Sales Intern Review

The field sales aspect of the internship put me outside my comfort zone. This meant I learned a lot of valuable skills but also meant that, day-to-day, there were some difficult or less enjoyable times. Looking back, however, I did enjoy my experience overall. I also enjoyed the project aspect of the internship, as I got to learn about a part of the FMCG/retail industry in detail.

I felt extremely valued by my colleagues, including the other interns, other employees at the company, and my supervisors/boss. The work I was doing was of value to the company and I was always treated with respect and felt like I fit in well there. The people I received support from (such as my line manager) seemed to genuinely care about me and made an effort to get to know me.

There were multiple people guiding us during the internship whom we could contact at any time and always gladly offered support and assistance. Because part of the role consisted of doing field sales alone, I mostly received support on the job via phone or email. I had two main supervisors, a line manager, a 'buddy' at head office, and a 'buddy' on the field sales team. Aside from field sales, the other part of the role was a project and, for that, I also had a project supervisor. However, since I was performing the field sales role alone, it would have been useful to have shadowed a member of the real field sales team for a few days to become comfortable in the role. This was the only area where I felt like I could have needed more support.

I was never bored and I was never too busy. The field sales aspect of the internship was performed alone so I was completely in charge of my own work day, meaning I could adapt it to suit me perfectly. When I began the project around 7 weeks into the internship, I split my week between the project and field sales, so I was never overloaded with work.

I was literally running the show! Most of my role was field sales which I performed alone, so I had full responsibility for everything. During this role, I was responsible for: - Finding convenience stores to go to in order to prospect them. - Prospecting the convenience stores. - Talking to store owners/managers in an attempt to sell stock. - Looking after the hire car, tablet, and phone I had during the internship. - Planning routes to and between convenience stores. - Getting my own stock to sell (i.e. arranging deliveries). - Keeping track of money if I made a sale (charging the correct amount, writing invoices, etc.). During the project side of the role, I was responsible for: - Working with my partner to complete the presentation. - Finding information on the project topic. - Putting together a PowerPoint presentation. - Giving a polished presentation to around 20 people in the company.

I learned how to be more confident during the field sales part of the internship. I am much less shy and do not have a problem talking to strangers and starting a conversation, as I did that about 10 times a day during the internship. This is a skill that will be useful in so many areas of my life. I wouldn't say I learned any skills that specifically help me in my university studies, but I did not expect to as I was looking to develop skills that would assist me in my future career. However, if you are someone who was not particularly organised prior to doing this internship, it would definitely develop that skill which is useful at university, in your future career, and beyond.

This question is not really relevant as I was mostly working from home doing field sales. However, whenever I was in the office, such as for the training weeks I had there, the atmosphere was always light and friendly, and there was always an abundance of biscuits (pladis make McVitie's and Jacob's biscuits/crackers). For the project, my partner and I were able to go to the office to work together as it was not too far away from where we lived, but others spent much less time in head office than we did as they lived much further away. This internship is not really meant to give you experience working in an office environment.

This was the first time the company had done any kind of summer internship programme, so it was not as smooth as it could have been. For example, I was not actually told that I would be doing field sales until the very first day on the job. I believed, up until that point, that I would be working at head office for the duration of the internship. I also would've found it helpful to receive more support early on in the field sales role. I was able to spend a day on the job with the man who taught us field selling skills during our initial training week, and I learned a lot that day. He was very experienced so it was useful to see him in action conversing with store owners/managers. The issue was that this day happened about a couple of weeks before the end of the internship, so there wasn't a lot of time to implement the skills I learned. Having said that, the company asked for a lot of feedback from the interns when the internship was over and have adapted the internship based on this feedback to make it better (e.g. the job description this year clearly states field sales). Therefore, most issues I dealt with will likely be ironed out before the next intake of interns.

The company invested a lot into the interns. We had a week of training at the beginning where we were specifically taught selling skills and how to do field sales. We were taken to a cash & carry (a large warehouse where field sales reps and small store owners typically get their stock from) to learn how they worked as the majority of interns would be getting stock that way, and we were taken to two McVitie's and Jacob's factories (pladis own these brands) to learn about the company and about the products we would be selling. Each intern also had a hire car for the duration of the internship.

The company has a great graduate scheme which it has been running for longer than the summer internship. The scheme appeals to me because it will not include any more field sales since I have already done that. Field sales was a good experience but I would not like to pursue it as a career, and I would like to gain some experience working in an office environment. The only drawback is that the head office is not in an ideal location for me and is based somewhere I would probably have to drive to every day, which is not my preferred method of transport.

The majority of the internship was field sales, which was performed alone. I got to see the other interns during the training weeks we had, which was great, but most of the time we were not together or with any other colleagues at the company as we were working from home. However, this is just the nature of the set-up of this internship.

This question is irrelevant for this internship. I have left the rating as 5/10 because there is no 'N/A' option. I was working mostly from home with my parents, so there was no cost of living. Other interns may have had different situations, such as choosing to live at university rather than with their parents for the summer. During the training weeks, the interns were all based in a hotel which was paid for by the company, and food during that time was also expensed to the company.

This question is irrelevant for the majority of this internship. I have left the rating as 5/10 because there is no 'N/A' option. I was working mostly from home, so the nightlife will depend entirely on where you live. During the training weeks, the interns were all based in a hotel but, due to the location of the hotel and the fact that we were only there on work-nights, going out was not an attractive option and the hotel had its own restaurants/bars anyway.

There were a couple of opportunities to get involved in activities but, since I was mostly working from home, these did not occur often at all. One day some employees and all the interns did take part in a charity day and, when the interns were at head office, there were a couple of small things going on at the office that we could take part in if we wished. For example, one day there was a McVitie's Nibbles baking competition happening.