Sales Operations Analyst Review

I became a Business Operations Intern working within the Sales Enablement Group at Intel. Right from the first few days up until where we are now, I have enjoyed my role within the company. I was fully integrated into a very helpful and understanding team, which aided my knowledge building of both my role and the internal aspects of this multinational company. The relationship you have with the intern community, and permanent employees is fantastic. Overall, I could not have asked for more of an enjoyable experience as an intern.

After starting as an Intern, the message that was provided from the permanent employees straight away, was that we are valued as highly as any other employee. This extended to having the ability to reach out to any level of management at any time, or approaching any other colleague without thinking twice about it. Throughout my time here, I have grown into my team, and feel highly valued and entrusted to represent the team and company through travel/conferences and meetings.

When you start as an Intern, you are given an On the Job Coach, who has weekly meetings with you throughout your time at the company, to assess how you are progressing, or how you can improve. We also had a buddy system that runs off a similar principle. With regards to management support, I have bi-weekly meetings with my manager, which gives me a chance to give them a download about what I have been doing and what I am looking to do in the future. This platform has given me the ability to raise personal development requests, such as presentation skills/general career development workshops. Raising this with my manager allowed the facilitation of these events to take place, not only for myself, but for other interns too. These support mechanisms are available at all times, so if you needed guidance from management or seniority, you have this option – alongside having the full support of your team.

Some interns have daily tasks that gets them through the day quite nicely, but my job role is slightly different. I do have daily tasks, which will take up about 10% of my day, but the majority of my time is spent talking to sales management, analysing what they want to do, and using Salesforce to provide reports and data analysis. I also involve myself in different teams/projects that give me the opportunity to connect with other parts of the business. All in all, every day is busy, but I’m busy doing a job that I enjoy, so time flies by.

As far as responsibility goes, I have been trusted to run my own projects and collaborate on tasks outside of my team. For example, halfway through my placement, I lead the deployment of a new tool, which I am now the champion for in EMEA. This included working through the development of the tool, feeding back information I gathered in weekly meetings with the field, leading testing across multiple areas of the business, and in multiple areas of the world. Organising training, and actually rolling this out. That level of responsibility to have as an intern, is quite rare.

Knowing what happens in real life outside of the books at university, is very beneficial. I would recommend an internship of any kind to any student. Having a year placement at such a large company has proven to broaden my knowledge of both the market we are involved in, and how to incorporate all knowledge surrounding theory and business strategy into development of studious learning. The most important point to recognise, is that it is great having the basic understanding and theoretical background from University, but actually applying this, and seeing how this works in real life is the most beneficial part of securing an internship.

General atmosphere inside the Intel Office is predominantly full of positivity and optimism. It is definitely an atmosphere that makes you want to come into work in the morning. Colleagues are always happy to grab a coffee or have a quick chat in the corridor, which always makes the place feel more inviting. The convenience of having a kitchen in the centre of each floor, gives the opportunity to get away from your desk and clear your head for a couple of minutes.

Once we gained the internship we were invited to an open day, to meet the teams we were going to work with, and got to meet the Intern we would be taking over from. This was great because any questions you had about starting or anything regarding your future job, you had the ability to speak to someone who knows what you are thinking. When you join, you are put through three weeks of training through the different departments, giving you a broad look at the business. The intern you are taking over from stays for the first four weeks of your placement, so you have plenty of time for them to offload everything you are to take over, and to introduce you to the team, people you will be working with, and the best methods for completing tasks. Following this, you have the full support of the team to coach and guide you until you are fully on your feet.

As mentioned in an earlier question, the three weeks of training provided gets you up to speed in how to work in a professional environment. Once you get to grips with your tasks after the intern you take over from leaves, you have the ability to take part in multiple Learning and Development sessions. These range from generic career development, to Risk Management, Time Management, Presentation Skills and many more. My team have also helped to discuss dissertation topics, which has been very useful.

Personally, I feel like initiating my career in such a prestigious company would be extremely beneficial for future career growth. Together with the enjoyment I have had this year, and the integration into the team and company, I feel that I would love to come back. There are Graduate positions available, so I am hoping to be successful in returning.

As interns we have a few committees set up to increase socialising and creating a great work/life balance. We have a Sports and Social committee and charity committee set up for us to provide fun and enjoyable events for other interns. There are occasionally team events, and departmental events that take place, where everyone is encouraged to meet out of the office.

I do not live in the area, so do not know about living costs. However the socialising costs are quite similar to that of University towns like Bristol.

Swindon isn’t the best night out, if you compare it to university cities. But the people you are with make the social events so much fun. There are a couple of clubs and a few bars in town, and because people go into separate housing there is always the opportunity to have fun outside of town. The Intern committees usually do a good job of organising themed events with the clubs.

I think the main opportunities lie in the committees, we have been on trips away, to sports events and music events, so opportunity to get out and do things away from work is quite good. Also, we are competing in several sports in the Corporate Games this year, so we will get the chance to go and network with other companies and to spend the weekend having fun and developing relationships with friends and colleagues.