Watson Marketing Channel Support Review

I have really enjoyed my work placement. The location of the IBM office in Southbank is great, being able to do many team socials close to the office. Working in a sales role for Watson Customer Engagement was very fun and I learned a lot. I worked in a European team so I needed to collaborate closely with European partners to make sure they were certified to resell our solution by organising events in different locations around Europe.

My colleagues at IBM are great. We work closely to other teams so I have been able to do a lot of networking. They are always willing to support and to improve my personal development too. I have been able to ask to get involved in different responsibilities and my colleagues have always found a way to make this possible. Everyone at IBM is open minded and very supportive when you need help.

I have had a lot of support by management. I had weekly meetings with my manager where I was able to talk about what I have been doing, the issues I had to get advice on how to solve them and where we focused on my personal development too. My manager ensured I met the goals I had set at the beginning of the year.

It depends. Normally, I am not very busy on a daily basis as I always completed the important things in advance. At the end of each quarter, I was busier, especially at the end of the year as it was when my team needed to close more deals to achieve target.

I was given a lot of responsibility throughout my year. I have proven my value to the team and my responsibilities have subsequently grown from supporting the team internally, to driving external relations with the market team, to being involved with worldwide enablement activities. This has given me excellent exposure in working with different levels of people in the business.

I have developed many skills such as communication, team working, adaptability, problem solving and leadership skills. They will assist me in my degree and I will be able to be the leader in group projects and communicate effectively with everyone to ensure we support each other, I will be able to solve challenging tasks in a high-pressured environment. I will also use this skills in any graduate role; having the experience of working for a global company like IBM will be valuable to improve my employability skills.

The atmosphere in my office was always very fun. We worked in the same office as our team colleagues and always had the support we needed from them. Everyone in the office is very friendly and we had many team socials during the year, to get to meet everyone outside work. We had a monthly breakfast in the office too, which was a great opportunity to interact with people that worked in the same department.

Really good. Apart from our Task Managers we have Early Professional Managers which are really helpful. We had to update a Checkpoint journal where we needed to write our plans and goals at the beginning of the year, and ensure we achieved them. We had a 3 month presentation, a 6 month review, a 9 month review and a 12 months final presentation.

There is an option to do personal training online, where we have a range of development options depending on the interests of the person. I have been able to travel around Europe, which has been a great experience as I have been able to attend business meetings and network with people from around Europe.

IBM offers a two year Graduate Scheme to everyone. The requirement is to obtain a 2:1 in your degree. The benefit of having a placement with IBM is that you get to apply earlier than the rest. Not all of the departments are currently offering future employment prospects.

There was a great social scene amongst placement students. There are many placement students from a variety of universities and with different backgrounds. We organise many plans together, especially on Thursdays after work. We have done parties with all the placement students, including a boat party in London which was very fun.

Living in London is expensive. I recommend people to get a place with other interns too as it is a great way to meet new people and socialise. However, living in London is achievable as we are getting paid by the company. There are some places where you can socialise and are not very expensive.

There are many different clubs and pubs in London. The office is in Southbank, which is a very central location so you are able to walk to the nearest pubs, bars and clubs. There is a great variety of clubs so everyone can select the best one for them depending on their music preferences.

IBM offers giveback opportunities to all of its employees. Giveback is similar to volunteering and you are able to get involved in many different projects. I personally got involved in the Customer Journey project for Watson Customer Engagement, where we needed to create a video with our team to convince a retailer to purchase our solution. I also got involved in a Mock Assessment Centre, giving advice to students and answering all the questions they had.