Even though many of our graduates will have progressed in their careers since completing a case study, they are still of interest to students who wish to gain an understanding of the world of work.

I work within the Procurement Practice and my main responsibility is to provide procurement consultancy services to a wide range of clients. This mainly involves analysing a companies current procurement practices and highlighting innovative improvements that can be made with the help of the many technological offerings that IBM possess.

My days range widely which is expected in consultancy. I can go from client to client quite quickly having to speak to the main stakeholders and note problems and solutions quite rapidly. This makes the job exciting as the projects that I work on can be very wide ranging.

The main element of my job which I enjoy is the variety, I never get an opportunity to get bored as there is constantly something new and exciting going on that I can get involved in.

The workload and the hours worked are very challenging. If there are deadlines to be made I am expected to work until these deadlines are met, sometimes working very late into the evening or even picking up work on weekends.

I always wanted to go into the area of either logistics or supply chain, and procurement fits nicely into these categories. Consultancy was just the next step after that. Consultancy interested me as the job is never boring being able to work on a wide array of projects for different clients and even in different countries.

The main skills I use are communication, problem solving and negotiation. Being part of an IT company I also have to be proficient in the use of computers and computer programmes such as Microsoft Office.

I left university in June 2014 and got a job at Wetherspoons as a kitchen associate. I worked in Wetherspoons until February 2015 when I got a job as a procurement consultant in a company called Procuring. I worked for Procuring for 7 months until September 2015. I then had a few months break and started work for the Ministry of Justice in November 2015 where I worked for 2 and a half years up until February 2018. I received my qualification in IACCM in the summer of 2016. I then joined IBM in March 2018 and have been here ever since.

I am planning on getting my CIPS qualifications in the near future and also taking my Prince 2 exams in project management. In terms of my future work career I can see myself staying with IBM for a long time, gaining experience and qualifications along the road.

Business management is a great degree in terms of the fact that it leaves you so many options and avenues to peruse once you finish your studies. Procurement is a fast paced and enjoyable industry to work in and I would recommend it to anyone.

Just enjoy your time at university because I would love an opportunity to go back!

Michael  MSc Management (2008)
Managing Consultant  (Information technology and communications)

Accepts questions from students about their career

Richard  PhD Chemoinformatics (2010)
Research Scientist  (Information technology and communications)

Accepts questions from students about their career