HR and Talent Transformation Review
at IBM
Placement (10 Months+)
Business Operations
Waterloo
Review Submitted: July 2025
Overall Rating
4.1 /5
The Overall Rating is the average of all the ratings given in each category. We take those individual ratings and combine them into one final score!
3/5
-
Overview of Role
4.5/5
-
Skills Development
4/5
-
Support and Guidance
4.5/5
-
Company Culture
3.5/5
-
Overall Experience
4/5
-
Future Career Prospects
Overview of Role
Please give an overview of your role and what this involves on a day-to-day basis.
My role largely involved supporting leadership with any tasks they have. Putting together financial reports and running leadership meetings. Engagement wise I also helped publish monthly newsletters and annual growth events.
Were you given much responsibility during your placement / internship?
Yes, a lot of the information I was handling was confidential and it was solely my responsibility to create reports using it. I also took the lead in a small design project for a client. I definitely could have had more responsibility but I appreciate that every intern's role is different and has different requirements.
Please rate how meaningful the work you were doing was
3/5
Skills Development
Have you learnt any new skills, or developed your existing skills?
Yes, I've developed a wide range of skills, the main one being excel, I was terrible at using it before I started my placement but now I use it every day and confidently. I've learnt a lot of self-confidence, presenting and interpersonal skills which have made me a more well rounded person. Also just being more comfortable around numbers and taking accountability for my tasks.
How would you rate the training provided during your experience?
5/5
How would you rate your development of industry-specific skills during the experience?
4/5
How would you rate your development of personal / soft skills during the experience?
5/5
Please rate how these skills have helped you in your career development
4/5
Support and Guidance
How much support and guidance did you receive during your placement / internship?
I had immense amounts of support, from both my foundation and my line manager. They were always open to talk when I was struggling and there were always people in my service line reaching out to me to check on me and offer any help if I needed it.
How would you rate the support and guidance from your line manager?
5/5
How would you rate the support and guidance from the wider team?
3/5
Company Culture
What was the company culture and general atmosphere like?
It varied greatly from floor to floor. Working on floor 3 felt a lot more formal but it made for a very productive environment. But people were always friendly and the events held in the office throughout the year really made the atmosphere feel inviting.
How would you rate the inclusiveness of the culture?
5/5
How would you rate the social opportunities?
5/5
How would you rate the diversity initiatives?
3/5
How would you rate the charity, sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives?
5/5
Overall Experience
To what extent did you enjoy your placement / internship?
I really enjoyed it, it definitely wasn't the experience I thought it was going to be and I experienced a lot of hardship throughout. But this placement has allowed me to grow so much as a person in both a personal and professional capacity I have no doubt the skills I've built over the past 12 months have prepared me for the future.
Please rate your level of enjoyment on your placement / internship
4/5
Please rate how your experience met your expectations
3/5
Future Career Prospects
Please rate the future employment prospects at IBM
4/5
Recommendations & Advice
Would you recommend IBM to a friend?
Yes
What advice would you give to others applying to IBM
Be your most authentic self, don't pretend to be someone you're not. Being honest and allowing your personality to come through in your work is so important and provides fresh perspectives when you're trying to complete a task. Secondly, always think about the value of something or a situation, what value are you adding, what value are you getting from it. It can help you greatly in interviews and in the organisation in general.
