SMB Sales Operations Assistant Review

by IBM

Best Student Employer

This review was submitted over 4 years ago, so some of the information it contains may no longer be relevant.

Rating

3.4/5
  • The Role
    4.2
  • The Company
    2.4
  • The Culture
    3.6

    The Role

  • 1. To what extent did you enjoy your work placement or internship?
  • I enjoyed most days very much, I often faced quite a few different challenges throughout the week, and was given a lot of freedom to develop myself, and work on things I wanted to work on. The reason I have not rated higher is that there was some repetitiveness in the job, and it could get a bit mundane.

    4/5

  • 2. To what extent did you feel valued by your colleagues?
  • I felt extremely valued, I was always given my chance to speak and develop ideas, and I was often listened to. My colleagues took me very seriously from the start and treated me like a full-time employee, and from this I was given a lot of responsibility, and asked to help with many aspects of the business unit.

    5/5

  • 3. To what extent were you given support and guidance by management/your supervisor(s)?
  • It was a mixture of both here, my deployment manager was not particular good in this area, and we rarely spoke about how my placement was going. However, the people I worked with day in day out in the business unit were very supportive, especially my supervisor. It was also very nice to have such supportive executives who for the little amount of time they had would also help me.

    4/5

  • 4. How busy were you on a daily basis?
  • In my job I had some days that were busier than others, but generally I wasn't asked to do too much or too little. I was given quite a lot of freedom in my job, so a lot of the time it was up to me to make the most of my time, which I was quite good at, but other could have struggled and got bored. It was also the case some days when I was very busy, but in eyes that's a good thing because the day goes a lot quicker.

    4/5

  • 5. How much responsibility were you given during your placement?
  • As already said I was given a lot of responsibility. I was often the leader of many operational projects, and from day one I was responsible for a lot of work and information that had to be delivered.

    5/5

  • 6. To what extent did/will the skills you developed, and training you received, assist you in your degree studies and beyond?
  • I would say that I developed a serious amount of skills during my year, but they often were from specific training schemes, more the day in the day out work I did. I did learn a lot around using systems, and office programmes, and my people and presenting skills improved dramatically. But this was down to being set challenging tasks by managers rather than being sent on training programmes.

    4/5

    The Company

  • 7. What was the general atmosphere in your office?
  • I was in sales operations, and to be honest it was a bit dull, there weren't that many characters. I really enjoyed the students I worked with, and am still good friends. There were a couple of team events, but there wasn't much comeraderie in the office.

    3/5

  • 8. How well organised was the overall work placement or internship set up?
  • IBM were not particularly good at this part of the scheme. When I joined it took me a week to get a laptop to work on, when I was meant to have it the day I arrived. It also took a similar amount of time to set it up with correct access, all being done by my previous student too. IBM also didn't organise any nights out, or initiation days so it was difficult to get to know the other students at the start.

    2/5

  • 9. In terms of personal training and development, to what extent did the company or firm invest in you?
  • They had a lot of online rersource avalible to learn from, but most of the training came from small sessions with co-workers.

    2/5

  • 10. What were the perks on your work placement?
  • 3/5

  • 11. How appealing are future employment prospects within the organisation?
  • There are good opportunities to go back to the company, and they do complete assessment days just for current placement students so you get in ahead of the rest of the applicants. But the process is flawed, as they do not take into account you years work, and only just whether your good enough for the graduate scheme based on a half day assessment in your office. I do know of quite a few who have gone back, but I'm actually off to Accenture, so read into that what you will.

    3/5

    The Culture

  • 12. Was there a good social scene amongst any fellow placement students/colleagues?
  • Most students got on, and it was like being at uni but with a 9-5 due to large amounts of students. However IBM did not facilitate any of this, and did nothing themselves to encourage social interactions.

    5/5

  • 13. What was the cost of living and socialising in the area you worked in?
  • I was paid enough to get by, and save a little each month. Where I lived wasn't cheap, £400 per month rent (but a nice house), and it's generally fairly expensive. But I managed to do most things I wanted to, and came out of the year about £500 up.

    4/5

  • 14. What was the Nightlife like in the area you worked?
  • Staines - poor! A few decent bars, but that was about it, a cinema too. Good shops though. The surrounding area was nice, but as far as nights out you would always have to travel which is a pain. But richmond, kingston and windsor are decent nights out, cost a bit though.

    3/5

  • 15. Were there many opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work?
  • The students organised football 5 and 11 a side games, but these weren't done though IBM. Because of the large group of students though, there was often things going on.

    4/5

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Details

Placement (10 Months+)

Sales

Wales

August 2007


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