MD & COO Executive Associate Review

I have had an amazing experience during my time at SAP on placement, I have had the opportunity to get involved in a large variation of different activities and tasks and have been fortunate enough to work with so many different personalities and alternative workstyles. I feel I have benefited greatly from this experience and hope I get to work with people I have worked with this year again in the future!!!

Being the intern which supports the senior leadership team at SAP I was given lots of support and guidance from mentors and other members of staff in the department. All of the team made me feel welcome and constantly praised me on my working styles and ability to achieve results efficiently.

I have been supported throughout my entire time at SAP, by members of the team and wider community of SAP. Everyone is so helpful and understanding If you have a question and are happy to point you in the direction of help If they can’t help you themselves. The atmosphere in the office every day is great even during the more stressful periods of the year.

My Workload varied but every day I had a different task to tackle amongst my usual cadence tasks. There have been some occasions where I have had to work extended hours in the office in order to complete a task or complete a piece of work before the deadline, this was nothing too taxing and my dedication was always rewarded.

My role came with a large amount of responsibility which I have personally relished the opportunity to be treated as one of the senior leadership team here at SAP, I have been asked to oversee a large amount of significant projects and tasks and have helped to organise an promote a number of different events to the internal and external SAP communities.

The Skills I have developed and training I have undertaken will be invaluable to my degree studies and beyond. During my time here I feel all of my key learnings have contributed towards my personal development and has prepared me for the transition back into university and also given me the opportunity to consider a range of different job roles that I could consider beyond my degree.

The atmosphere in the office is amazing, everyone is always smiling and positive - even people you have only passed a few times in the corridor will no doubt say Good Morning or ask you if you’re ok in passing which is such a lovely sentiment! Even during the busy periods everyone always has time to stop and ask if you’re ok or have plans for the weekend. All of the SAP offices I have visited during my placement have all had the same atmosphere and friendly faces which has been great, especially during the early periods when you’re the ‘newbie’

My work placement was well organised and my time was managed efficiently, this was led by other members of the team during the first couple of weeks who helped me to get into the swing of things but from then on it was up to me how I managed my time and workload. There has been plenty of opportunities for me to get involved in different things, although there has been times where I have had to turn down opportunities due to my bandwidth not permitting to take on any extra activities. This is one of the invaluable skills I have learnt in terms of prioritising tasks and taking part in opportunities that would contribute to my learnings the most.

SAP asked me to participate in a number of different training courses on both a digital and physical platforms. I was given the opportunity to undertake the Myers Briggs test with the rest of the intern community, this was a great experience and allowed all of the interns to bond over our different working styles and personal attributes according to the results of the test. It was also interesting coming away from the session with the interns and applying my findings to other group tasks I have participated in following receiving my result and also discussing my results with peers and exchanging findings of the test.

SAP has a variation of Early Talent and graduate pathways that I will 100% consider applying for following the completion of my degree, having spoken to graduates and employees who are part of the early talent community about their experiences and how they feel they have benefitted from being part of SAP’s culture and workforce.

The Social scene amongst both the intern, graduate and early talent community has been great this year, we have all really mixed well – it has been great to get to know so many different personalities. In my experience I have made both new friends and also reconnected with old ones since ending up placement with someone who I went to secondary school with!!

I personally cannot claim I had a great experience when it came to organising housing ahead of my placement with SAP (not to say I am holding them liable!!) myself and a fellow intern managed to find a cosy place only a stone throw away from the main SAP office situated in Staines upon Thames. It’s a little pricey (around £640 a month) 100% worth the money we paid in terms of convenience and comfort though! We live pretty close to a small town centre that has a lovely retail park perfect for a touch of retail therapy complete with Gym, Cinema and various resturants. Alternatively Windsor, Kingston and the White City Westfield where not too much of a trek away if we needed a blowout!

Staines is a pretty small town centre, but has a number of small bars and pubs that myself and my housemate frequented! If we fancied a little more nightlife we would more often than not venture into the city or surrounding areas with other members of the Intern/Graduate community. We mainly visited Richmond as a large group in the summer after a hard day at the office!

Lots of opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work, a number of SAP employees had organised sports and social teams, football and netball just to name a few. The beauty of SAP also is that if there isn’t a team which plays your sport you are more than welcome and in fact encouraged to get one together!