Presales Communications Associate Review

I had a fantastic time on placement at SAP working in Presales. The opportunities that I had during the course of my 13 month internship were incredible and far exceeded my expectations.

I felt extremely valued by my colleagues. My team made me feel like family right from day 1 and were very welcoming. I wasn't treated like an intern, but instead like a full-time member of staff. At SAP they have an 'Instant Hero' employee recognition scheme, where you can nominate your colleagues for an award to acknowledge excellent performance. I was fortunate enough to receive 5 of these awards from my colleagues during the course of my placement year and felt like my efforts were truly appreciated.

I had regular (weekly) meetings scheduled with my line manager. In these meetings we would ensure I am on track and cover anything we needed to discuss. A weekly meeting was not always necessary but if I wanted to discuss something with my manager, he was very approachable and went the extra mile to support me throughout my placement. He was very supportive of me when studying for my CIM (Chartered Institute of Marketing) Award which I completed whilst on placement and even helped me to brainstorm ideas! In addition, there is a 'buddy' scheme at SAP which was helpful within the onboarding period when you are new to the role and getting to know everybody. The whole team were very supportive and helped me to develop both personally and professionally during my placement at SAP.

Very busy! I spent a large proportion of my time producing customer videos and would say that as a result of the success of my work, the demand for videos was pretty intense at times. This meant that on some occasions I worked late into the evenings and on weekends to get the videos finished on time and out to the customer. This was by choice as I invested a lot of passion and commitment into my work. However, with the support of my manager, we put a strategy in place to better set internal expectations around video creation which made a huge difference!

Massive responsibility. I was given the responsibility of managing our virtual studio asset, whereby I facilitated bookings from all areas of the business and created over 50 customer facing videos. I was also trusted with demoing SAP solutions to customers and partners on many occasions. These would take place at our Head Office, at large SAP events and also at customer sites. I was also responsible for organising our quarterly offsite Presales meetings for a team of over 120 people. This involved liaising with SAP's partners and arranging logistics, which was a rewarding experience.

The biggest skill that I gained this year is video creation, which is something that I will now have for life and can apply to my Marketing degree and beyond. In fact, I even used these skills that I developed to support my CIM Assessment whilst on placement. In addition, I enhanced my presentation skills, as I had the opportunity to demo SAP solutions to many customers and partners throughout the year.

Lively, especially during quarter-ends! Despite being based in Feltham (Middlesex), which some may say isn't quite as exciting as working in Central London, there is a real buzz around the place. Personally I felt that the head office is a perfect size. It is large enough to feel exciting and vibrant but small enough that I would bump into 2 or 3 people I knew on the stairs on the way to my desk. The modern open plan layout is great as it means that there is a fantastic level of communication amongst employees across all levels of the business. Everybody is really friendly and helpful - it's a great atmosphere!

Very well organised. This year was the seventh intake of placement students at SAP - Each year it keeps getting better and better as they find out more about the great things undergraduates are capable of achieving. There is a month handover period at the beginning of the placement, whereby the existing interns teach you the ropes and help you to get up to speed quickly - this is invaluable!

During my placement year we had a single intern development day which was organised by the intern project team (intern volunteers). This was a really helpful day and it taught me some presentation techniques that I have now used in every presentation since! At SAP there are lots of personal training and development courses that you can go on as an employee. However, these are mostly online and it is up to you whether you decide to enroll. Personally, I found myself way too busy to spend time completing online training courses but it is good to know that the training is there should you decide to take it on.

Very appealing! They have a Sales and Presales Academy whereby graduates get the opportunity to live in California for 5 months whilst receiving training in SAP's state of the art training centre, all expenses paid for! There is a one month onboarding period before going to Calfornia and the final 6 months is spent working in the UK within the team that you have been assigned to. I am definitely going to apply for the Presales Academy as it looks like too good an opportunity too miss out on!

SAP take on around 45 interns every year so there is a great social aspect to the placement year. I personally took the decision to buy a car and commute from home during the year however many students took the opportunity to live together in shared accommodation. There are many large events throughout the year, including 'bonding' days organised by SAP. Boat parties on the Thames have now become a yearly tradition! Many of the interns go for drinks every Thursday after work so there is definitely a great social scene amongst the interns.

Expensive - but only because nobody wants to live in and/or socialise in Feltham! There are many places nearby where the interns managed to find affordable housing for the year without living on baked beans on toast every day, but it's not cheap. Central London is the location of choice for socialising, but again, that comes with Central London drinks prices.

The nightlife in Feltham is not one that you would want to experience. As aforementioned, Central London is the destination of choice for nights out and is close enough to the office. Every Thursday many interns go for drinks in Richmond which is a short train journey from the office. There is also a free bus service to Feltham station from right outside the office, which helps a lot!

There are some, yes! I played 6 a side football every Wednesday after work with SAP colleagues (including many interns) at a leisure centre nearby in Sunbury on-Thames. As a reward for regular attendance, I had the opportunity to fly out to Germany in July to participate in the SAP World Cup, where we played against many other SAP teams from all around the world! It was awesome! Apart from being knocked out by the Germans in the round of 16....!!!