IBM and personal computers are synonymous, aren’t they? After all, the firm had computing in its title 90 years before ThinkPads — IBM began life in 1911 as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company.

The sale of its PC business to the Chinese company Lenovo signals the end of an era. IBM now majors on business services and consulting, but the old image is hard to shake off. “One of the worst things about working in sales for IBM is the preconception when you walk into the room that you are just selling hardware. You are put in a box,” says Sandra Aspin, a public sector client manager for IBM UK.

It is not the first time that “Big Blue” has rebranded itself. In 1924 it changed its name to International Business Machines Corporation and in the 1960s began to concentrate on computers rather than tabulators and typewriters. Today, after its acquisition of PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting, IBM is one of the country’s largest business consultancies.

Dave Heath, the human resources director for IBM UK and Ireland, says: “IBMers now are very different to what they were a few years ago. We used to employ purely technical people for technical roles. Now that we recruit for business services our requirements have changed significantly. We’re looking for a diverse range of skills and people.”

As with all large corporations, there isn’t a particular skill that will get you through the door: a range of professional and personal attributes are needed. If Heath is pressed to name just one which all IBMers share it is the ability to work as part of a team.

Aspin also emphasises the importance of teamwork: “I pull together different teams for each customer situation; the team might include people from hardware, security, consultancy and research.”

Armed with a ThinkPad and remote dial-in, Aspin has a different desk for each client.

“I don’t have a permanent base, I work from home or from the IBM office nearest to the customer,” she says, and with more than 40 IBM offices in the UK and hundreds worldwide, she has plenty to choose from. All this desk hopping probably explains why the company sees itself as strong on communication and innovation — IBM is the third largest receiver of patents in the UK.

The company recruits on to its graduate training schemes, sandwich-year placements and into second jobs. But many staff join the company through outsourcing and acquisitions. A third of its current UK staff joined in this way; some 330 Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs staff recently transfered to IBM as part of the company’s agreement to develop new business systems for the government department. A large number of staff also joined when PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting was added to the mix, although if you believe some of the meaner bloggers there has been a massive culture clash between the new recruits and the IBM old-stagers.

IBM has a strong personality which employees are expected to buy into. “The concept of being an IBMer is for life, even if you leave you are still part of the virtual company and have a strong sense of identity. People are very proud of the company and proud to call themselves IBMers,” Heath says.

Page 2: Data file ()

DATA FILE

• IBM UK employs about 26,000 people in some 40 offices. The headquarters are in Southampton.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Six employees out of ten work flexibly in a combination of working from home or from several IBM locations.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• IBM was one of the first employers to include sexual orientation in its equal opportunities programme 20 years ago. This year it came joint second in Stonewall’s first Corporate Equality Index, a league table of gay-friendly employers.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• More than 60 per cent of staff access e-learning through the company’s Learning@Work portal.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• In 1997 the company’s Deep Blue chess computer beat world chess champion Garry Kasparov.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Bloggers’ complaints about the corporation include: a conservative culture, bureaucracy, long hours and a lack of guidance from senior management.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Bloggers’ praises include: good pay, relaxed dress code, ability to work from home and diversity policies.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Speculation is rife in the trade press that free of its PC business, IBM will team up with Apple. Apple computers use IBM’s PowerPC chip.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• IBM won’t discuss salaries and a quick search on the internet reveals that UK staff keep their pay to themselves. Plenty of US employees compare pay though. See www.vault.com
  
  
  
  
  
  
• See the latest vacancies at www.ibm.com/UK

Times Recommends

• Inspirational leadership
• How to get a new job
• The reluctant CEO