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University: Brunel University
Degree subject: Economics
Insider Tip: If you have professional experience then use examples from that role

• Why did you want to work at IBM?

  Then the opportunity came to work on the Grad Scheme in a Consultancy role. Consulting was always something I wanted to go into and IBM specifically because having worked there I knew there was always good support.

• What does your role involve?

  At the moment I am a Financial Management or an FM Consultant. FM is a department that sits within IBM’s Global Business Services. In essence what we do is, help how clients manage their finance. This is on all scales from the way they report, from the way they plan for the future, how they allocate budgeting and there are various tools we use to help them do that.

• Describe a typical day or week

  In consultancy there is not really such a thing as a typical day or a typical week. Last week I was in Amsterdam, then I was told on Friday I had been assigned to another project which started in this Monday. Then I’m told that a few weeks down the line, once this project’s finished I might be back in Amsterdam or Bath for another project. You don’t always know where you are going to be from one week to the next and even in that there’s not a typical day in what you do. Sometimes you will be at a client site doing development prototyping work, maybe implementation work, other days you will be at an IBM office with a team, maybe working on bids trying to win business. I’m not sure if it’s for everybody but for me that’s what makes the role fun.

• What has the training been like?

  In my second week we had a course that everybody who joins the Graduate Scheme does. That prepares you for a project environment and gets you doing things like prototyping, testing and development. Besides that there are lots of other courses and resources, online there are many courses that are free which you can read through and test yourself at your own pace. IBM does sponsor you for additional qualifications.

• How do you see your career developing?

  In consultancy the way your career develops, a lot of it is down to the way you network. From the beginning you’ve got to network really well, get to know as many people as you can and that effectively will go a long way to determining how your career progresses and what area of work you are assigned to eventually. Besides that it is not completely down to you. In Foundation there are masses of support from you development managers and recourse mangers. I can’t say there is a guaranteed way in which my career will develop. I’ve got an idea of how I would like it to develop but a lot is still down to me to make it happen.

• What is the culture like?

  I would say IBM is a very reasonable and very fair employer. They’ve got a relaxed culture. There’s a lot of flexibility offered for employees. You have got the opportunity to work from different locations and from home if need be. There is no such thing as having to work everyday from 9-5, 9-6, 9-7 or anything like that.