Support Anaylst Review

I really did enjoy my placement a lot. I was placed on an account so got to see the real work that IBM does and I was in no way just someone getting cups of coffee or working the printer (took me 6 months to learn how to them - they're very complicated!)

I felt valued by most of my colleagues from the start and they respected me like any other part of the team. There were a few anomalies (and they really were anomalies) who perhaps didn't like an intern knowing more about certain things than them but on the whole everyone really makes you feel like what you're doing is valued and it makes a difference.

We have 3, 6 and 12 month reviews and have goals set against 5 criteria for each review which means that your managers are always trying to help you progress. They will sit down with you and ask what you want out of the year and also give their expectations so everyone knows what they want to get out of the year. In between reviews I have always felt able to go to either of my managers if I've needed suppport and they are both very willing to help if I've ever had any issues

I definitely got busier as the placement went on and I was given more responsibility as they started to trust me more. It also depends on the time of month/time of year as in nearly every department there will be quiet times and really busy times. Now I'm at the end of my placement I find I have a good amount to do but it isn't overwhelming so I feel a good balance has been reached. There are some people who say that they don't have enough to do but these people are sometimes those who have not yet gained their manager's trust through consistent high-standards of work. You can ask for more work and will be given more responsibility if you have proven yourself to be trustworthy in previous tasks. You cannot expect to come in and be doing the same work as everyone else right at the start - you do have to get through some less fun intern tasks before the exciting stuff comes!

Like I said in the previous section, you are given more responsibility based on previous performance on other tasks. If you do one job well then your managers knows they can trust you to do a more complex one. I found that I have been given quite a bit of responsibility but I have not felt as if I have been thrown in the deep end with lots of impossibly big things on my plate.

I beleive the most valuable skills I have learnt from this placement will be soft skills such as communication, adaptability and prioritisation etc. I personally don't want to go into this line of work and the account I am working on uses quite specific technology so maybe the transferrable skills from that aspect will be limited. However, the business and working skills that I have picked up will prove invaluable when looking for another job I believe.

My office is a small one as it is only for my account so it is basically all open plan and everyone knows everyone else. It's very friendly and there's always someone bringing in some cakes or samosas!

We had an initial induction lasting 3 days at the IBM office in Hursley where I got to know some others on the scheme and then I started in my role. Our 3, 6 and 12 month reviews keep us on track in terms of progress and are really helpful. We had quarterly Futures (gap year) meetings which were organised by one of the group which helped us get to know each other since we were working all across the country! Extremely well organised and at no point did I feel forgotten about!

There is an abundance of free online E-Learning that is available, most of which is optional so it really depends how much you want to invest in personal training and development.

The is a good grad scheme option for people totake and it is an advantage to be a placement year student before applying to the grad scheme. However, I don't think that consultancy is necessarily for me as I would like to focus more on economics in my future career. This is not related to the quality of the grad scheme whatsoever! It's just not for me to be honest!

I am in a small office so there are a limited number of interns (4 in total) but those that are in my office are my best friends there and we go out for meals and call each other all the time. Obviously it depends on who gets on the scheme and where people are but for me there has definitely been a good social scheme

I lived at home since I live close to the office and commuted in by car every day but the area around the office for those who did live away from home wasn't extortionate. A meal out every month was very affordable so socialising wasn't expensive.

No nightlife to speak of but that wasn't really important for me (the food scene was much higher up my list)

Not many activites since it was a small office but you can organise something if you want to