07 July 2023

BSc Business Information Systems - Daniel Igiebor

Daniel Osayande Igiebor studied Business Information Systems with a Year in Industry at UEA.

How would you describe your job?

I am two months into my graduate scheme/programme at Arbuthnot Latham & Co., Ltd, a Private Bank in London; my first rotation within the programme is working on the IT Helpdesk. No day is the same in IT, which is a good thing; it keeps it fresh. I receive several tasks, and responsibilities ranging in priority and complexity; below are some of the most common. I respond to telephone and email incidents, (also known as tickets), ensuring queries and service requests are logged, processed, and solved professionally; tickets can range from users being locked out of their accounts to downloading the latest firmware for external devices. As people are constantly joining Arbuthnot Latham & Co., Ltd, part of my role consists of processing access management requests for new starters and leavers in the company based on our Service Level Agreement (for new users); this involves providing the correct access to various services and software used in the company, setting up a user’s mailbox, work laptop etc. to ensure a smooth transition into the company. During any downtime, I look at recently resolved tickets and create self-help documentation which helps broaden my knowledge and assists in solving future tickets.

On a day-to-day basis, what do you do in your job?

I perform initial triage and attempt first fix on incidents and requests, allocate calls to other members of the team and department as part of a structured escalation; time is of the essence here, especially when we have high-priority tickets that need to go to the application teams for assistance; otherwise, we risk breaking our SLAs as a department. I maintain an accurate asset inventory (Surface Laptops, Keyboards, Monitors, Headsets, Work Mobile Phones etc.); again, this is key; when someone leaves the bank, we must close their accounts with alacrity and ensure their IT equipment is returned on their last day. We then rebuild laptops and factory reset phones, and reallocate them to other users, this ensures we are not wasting assets and ultimately money, which will affect our budget bottom line. Additionally, there is a security risk by not closing accounts in a timely fashion. I also assist in driving the knowledge management process by creating and maintaining articles for myself and my colleagues. Some tasks are not performed daily, and these documents help as aide memoire, but additionally, if the team or I discover a previously unknown fix, we will write a document and share it in our repository.

What skills do you need for this role?

Soft Skills:

  • Emotional Intelligence
  • Time Management
  • Critical Thinking
  • Collaboration
  • Active Listening
  • Accountability
  • Organisation (Emphasised by the Company)
  • Forward Planning (Emphasised by the Company)
  • Communication (Emphasised by the Company) - the ability to talk up and  down technology-wise

Technical Skills:

  • Network Administration, including WINS/DHCP, DNS, proxy and application  servers
  • Basic administration of exchange server
  • Administration active directory
  • Workstation imaging software

How did you decide to do a graduate scheme?

Whilst at UEA, I did a placement year and had two different placements, a five-month placement as a project manager and a six-month placement as a  Marketing/Enterprise Coordinator. 

I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do after university, so I arranged a guidance meeting with a Careers Adviser from Career Central.

We talked about the potential careers I could go into, I studied Business Information  Systems, which although it comes under Computing Sciences, has a lot of business  modules and I tended to do better in these and enjoyed them more and so was  looking to go into the business sector rather than a programming route.  After the advice I received, I knew I wanted to go into Project Management. I  arranged a Quick Query meeting with a Careers Adviser in April for some more  guidance and attached my CV. During the meeting, he recommended I look into  general management schemes on LinkedIn and Career Central, and from there, I  started my search.

After the advice I received, I knew I wanted to go into Project Management. I arranged a Quick Query meeting with a Careers Adviser in April for some more guidance and attached my CV. During the meeting, he recommended I look into general management schemes on LinkedIn and Career Central, and from there, I started my search.

How did you find your graduate scheme?

In April, I started to read the CMP Weekly Vacancy newsletters sent to our university email and applied to roles/schemes I thought would help me on my career path of becoming an IT Project Manager.

While I waited for responses, I visited the My CareerCentral Website for older vacancies and filtered search results to ‘graduate jobs’ in London in the IT category. And luckily found the IT Graduate Scheme at Arbuthnot Latham & Co., Ltd

What was the application / interview process like?

After finding the graduate scheme on MyCareerCentral, I visited Arbuthnot Latham’s career site and completed the online application form and attached my CV (aka the shortlisting stage).

As I was eligible for the programme, I was then asked to complete a 30 - 45-minute SHL Assessment, which would help identify my strengths and ability.

After I passed the application process, there was a two-stage interview process:

  • A Virtual Interview with the Team Leader of the IT Helpdesk and the Head of Enterprise IT and CISO at Arbuthnot Latham & Co., Ltd. 
  • An in-person Interview with the Team Leader of the IT Helpdesk and the Senior Manager of IT Service Delivery. This interview lasted approximately 1 hour and was a lot more personal; I was asked what I wanted to get out of the programme and how I fit the core values of the company.

I applied on the 3rd of April, passed the initial shortlisting stage on the 5th of April, completed the first (virtual) interview on the 5th of May and the second (face-to-face) interview on the 16th of May and was given an offer on the 19th May.

With Arbuthnot Latham, I got responses after each stage quite quickly; this was faster than some of the bigger companies I applied for, such as TFL and Reed.

Once you started your graduate scheme, what training and  activities did it involve?

At Arbuthnot Latham & Co., Ltd, we have a ticketing system where users submit  tickets regarding IT incidents and requests. These range from P5 (Low Priority) to P1  (Highest Priority). Tickets ranked as P1/2 trigger our incident management process,  involving emergency calls and wider communications. When I started, I was assigned tickets that were a P5 and P4 and was guided by my Team Leader to find a solution, by looking at similar tickets that were solved.

I also had the opportunity to shadow second Line support while they worked on the  company Network and Information Security.

There are several quick fixes and documentation in our Shared Drive and Teams  Group Chat that I would read to help solve issues users may have with company / client services.

What do you think has been the most useful aspect of your graduate scheme to you personally?

GAP: Graduate Apprentice and Placement Student Sessions. In the graduate and  school leaver programs, every week, we have a well-being or thrive session. On the 3rd of October, I had a thrive session, which helped me break down what is  stopping me from thriving in and out of the workplace and what I can start doing to  start thriving. In these sessions, we have the opportunity to build our network with  other graduates and apprentices across the Bank.

Have there been any challenges with doing a graduate  scheme?

Not at this current point in time. I am only two months into my first rotation, I do expect some upcoming challenges  one being not having enough time to learn services and fixes in as much detail/depth  as I will rotate to a new team every 4 months.

Do you have any tips for current students considering a  graduate scheme?

Just because you are doing a Computer Science degree doesn’t mean you can’t do  a general management scheme or an engineering scheme; what scheme you apply  for all depends on your experience, skill level and most importantly passion and interest.

I would recommend you speak to a career advisor, a mentor or a friend; hearing  other people’s opinions on your CV, experience, and career goals are very  important, but always remember you are the one to make the final decision.

If you would like to know more about Daniel’s experience, connect with Daniel on LinkedIn.