India 2019 — IBM Corporate Service Corps

I remember first hearing about the IBM Corporate Service Corps (CSC) when I was an intern at IBM, over five years ago! After my internship, I headed back to school, but the thought of the CSC program was always in the back of my mind as I began my professional career.

Flash forward to summer 2018, by this point I have been working full-time at IBM since graduation (3.5 years). I remember sitting in a meeting room in Raleigh, North Carolina when my manager told me I’d been accepted in to the program! I was ecstatic that I had been selected for such a life-changing opportunity.

So what is the IBM Corporate Service Corps? The IBM CSC program sends the top 500 leaders of IBM on pro-bono team assignments in over 44 countries every year. The program has a triple benefit — Communities have their problems solved, IBMers receive leadership training and development, and IBM develops new markets and global leaders. The application process is highly competitive — only 10% of applicants are selected. I am honoured to have been one of the handful of Canadians selected for the CSC program in 2019.

Our team, CSC India 42, will be heading to the northern Indian city of Chandigarh for our four-week in-country assignment beginning March 1, 2019. Over the next few weeks in preparation, we will learn about our new home, the organization we will be working with and the task we will be assigned to. Chandigarh is the capital of the northern states of Haryana and Punjab and is unique in that it is a “planned city” by Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier. Chandigarh was named by the BBC in 2015 as one of the most perfect cities in the world in terms of architecture, cultural growth and modernization. I’m looking forward to seeing Chandigarh from a different light as we partner with a local government or NGO to address problems in education, health and economic development.

About IBM Corporate Service Corps: https://www.ibm.com/ibm/responsibility/corporateservicecorps/