Sales Associate Review

My placement has been an amazing experience so far. I've built strong relationships with senior sames executives which has enabled me to learn more about the role I aspire to have in the future. The intern community is amazing too, you are able to have lots of fun with 70+ other people in the same position as yourself!

To earn an gain a level of respect from your peers and colleagues as an intern, I believe you need to show them your capabilities and your work ethic and they will learn to trust you over time. This is what happened with my team and I feel that they really value my contribution to meetings as well as my operational skills.

Due to the nature of the profession (sales), I have had multiple managers during my placement at SAP. Whilst some may be reluctant to go through change, it was an experience which allowed me to be led by several different managers, all of different backgrounds and experience levels, but all of whom gave superior guidance and allowed me to develop as a young professional.

The workload would vary throughout the course of the placement and largely it is a role where you are able to dictate how much work you take on. This means you have to manage your time effectively whilst still taking on various projects. The workload did however increase towards the end of quarters, a busy time for a lot of companies.

Responsibility definitely increased over time, very much parallel to the amount you felt valued by your colleagues. I was able to pick up an account to try and build relationships with, which really gave me an insight into the responsibility of a sales executive. I feel that now, I am given a lot of responsibility.

There are a lot of transferable skills you learn whilst on placement that you can take with you back into your uni life. I feel a lot more mature and ready to tackle my dissertation, however I feel as though I am ready to go straight into working. The training on sales has been somewhat limited so far, however there are courses in place now that means we will be put on a 12 week programme for sales enablement.

The atmosphere in the sales part of the office was always great when there were people in. Due to the nature of the job, a lot of sales professionals spend time out of the office with customers, so some days it is quiet. End of quarter brings a very lively atmosphere to the office!

The 'Steerco' team and specifically one member really helps drive the entire SAP placement scheme- I'm sure it wouldn't be as successful as it is without her, and definitely not as organised! They are constatly asking for feedback on what we think should be improved and always listen to our suggestions.

Personal training has not been so much of a focus in my opinion, however development has been. There haven't necessarily been a whole host of training sessions, however there are schemes to get involved in to develop your personal brand etc. The company invest a lot into the placement programme, one way they do this is by assigning everyone a 'buddy' when you start.

This is a difficult one, especially in sales. There is a sales academy which is aimed at grads and it would be perfect to start your career out in however it is a very tough process to get onto. On the other hand, there is a wide partner network who are always looking for ex-SAP interns.

The social scene was great- I lived with 3 other guys that i worked with at SAP in a central location. We would go out for drinks most weeks before corona virus hit and we really enjoyed spending a lot of time with other interns, e.g. going to watch the rugby, playing mini-golf

The one downside of living in London is the cost. Although the wage at SAP is reasonable for an internship, the cost of living and going out in London is very expensive. It was always really nice going out with full-time employees in your team as well as other interns!

Very little to do in the actual area that we worked in, hence the rented accommodation in central London. Feltham is not a very nice place for pubs/clubs/anything really. However it didn't matter at all as the train station was a 20 minute ride into London and there was a free shuttle bus from the office to the station.

To an extent, we could play football on a weekly basis outside of work that was a lot of fun and very competitive. There was also a free gym which we could use whenever.