For those that may have not engaged yet with me on social these past few months, I have joined IBM Global Sales Hub in Dublin on September 2022. This is my first professional work experience after I finished my studies at UCD Michael Graduate Business School. After six months in the company I can confidently share my experience as an IBMer and what I have learnt with the team so far. Has the graduate programe at IBM strengthened my skills for my next career step? I invite you to continue reading this post to get an idea of what this experience has been for me and to discover which type of personality does this company welcome for incoming Graduates, from my point of view.
To start with, I would like to put into context why I decided to join IBM, my perspective prior applying and how the onboarding process went for me. As I was finishing my master's studies in Dublin, if there was one thing clear to me was that staying in town was the main goal I had then as I was excited to get my foot in the door in the tech space and specially in Sales. I had had in mind, as advised from University lecturers and mentors, that there were many job opportunities to get started a career in Sales here. So, I embarked my new adventure in sending a thousand (not literally but almost ha) applications in Dublin. Little did I know that the tech giant IBM would be calling my phone past a few weeks from applying letting me know that they would like to invite me for an interview.
In terms of the onboarding process, it was highly smooth as I only had one interview with two hiring managers who were very friendly and with whom I had conversation where I truly felt that my personality and skills were completely aligned with IBM's core values. I remember leaving the Zoom call feeling that I had truly expressed myself and showed my abilities to succeed as an incoming graduate (good gut feeling, to be honest). If you would like me to write more specifically interview dynamics, my experience in more details or Q&A, let me know in the comments, I can post another blog only for this topic.
Little did I imagined that IBM would be calling me a few later to let me know that they would like to offer me a full-time position, as one of the 23 Graduates selected from all over the world, to join their Global Sales Hub in Dublin. As you might have guessed, these were wonderful and exciting news for me as I was ready to start my next chapter and try my best to contribute and bring a fresh energy and enthusiasm to team.
On September 5th 2022, I officially joined the company and I was excited to meet my fellow Graduates, managers and the rest of the Team. The onboarding Team had let me know that the first two weeks would consist of complete and productive courses that would prepare me to go join the team and be fully prepared for the year ahead. On the first day, I met my manager, my mentor Carmen and my buddy Manu. The three of us would be part of the SPGI (Spain, Portugal, Greece & Israel) team for inbound.
The first two weeks onboard went by quickly and I found them very valuable and inspiring as colleagues from different brands, departments and markets would give the Graduates presentations and talks about what to expect from the Graduate Programme and the year ahead. The courses and training consisted on different introduction to sales for businesses (mainly SMEs), how to engage with clients, and design thinking, among other topics. Leaders from distinct markets gave us an overview of their missions and how the engage with clients, Business Partners (BPs) and several stakeholders. Some others, shared some wisdom motivation and inspiring words to get us mentally and emotionally ready to make the best out of the experience.
Once the training was completed, I had started my role as a Sales Development Representative in the inbound team for SPGI where I was in charge of the Systems brand. This brand's product portfolio included solutions such as storage, servers and infrastructure and most of the clients were "Selected Accounts" which were mainly SMEs that were interested in IBM's Power or Flash System solutions to storage data or acquire some servers to run different applications required to run their business. Other brands in the team included Data & AI, Automation, Cybersecurity or Cloud, which were managed by other colleagues of mine within the inbound team.
In terms of my daily workload, it would include managing and nurturing marketing-generated responses from clients, contacting with C-level role profiles and coordinating with IBM partners to advance and grow potential clients and managing the full sales cycle, among other tasks. My results were measured by the number of opportunities I would identify within the brand for the market and the win revenue once opportunities were passed to Account Executives (AEs). When reflecting on my contribution to the team, when I started in the team I had a slightly higher level of responsibility as I was managing "Systems" for inbound for SPGI by myself and that truly allowed me to become very comfortable talking to clients and building strong relationships with them, which gave me the opportunity to gain their trust and therefore, significantly increase the number of business opportunities identified.
As I was progressing in the Graduate Programme and I was gaining work experience, I was more capable of answering clients' enquiries and support them with general questions about IBM's extensive product portfolio and solutions. I was able to bring value to the team not only with great energy and enthusiasm, but also with great contributions reflected on the business performance of the team. Moreover, in this role not only did I gained work experience in Sales in the tech space, but also was able to get my hands on several industry-leading and advanced software and applications that allowed me to connect with clients and manage my connections in an effective manner. These tools included Salesloft, Five9, IBM Sales Cloud, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, among others.
Being part of such a tech giant, not only is allowing me to appreciate how sales operations work at upscale level but also to appreciate how to approach business leaders and to listen to their helpful advise that I will take into consideration as I progress into my career. During my daily job, I feel grateful for have been given this opportunity and I consider that it has been a major first step in my career that will have great value wherever it is that I reroute my career in the upcoming years. Learning from other colleagues and being part of interesting and inspiring conversations with business leader is one of the key take aways from my experience as a Graduate at IBM. In general terms, here in the floor, everyone is very approachable and easy to reach out to and, most importantly, willing to help and guide me to the person in need to solve any task or reach out to. In fact, I consider that it also essential for such a large company like IBM. As I referred to in my initial post on LinkedIn, I am a strong believer that people, the team and the working environment are key ingredients in order to grow personally and achieve great results in business. I can confidently say that have won with that.
On that note, I would love to reflect with you the outstanding and friendly team that I have had the pleasure to work with. In reality, it is the Team that is capable of shifting an experience from good to fenomenal. I believe this is a result of who is part of the team and what their personalities are like that makes the dynamics more smooth and overall a healthy and fresh environment. Again, the people. Those that know, know and I am extremely grateful not only for what I have learnt with them about tech sales, and CRM skills but also how to work successfully and adapt in such an innovative company like IBM. Moreover, I have grown tremendously about life in general, life in Dublin and a career trajectory that is yet to be continued full of energy, spark and great attitude and above everything, passion and ambition. Thank you, Buddies.
I have a few months left in the programme, and I will continue to put into practice everything that I have learnt throughout and continue meeting people that can make a great impact on my life and I in theirs, here in Dublin.
A sincere call to Dublin would be the following: until you keep giving me, I will be around and I cannot wait to see what you have on hold for me. I am sure it can, and will be, a new challenge that I will welcome with great enthusiasm and passion.
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