GBS Alliances & Growth Engines Support, Europe IOT Review

Very enjoyable work placement, with lots of different responsibilities. Everyday presented a new challenge. Responsible to a number of different managers which kept the work varied. A very good intern community which was excellent for support and social events. Impressed with the amount of responsibility and the feeling of adding value to the business.

Extremely welcoming and always happy to help and offer advice throughout my placement. Everyone is interested in your personal growth and help to get you involved in new and exciting opportunities. Often asked to attend events, training courses to learn skills. Always given work which will add value to the business in one way or another.

From the first day you are provided with two managers. One who you report to on a day to day basis and another for personal development/wellbeing. Both offer advice and suggest ways to improve personally. I have regular reviews with both managers to keep them updated with my progress. Also receive feedback to help better performance.

Always had something to do. Naturally there were busy and quiet periods. All my managers helped me to find extra work to do if I was very quiet. Provided with lots of different training materials, to learn more about specific topics. Overall workload was fairly consistent and manageable. Consistent 9-5 workday.

Started off with fairly basic tasks, however responsibilities increased as my placement went on. If you can prove that you will get the job done in the timescale, the managers will be happy to get you involved in tasks which require more responsibility. A number of times I have helped with future tasks after good feedback from an original task. Always felt I was adding to the business.

Many of the soft skills I have learnt whilst on placement will help my in my degree and beyond. For example, time management, inter-personal communication, organisation, task management and time keeping. However the technical skills and knowledge I have learnt will not be useful if not working in a technology company.

The office was generally quite busy and everyone was friendly. People were more than happy to help if you had an issue. Due to the flexible work patterns, Friday's were very quiet.

The placement was very well organised and set up, all informatiom was communicated in a timely fashion. From the first day everything was planned in advance. All reviews were scheduled in advance to allow time to prepare. Help materials and instruction guides are given and all on a specific site to easily find.

Training courses and workshops were available in abundance to further skills and knowledge. The company as a whole promote the idea of improving yourself.

Very appealing future with IBM. Given lots of materials and information on what roles are available to apply back to. A specific careers day was organised for all interns to ask questions and to hear what past graduates have experienced. Interns have a seperate application process. Throughout the placement you are told that if you perform well and impress there is every chance you will be given the chance to come back in a graduate role.

There were mulitple social events amongst placement students. There were a range of event including christmas and summer balls.

London in general is very expensive, however if you know the right places it is manageable. A number of pubs/bars offer company discount in the evening. I commuted into London on a daily basis which is expensive but probably cheaper than paying rent and it is something I would definitely consider doing again.

Multiple places to go out, always something to suit everyone!

There is a scheme within IBM called Giveback which gives you the change to volunteer and help out on a project/event which is outside your job role. For example helping out with clients events or assessment centres. There is a dedicated website where the different jobs are advertised, where you can easily sign up of request more information. There are also a few sports teams such as football which have a match most week. This gives you the chance to talk to collegues who are in a different part of the business to you.