CSC – From Application to Acceptance

The window for applications for the IBM Corporate Service Corps (CSC) is very small each year, only a few weeks in April/May, so as soon as it opened this year I started to draft my application – a serious undertaking. #ibmcsc peru

Before applying you have to demonstrate that you’ve been one of the top performers. Now that’s hard enough in IBM when the standard is already set really high. Being amazing is what’s expected (luckily they haven’t found me out yet!).
But still thousands of people apply each year and less than 15% are accepted, so I knew I had to stand out.

I had 4 exam questions to answer.

• Why am I applying for the CSC?
• How have I managed difficult a situation which included uncertainty or significant change?
• What ‘unofficial’ role have I typically played in a team and how did the team benefit?
• How will my participation in the CSC bring IBMs core purpose, values and practices to life?

Well, to be honest, after 14 years at IBM, I am a bit of an IBMer, so I took a little time and applied all my knowledge of how IBM likes to work, but I also wrote from the heart. I knew this would be such an amazing opportunity, so I put my heart and soul on the line.

A few months of silence and I get on with the day job…. back to being just plain ‘amazing’ on a Client site.

And then the email I’d been hoping for arrives:

Congratulations, you’ve been accepted onto the 2015 programme!

Wow, amazing, fantastic…, they accepted me, I was so happy…. but where would I be sent, and when?

A few months more of silence and I still carry on with the day job.

And then the next email I’d been waiting for finally arrives: Congratulations! You are joining Team Peru 3!

I almost burst with excitement. I felt so privileged. I had given a preference for South America, but I could have been sent anywhere in the world. I could hardly believe that I had been accepted to go to Peru, at the end of February, to a city in the north, Trujillo, which just happens to not be too far away from the Cordillera Blanca.

Series - Corporate Service Corps

1. Corporate Service Corps – In the beginning I had a plan…
2. CSC – From Application to Acceptance
3. Team Peru 3: Final Week of Preparation
4. Team Peru 3 meet in Trujillo
5. Team Peru 3 get down to work – Cámara de Comercio y Producción de La Libertad
6. Pyramids in Peru
7. Trujillo Montage
8. Team Peru 3 visit an Organic Farm
9. A ‘Smarter Cities’ Community Day in Trujillo
10. A cheeky weekend to Cajamarca
11. Our time in Trujillo comes to an end…