Executive Succession and Development Partner Support Review

The role I had for my placement year was extremely enjoyable. It has allowed me to experience a number of different events and processes throughout IBM HR. The first 3-4 months of my placement were quite difficult for me as I found myself with a lack of work to do, but when this picked up it was a brilliant role.

Within my small European team I felt very valued and like I was a member of the team rather than 'the intern'. This greatly helped my confidence and allowed me to develop new skills. I was not located with my team, but the other people in my office made me feel very welcome and not like the 'newbie'.

There is a set review system in place for interns, with reviews at 3, 6 and 12 months. This was helpful as you are able to get feedback at different points. I would have liked if I had more unstructured feedback on my work at other points of my placement.

For the first 3-4 months of my placement I was not busy at all and found myself quite bored when I was in the office. This was difficult as it almost seemed as if there was no work for me, or I was not trusted with work.

I was treated as any other team member and given responsibility for my own areas of our teams day to day functioning. I had responsibilities that I did not expect to get as an intern and was able to take ownership of certain projects throughout my time on my placement.

Although my degree does not directly relate to the role I am doing, the workplace skills I have developed will be useful in all future roles. I have developed professional skills that I can take back to university, and my training in certain aspects of HR will help me when I am deciding the route I would like to take for a future career.

The office I work in has been fantastic! I am based in the Southbank office and sit with (mostly) graduates. Everyone is very chatty and friendly, and we all get along really well. This has definitely made my experience better as the office is never quite and we can chat and have a laugh together while we work. If one of us if having a bad day we all work together to cheer eachother up.

Overall, the placement has been fairly well organised. The only issue I have noticed is that I am the only HR intern in Southbank and this organisation has left me a little isolated from other interns.

There is no specific training set up, other than online training. We are able to gain digital badges to showcase our skills and there is online education that we can choose to take. This training has all been very beneficial, but there was no real face to face training at all.

At the moment, I have gained a position on the HR Summer Speed programme, and if I pass this I will be offered a role back in HR at IBM. There are also other opportunities to apply for graduate roles outside of HR if HR was not what I wanted to pursue.

The graduates I sit with are all lovely and we often go out for drinks or a meal. I feel comfortable going out with them after work and this has definitely been a good part of my placement.

As the office is in central london, going out of the office to eat or going for drinks after work is fairly expensive. There are a small number of slightly cheaper places nearby but generally everything is London prices. This hasn't really been an issue as working in London, you expect higher prices.

As the office is in central London, nightlife is just a short journey away in any direction.

There were opportunities for me to be involved in activities with the people I sit with, but these were organised ourselves rather than organised by the company. We would go for drinks etc after work or go for a christmas meal, but there were no opportunities directly from IBM.