Sales Associate Review

Whilst exceeding my expectations of the type of work i'll be doing in my job role, I have felt as though the type of work I have been involved in has developed my understanding of not only my specific sales role, but also the dynamic technology industry and how SAP has an impact on organisations worldwide. I feel as though the work I have completed will naturally supplement any graduate scheme applications I intend to apply for in the future

Very much from the offset it was clear the expectations of the job role and how my team were there to support me in developing an understanding of the company & how it operates. It became clear that the extent of my interest in the job role would provide me with further opportunities to support my colleagues and add overall value to the rest of the team.

I experienced a lot of change in management during my placement year, something which took me some time to get used to. As a result of this, there were times where I felt guidance wasn't always given however, I knew who else to speak to in the company for any support & guidance where I felt was missing.

I quickly learnt that the extent of work I was given on a daily basis was very cyclical. The opportunity to branch out and work with other departments enabled me to ensure I had enough work to keep me busy on a day to day basis whilst I had the chance to further develop my personal network within SAP.

It was clear that trust were to be built between myself and my colleagues before responsibility was delegated to myself. Once that was established, I found myself immersed in projects where I was the lead role or point of contact - something which motivated me perform to the best of my ability to ensure the work was completed as best as it could be.

I feel as though I have a clear understanding of how to behave in a professional environment whilst I have built the confidence to communicate with my colleagues and external stakeholders appropriately. This should assist me when applying to graduate schemes as I can demonstrate my level of maturity from having a years experience at SAP.

Having the intern community distributed throughout the office always made the atmosphere in the office feel energetic, whilst you knew there were always people you knew in the building you could speak to. Working on the sales floor, the atmosphere was no doubt always full of energy as the sales teams are always on the phone and dominantly much louder than some of the other sections of the building.

Immediately after I confirmed my offer from SAP, there was instant communication and guidance from the placement team as to how the on-boarding process were to take place and who to contact if we had any questions. Continuous communication using different social media streams including Whatsapp & Facebook groups, meant that I always felt in touch with the placement cohort and if I had any questions or issues, I knew who to go to.

It is made clear that the placement year is up to you to take advantage of the extra opportunities that are available throughout the placement year. Specific training courses & extra activities were introduced throughout the year to help us with our personal development, therefore it was up to us as to what we wish to take part & engage in and how we felt this would benefit us.

The sales academy as a graduate programme is most definitely the most appealing employment prospect to consider for when I finish university. Not only does this provide the opportunity come back and work for SAP, but the programme also offers its students the ability to improve their hard & soft skills, whilst ultimately develop into a successful sales person in the future.

From the beginning of the placement programme, we have been lucky that all of the placement students get along very well and every Thursday there was a social event that took place in the form of drinks or some other fan activity. This was as a result of the relationships built during the first few months in the office that the placement team help to establish.

It is commonly known that London is very expensive to live in and that can often put people off from wanting to live there. However, living quite centrally in London forced me to understand how to budget more effectively and choose when I was able to socialise in order to maintain a reasonable standard of living.

Although there isn't very many social activities to do in Feltham, we were very fortunate to work near other towns which include Richmond, Clapham & Putney as well as being 30 minutes from central London. All of these places offer more bars and clubs in the area and enabled us to plan ahead if we wanted to socialise on a weekly basis.

Besides playing football every monday, there weren't many other opportunities to get involved with outside of work. This is always difficult as we had to learn how to manage our time throughout the week & on the weekends therefore it was up to us to decide what other activities we wished to get involved with outside of work.