Sales Support Analyst Review

I loved every day of placement, no day was the same and I was given huge amounts of responsibility and varied projects, both short and long term. I got to work directly with customers, agencies and was tasked with managing several budgets, projects and events at the same time. This year helped me decide what I want to do with my career.

I had the most supportive team I could have possibly asked for. Although they were predominantly remotely based, they were always keen and able to help me with anything. I truly value the opportunities for growth they gave me and the time and effort they invested in me and my projects.

I had regular communication with my manager and other team members, some more than others. I was trusted to work on huge projects which would directly impact the company's performance and learned many hard and soft business skills both from watching, and from directly interacting with my colleagues and peers.

Some days and weeks were definitely busier than others. As I was in a sales team, the holiday periods tended to be more quiet, whilst there were other weeks where I would be working late into the night. As the working hours were relatively flexible though, I always managed to compensate for any late nights or early mornings.

I was given more responsibility than I could have possibly imagined throughout my placement. When I first started I thought I had been trusted with too much, but this was just the beginning. At the end of my placement I was running programmes independently, speaking to the customer directly and organising huge EMEA-wide events more or less freely.

I developed a lot of hard and soft business skills from my placement, the main one being teamwork. I was incredibly close and well integrated into a geographically dispersed team, which I initially thought would be a challenge. This, among many of the more technical business skills I acquired, will be useful to me in any career.

Due to several organisational and hierarchical changes, mainly implemented by the worldwide office, there was constant change in the office, with people changing jobs, locations, tasks and teams. Some people welcomed this change but others were frustrated by the ever-changing nature of what seemed to be constant and ongoing restructuring.

I managed to get on board sooner than expected as I got my placement quite late in the academic year, and the office in which I was based had a lot of corporate processes associated with new hires. Overall, I was able to start on time and received all the materials I needed to get set.

I was given countless opportunities, both by my team and the colleagues in my office, to branch out and try new things, visit new places and volunteer. I also had access to technical training resources for my personal development, including websites teaching skills including data analysis and coding for free.

I would return to the office in which I was based due to the location, but perhaps not to the UK office where the grad scheme is based. Personally, the grad scheme does not appeal to me, but having gained a year's work experience at Intel I definitely know which industry I want to pursue a career in.

There weren't many interns in my office, but those of us who were there got along quite well. I also befriended many full-time employees who introduced me to many places and things to do outside of work. Overall, the social scene was made fantastic by the people and the location (Munich).

I was based in Munich for my placement, which is a notoriously expensive city with a huge housing shortage. Although the cost of living and socialising was quite high in Munich, I still managed to make the most of it and do not regret a single thing about spending a year there.

The nightlife in Munich is fantastic. There is something for everyone, with lots of exciting bars, clubs and events on all the time. Munich is also home to multiple universities, which means there is a huge social and nightlife scene among younger people, making it very easy to find places to go out.

There were volunteering opportunities offered by Intel that took place outside of the office, of which I participated in some. In terms of other opportunities, I took a lot of trips throughout Europe or to the mountains as everything was within relatively close proximity to the city, which is basically in the middle of Europe.