Summer Sales Internship Review

I thoroughly enjoyed the 10 week sales internship. I met some truly inspirational people, listened to so many really interesting speakers, had a great training week, completed 7 weeks in the field undertaking 2 different tasks (selling walkers products to cafes and delis and merchandising independent retailers), and 2 brilliant weeks in Head Office. Would thoroughly recommend! I've loved learning about what a fantastic company they are and I'm not surprised that everyone I spoke to love working for them.

We were made to feel at home within the PepsiCo community and our colleagues. When in Head Office, all members of staff whether they were involved in the internship programme or not were really friendly and happy to help in any way they could or answer various questions we had. The SDRs who we worked closely with for the entirety of the internship were really supportive too and very grateful for all the work we did.

We were given lots of support by the team running the internship as well as other specific members of staff including our SDRs (each intern was given a 'buddy' who currently work as a sales development rep for PepsiCo) and our individual mentors (each intern was assigned a mentor who was based in Head Office to help us with some of the larger Head Office tasks, discuss possible career opportunities, answer any questions we had and also allow us to spend a day shadowing them in their particular job role). All of whom were very supportive throughout the programme.

We had targets each day. These were realistic but also allowed some time for individuals to take some initiative and exceed these targets which is what makes you stand out in a programme like the one at PepsiCo. We were encouraged to use our imagination and stretch ourselves whilst at the same time, ensuring we maintained a good work life balance

We were given a region that we personally were responsible for so I'd say we were given quite a lot of responsibility. Within this region however you had a call list of suggested retailers or cafes and delis, but again, you were encouraged to be creative and take on and talk to as many customers in your region as possible by crossing lots of doors each day. This not only contributed to your targets and hopefully sales, but helped you to build your confidence and customer service and selling skills.

I did a degree in Human Geography and Planning and graduated just before taking part in the PepsiCo summer internship. Even though the internship was in sales and so not directly related to my degree, I have no doubt that it has been invaluable for my time post degree!

All staff that I encountered in the office were very friendly and eager to hear all about the interns and what our tasks were for the internship. Everyone was happy to help and answer any questions we had and we were made to feel very welcome.

Generally it was a slick operation, as expected. One initial hiccup was the lists of suggested retailers to go to was slightly late in being sent to us but this just meant that we had to think outside the box and come up with places to go to off our own back which is definitely not a bad thing! Also the second task had to change fairly last minute, which was not a problem for us at all, but it meant that our 'buddies' (SDRs) were not particularly clear with what our role as interns was. Again though, this just encouraged more communication with our SDRs to come up with a productive, enjoyable and valuable plan of action.

Not only did they invest a huge amount of time into the internship but they invested even more time into it. There was so much prep needed for this internship to be as successful as it was and there were so many factors that didn't even initially occur to us that they thought of. They really did do it well and gave us lots of aids to make our lives easier such as a van each, fuel cards, notebooks and sales tools, lots of merchandise for the stores, and so much more! Also not only was it the members of staff directly involved in the internship that spent time with us but also some really senior members of the company invested time in us, not only in talks, but in question and answer sessions, listening to our presentations and attending some dinners with us too which was a fantastic opportunity to hear more about them and their career.

We are currently waiting to hear whether we have an offer to be on their graduate programme - known as the ACP (accelerated career programme). But if I got the offer then without a doubt I would jump at the chance.

All the interns were similar characters and all very sociable and so this meant we spent every evening as one big group which resulted in us all becoming really close not only on a professional level but also on a personal one. Definitely lots of friends to keep in contact with.

During our time in the field we had the choice of where to work and so I could just live at home which was great. Some interns stayed with friends too. During the head office weeks in Reading, we had dinners every night - sometimes at the hotel and sometimes we headed into town. It was a very sociable atmosphere as we would all be together each evening for dinner and drinks.

We only really experienced this on the last night of the internship (our choice!) but it was great fun and lots of choice of bars and restaurants.

We made a whatsapp chat for all the interns and so we all kept in touch and chatted every day on that to see how people were getting on and arrange meeting up etc. also we had the opportunity to work at some festivals over the summer to promote Naked smoothies which was such a fun experience to do amongst friends!