Infrastructure Sales Specialist Review

by IBM

Best Apprenticeship Employer

Rating

8.5/10

1. Please give an overview of your role and what this involves on a day-to-day basis:

On a day-to-day basis I run client calls to provide professional updates on contracts and where they are, support leads and do other Adhoc work. I also have the chance to explore and educate using thousands of different classes/educations online in my free time using an IBM-only tool called 'YourLearning'.

9/10

2. Have you learnt any new skills or developed existing skills?

I have learnt many new skills throughout my time at IBM. I have been able to do off the job learning on Fridays with my degree. Altough I have also had lots of chances outside of my degree for education. One example is a week long industry recognized course 'GSS' or global sales school.

10/10

3. To what extent do you enjoy your programme?

I really enjoy my programme as I understand the real value that I will be getting from it. Not only am I getting a universal degree that will open many doors for me but I am also gaining industry experience over the duration of my apprenticeship which will be very helpful.

9/10

4. How well organised/structured is your programme?

I think that my organisation is fairly well structured, with the programme. I have been able to learn a lot with the help of both support staff at uni but also my Early Professional Manager at IBM who has helped me and given me quarterly reviews throughout my time so far. However, as IBM is such a big company it can feel difficult to find your value.

6/10

5. How much support do you receive from your employer?

As previously mentioned, I receive a lot of support from my early professionals manager whom has been a good support especially still seeing as for the most of my apprenticeship it has all been virtual due to the covid -19 pandemic. I also feel like other employees are happy to support whenever asked.

9/10

6. How much support do you receive from your training provider when working towards your qualifications?

My training provider is very supportive of how every aspect of my studies, this has been really good when doing virtual lessons as experiencing technical difficulties can be quite consistent. They also offer mental health and well-being services that run 24 hours a day which can be useful to those struggling.

10/10

7. How well do you feel that your qualification (through your training provider) helps you to perform better in your role?

To some extent, I believe this to be true. It does help me perform better as it makes me think professionally. However, my degree in business management does not have much correlation with my technical sales role although I can apply general skills and sales techniques which is good work.

7/10

8. Are there extra-curricular activities to get involved in at your work? (For example, any social activities, sports teams, or even professional networking events.)

I have seen emails flying around about extra activities but I think these have been hard to schedule during the pandemic. Examples of ones I have seen include: ski trip, netball matches and a 'hackathon'.

8/10

9a. Would you recommend IBM to a friend?

Yes

9b. Why?

It is a really great company to work for with many different support channels offered. Also, they are competitive in the industry and also offer a degree along side.

10. What tips or advice would you give to others applying to IBM?

I would say to someone trying to apply to IBM to 'trust the process'. This is because at IBM, the application process can be really long, over a course of months - in my case it took just under a year from when I applied to when I started. There are many different stages to the process, I would also say be yourself! IBM pride themselves on inclusivity and diversity of culture.