|
IBM DETAILS
|
s
|
This 2-year secondment with IBM was sourced by The Span Consultancy - apparently the first time that IBM had used an external consultancy to recruit graduates in the UK. Following 3 interviews and an assessment day, I was offered a place on the secondment along with 16 other graduates. Accepting the offer, I spent the first 3 weeks in July 1998 training in COBOL/structured programming at a training centre in London, before attending an IBM induction in Winchester. After this, we were supposed to work as COBOL programmers at various IBM sites in the UK,
with a chance of permanent employment with IBM at the end of the 2 years. However, the job placement was unexpectedly delayed and we were all placed on 'standby' instead. This happened repeatedly over the next couple of months, and I was intermittently sent to different IBM sites for preparatory interviews as the plans kept changing. Unfortunately, after 4 months and various developments, IBM terminated the secondment and we were all released in December 1998. This was very disappointing to me as I felt that I was back at square one and I hadn't even had a chance to prove myself.
Nevertheless, I concentrated my efforts into applying for similar graduate IT schemes. After 3 months of further applications, interviews and assessments, I received 4 offers of employment on graduate IT schemes with Peugeot, The Halifax, CSC and Softlab, from which I accepted CSC's offer.
|
