Sales Support Review

I enjoyed the placement to a large extent as I experienced working in a corporate environment for the first time. The benefits that came with the role in this company were amazing (free lunch/fundraising opportunities/free mobile phone and laptop etc.) The responsibilties that came with the role made me feel like a full-time employee, and I felt like I was part of a huge community. I enjoyed being able to have opportunities like fundraising with other interns, as it was a new experience for me. Having 40 or so other interns in the company really allowed me to enjoy working as there were others whom I could relate to as they were in the same position as me. As I took on reponsibilities like a full-time employee, I did find myself feeling overwhelmed at times with workloads and balancing my tasks. When other interns were on leave, I had to take over their responsibilities and it was challenging trying to manage multiple meetings each day, whilst also completing tasks within strict deadlines. Overall I really enjoyed the placement though as it gave me a very realistic outlook of the corporate world, and I feel I have improved as a person, as well as acquire further skills for the future.

I felt valued to a medium extent in the sense that the team would rely on me for delivering work, that was needed for meetings on a weekly basis. But as I would barely see my team it would be difficult to develop relationships with my colleagues for them to value my contribution more. My colleagues outside of my team who I worked with on additional projects made me feel valued as they included me in meetings etc. which encouraged me to contribute more, as well as learn more about the business. My manager was certainly the most appreciative of my work and made me feel extremely valued throughout my placement!

I received support and guidance to a large extent by the company. Although I was formally assigned mentors, I used other colleagues in the wider business as mentors for support. There was always guidance and support available whenever I needed it. Whenever I felt overwhelmed with deadlines and struggled to balance responsibilities, I always had other colleagues in the wider business who were there to support me with advice.

I was heavily occupied with work during busy periods, as there were external meetings and multiple presentations every quarter. Also each month I would be given some more projects to complete and would struggle with the tight deadlines, and I would end up working extra hours in the evening. When covering for my colleague while they were away on leave, I was often working till late in the night for their managers due to the excessive workloads. Outside of the busy periods, my workloads were managable and the deadlines were very easy to work within. The workloads really depend on the circumstances of the team, hence will be different for everyone.

I was given a huge amount of responsibility with weekly tasks such as sales forecasting and performance reporting. I also put together extensive presentations together with reports, which analysed the performance of the past quarter to help the management board of my team as well as teams in the wider business. I felt like my manager could trust me and rely on me, as I took on more responsibilities throughout the year to help ease the pressures on the management team. I was also part of other projects where I was given further responsibilities in addition to my own role.

To a large extent do I feel that the skills I have developed will assist me in my degree and beyond. I have developed many skills such as interpersonal, team work, IT and time management skills. I believe that the placement has improved my self-confidence, and has allowed me to feel more optimistic in gaining employment after I graduate.

There were quiet and busy times in the office, so towards the end of each business quarter the atmospehere felt tense. But I always enjoyed the office atmosphere in general as pretty much everyone was friendly.

I think the placement was extremely well-organised, as I barely had to worry about things as there were always areas to go to for help.

The company invested a HUGE amount of time and resources for personal training and development. So throughout the placement I felt I could continuously develop nmy skills and learn new things about the business through events, coffee corners, online training programmes etc.

Future employment prospects at SAP are extremely appealing, however there are a very limited number of business areas which will offer employment to placement students after graduating. For business areas which require extensive experience and expertise prior to the job, such as Presales, Sales, Legal, and Compliance roles for example, it's almost impossible to enter into future employment straight after graduation. However other business areas such as HR and marketing, there are options to return back after graduation. Hence being able to return back to the company really does depend on the business area, for me personally I don't think there are graduate roles in the business areas I am interested in, as they require higher qualifications and years of experience prior to the roles. On the other hand there are graduate schemes such as the Sales Academy and the Presales Academy, where a small proportion of graduates if lucky will be accepted back into the company, but it all depends on the business area you are interested in.

There was a very good social scene amongst fellow placement students as there were over 40 of us in the same office, which was great fun. There were regular social programmes for interns which helped to feel connected as an intern community.

Within the office most events were free, but in London the cost of living and socialising was relatively high. For company events, expenses could be claimed back but for other social events the costs would be high.

There wasn't much variety of nightlife options in the area I worked.

There were opportunities to join other actvities outside the job role, but not much outside of work completely.