Award-winning innovative tech company, IBM, is seeking military talent who are looking to revamp their career in a new training programme.
Awarded Silver in the Armed Forces Covenant Employer Recognition Scheme, IBM regularly voted ‘the best place to work’ and is a known champion of ex-military personnel within their workplace.
The new Field System Support Training programme, to learn the skills of a Technical Support Representative, a front-line position, will include 15 months’ worth of learning and the on-the-job experience to add to your military skills and experience. It is the ‘soft’ skills of military people that IBM are looking for; they will train you up on all the requisite technical skills.
Trainees will complete 20% of their time on ‘off-the-job training’ and the remainder working ‘on-the-job’ with experienced IBMers to learn the skills required to kick start their new career. And at the end of the programme you’ll have obtained a Level 3 externally recognised qualification - Information Communications Technician – Support Technician as well as the experience needed to progress your career in IBM to the next level.
Find out more about the role and how former Army engineer, Richard, uses the skills he acquired from his military service here.
WHAT WILL BE YOUR ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES?
Trainees have an important role working as IBM’s System Support Representatives (SSRs), acting as the primary technical interface to clients for the coordination of hardware support and the delivery of operational services. You will be responsible for the on-site maintenance, repair and installation of IBM branded and OEM hardware equipment across a range of clients; ranging from global financial institutions through to domestic locations. You can find out more about your roles and responsibilities here.
Those selected onto the programme will be employed directly by IBM and receive a salary of £25,000 + benefits. On completion of training and once deployed to IBM’s field force, employees typically have the opportunity to earn an additional 20%-30% of their base salary.
WHAT TECHNICAL EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS DO YOU NEED?
All IBM trainees are assigned a Career and Development Manager to oversee personal and professional development, as well given 20% of their time to spend on learning. Please don’t worry if you can’t ‘tick off’ everything here. IBM will invest their time in you to ensure you can develop these skills throughout your training programme. IBM actively employs from the military talent pool as they understand the unique, transferable skills and experience they can bring to the workplace. Skills needed for this role such as being flexible, adaptable and eager to learn new skills.
Julian Meyrick, former Army officer and now IBM’s Managing Partner and Director of Security Strategy, Risk and Compliance services said: “It makes perfect business sense for IBM to hire veterans; they come with relevant soft skills that are often difficult to interview for. With the right training and investment, hiring veterans can help with the challenge of closing specialist skills gaps and delivering the highest standards of professional services.”
WHAT OTHER OPPORTUNITIES ARE AVAILABLE THROUGH IBM FOR THE ARMED FORCES COMMUNITY?
IBM has a long-standing partnership with SaluteMyJob to help veterans to upskill their digital skills and, in particular, re-skill in cyber security to in-turn support them in gaining fulfilling employment. IBM works closely with SaluteMyJob to help the Armed Forces community to access their free online training platform, SkillsBuild. The platform equips members of the Armed Forces Community with the skills they need to move into new careers in high-demand positions including cyber security, AI and web development. The partnership has been a huge success with 500+ transitioning and ex-military personnel completing a reskilling and employment course. British Army veteran Men Gurung is one of those success stories who now has a dream role at IBM. You can read his story here.
HOW DO I APPLY FOR THE FIELD SYSTEM SUPPORT TRAINING PROGRAMME?
Read full details about the training programme here. Make sure you apply before the 8th May deadline.