Career development

A guide for new hires

An early start at career success begins with Your IBM, our new-hire training program. You'll learn how IBM works, how to maximize your contribution to the company, how to successfully navigate within IBM and connect with your colleagues — and have fun in the process!

Planning your career

To help you identify opportunities, construct a skills road map and mark your progress, IBM offers easy-to-navigate career Web sites and tools:

• Job role and technical training — In addition to top-notch professional skills, IBM focuses on in-depth industry and technical training to keep you up to date on emerging technologies and skills valued in the marketplace.
• Academic learning assistance program — IBM provides assistance for external education in addition to our internal training offerings to help you keep your skills aligned with our business goals.
• Learning@IBM Explorer — The Academic Learning Assistance Program is intended to meet identified business needs by paying for many educational expenses for employees at universities and colleges. Participation is limited and selective. Management may limit whether the plan is available to their employees given business needs. If it is available, management may specify additional requirements for their employees to participate.

Tuition Refund

All three plans under the Academic Learning Assistance Program ( DWSP, ICP, SSP) are funded by the business units. Participation is limited and selective. Management may limit whether the plan is available to their employees given business needs. The education expense is charged to the education minor code 0330 and the employee's division and department. However, each IBM division decides whether to hold the funding at the department, functional, or divisional level.

IBM expects you to apply for all other financial assistance to which you are entitled. Financial assistance includes student aid programs, scholarships, grants, fellowships, Veteran's Administration benefits, etc.

IBM reserves the right to discontinue any of the Plans in the program or discontinue the program should there be significant business changes.

Educational leave of absence

Subject to management approval, if your course of study mutually benefits you and IBM, we can grant an unpaid educational leave of absence.

Values

We define our guiding beliefs for how we relate to each other, to our clients, our partners and our stakeholders. As a company, we value:

• Dedication to every client's success
• Innovation that matters — for our company and for the world
• Trust and personal responsibility in all relationships

These shared values influence how we make decisions and work together, setting the stage for what employees — and the world — can expect from IBMers.

Valuing our people and their development

The expertise of our workforce is as critical to our success as the effectiveness of our technology. We invest more than US$750 million annually to help make sure that our employees have leading-edge skills and ongoing development opportunities.

"People development is about enabling the capability of our employees, managers and teams to drive business performance. It focuses on providing our workforce with the tools, resources and guidance needed to broaden our knowledge base and develop skills most valued by our industry. It also allows employees the opportunity for career progression."
— Randy MacDonald, IBM senior vice president of Human Resources

IBM Foundational Competencies

We identify core competencies that provide the foundation for employee professional growth at IBM. These include:

• Adaptability
• Client focus
• Taking ownership
• Communication
• Drive to achieve
• Teamwork and collaboration
• Creative problem solving
• Passion for the business
• Trustworthiness

IBM's commitment to people development sets us apart from other employers. From Web applications to mentors to global e-learning to classroom training, IBM's learning environment enables you to take charge of your skills and knowledge from day one, empowering you to expand your expertise throughout your career.