Strategic Accounts Analyst Review

My placement year had a lot of ups and downs, however it has been the most rewarding experience in my life to date. It has taught me countless lessons in both life and business, whilst enabling me to grow as a person. The year was filled with hard work, a lot of fun, and great opportunities, all of which have shaped me into a better person. My career has already benefitted from the experience, and I am very confident in my ability. I would recommend a placement to anyone.

I was fortunate enough to be placed in a very rewarding role, in which I was given responsibilities well above that of a usual intern position. This meant I had a lot of responsibility and worked with many senior employees. At times it can be difficult to feel valued due to the fast paced environment, but all you need to do is ask for feedback. If you do this, everyone is more than happy to spend the time.

I was given a good amount of support in my initial months as I learned the role, but you are quickly expected to 'swim' on your own unassisted. This is what is expected of you, however there is always suppor there should you need it.

The work never stopped! Given the demands of my role, I often worked out of hours to keep up. Whilst this was sometimes unfavourable, with good time management, and an enjoyable job, once you adapt, it is not so bad.

I worked with many levels of managment right up to global leaders. This entailed a lot of responsibility on, sometimes, essential tasks. At no point did I feel underused; infact, I often felt under-qualified for the tasks I was doing! But this was part of the experience, and im thankful for it.

The skills I have learned in one year on placement far out-weigh those learned at university. I will be applying these for years to come, and the year has enabled me to succeed at a much higher rate than university could alone. Moving into new jobs, I will be veyr well equipted, and I am confident in my own ability to achieve anything thrown my way! These skills are far reaching and include soft skills as well as professional and personal.

Thanks to the great intern community, the atmosphere in office was brilliant. This is mirrored across the business (at least within the areas I was familiar with). Everyone is friendly, always happy to help and all round decent. Having said this, the office was also a very professional setting, and really enabled a good degree of productivity. The hot desking policy was useful, however most people remained in similar positions - btu we all got to know eachother on the floor.

The logistics and operations of the placement is second to none, and part of the reason I chose IBM. They work & move fast, are clean with their procedures and efficiently get you started. The handover varies largely depending on your previous intern, but you have a very large support network to call on. You enter the office on day one well equipted, but open to learn. I highly recommmend the placement and its structure.

We are given access to world leading training and skills development courses. This is self-motivated, however you are encouraged and guided through the best learning material. Beyond this, there is so much opportunity to learn, and the company is willing to invest in you. I have had development opportunities that would not be on offer anywhere else, and they have uniquely set me up for future success. Alot of the learning is on the job too, and since you have access to some of the best tools available, you stand to learn a lot.

I have progressed to the next stage of the graduate hiring process, however still await results.

The social scene was one of the best, even better than university. We regularly met and did a range of activities outside of work as well as within work. The company itself facilitate some great events, whilst the intern community is large, yet close. There was always something on, or something to do and being based in London only made the experience better. This social scene wasnt just limited to fellow interns either. Interns were well integrated into their teams social circle.

London is a very expensive place to live, work and socialise. However if you budget, it shouldnt be a problem.

Again, it is London and so the nightlife was incredible. It also helped that the office was bang in the centre of the city.

You name it, you can do it. The opportunities outside of work are countless and as long as you have the initiative to go out and find them, you will. This ranged from tech related, to social, to self development, to giveback etc. There was something for everyone. There was also a lot of sports activities to get involved with. The only issue is sometimes there was too much work which left little time for extra 'curricular' activities.