were living in a city.

There were plenty of clubs in Portsmouth as well as several strip of bars. There is also a large cinema and lots of restaurants.

IBM has an employee club which offers sport and leisure activities at discounted prices, as well as the other activities that were organised outside o work by the other interns.