Presales Placement Student Review

Overall, I had a great year with SAP. There were some times where I got tired with some aspects of my role, however they were heavily outnumbered by times where I was loving the work I was doing. The perks, training opportunities and 'extra-curricular' were outstanding.

The Presales department, in which I worked for the year, has a tightly knit community and I was made to feel welcome, included and valued from a very early stage. Being given the chance to produce genuinely 'value-add' work also helped me to feel valued.

My manager (and other colleagues who I worked for during the year) achieved the perfect balance for me- giving me support and guidance when I needed it whilst also giving me the autonomy to assert my own 'style' on my work.

While there were obviously some times when I was very busy and sometimes when I was less 'maxed out', overall my workload balanced out pretty evenly over the year. This highlights SAP's nature as a quarterly driven company.

I was given the opportunity to present to customers, help build presentations, produce demo videos that were circulated both internally and externally and more. There were some things that I just couldn't do as they were inappropriate for an intern but overall I was treated as and given the responsibility of a full-time employee.

The general business acumen I gained from the placement will help me greatly in my studies when I return to university. The presenting knowledge and skills that I have gained from the year (through both experience and training) will prove invaluable in helping me get to my goal of becoming a motivational speaker.

Particularly around quarter-end there was always a good buzz in the office and a spirit of camaraderie. The amount of ad hoc events/ drinks that SAP puts on really adds to a "work hard, play hard" atmosphere in the office.

Whilst there were certain ambiguities in some aspects of my role, I actually enjoyed the freedom to assert myself and shape the role to me. On-boarding and other intern events/activities were all very well organised.

SAP are amazing in terms of the level of training opportunities they offer. For those with a proactive mentality, there were endless opportunities to extend knowledge and develop skills through both training and coaching opportunities. I personally completed a number of globally-endorsed high level presenting training courses (both online and in face-to-face workshops).

Whilst there is not a fully formed graduate programme in place at the moment, SAP are beginning to implement one. Ad hoc jobs are available as and when the need arises and my experience from the placement year will put me in good stead if I apply for one. SAP also has a sales/Presales academy scheme which involves a few months training in California! So I will be applying for that.

Having a large community of interns was certainly beneficial (34-strong). As you'd expect, people split off into their own little groups to an extent but there was a number of socials with the whole group as well. Playing football with work colleagues weekly provided a good social outlet.

Working in Feltham, the places where we would go out included Richmond, Kingston and Windsor. Prices were quite high at these places (as you'd expect being just outside London) but not as expensive as going into central. Living costs were quite high also.

Richmond was the main spot that we would go to after work, it has a few bars and clubs and is a very nice location along the river. If we wanted to head out properly, we would get the tube into Central (40mins), where obviously you have all the clubs of London...

Aside from SAP-run CSR events outside the office, there were a number of activities to get involved with- I played football weekly with colleagues from work and even got to go to Frankfurt to play in the 'SAP World Cup'. Aside from football there are a number of activities such as bike rides that you can get involved with.