Project Management Associate Review

Overall I have had a great experience in these past months at SAP. The placement programme team is one of the best; they have made sure every intern is happy and enjoying their time at SAP. From the start of the placement, we had two weeks onboarding, which a lot of companies don't offer. The onboarding helped me get up-to-speed, meet the other interns, feel more comfortable and get used to the work routine before I fully started my role. Throughout the year, you also get to apply for different opportunities provided by the placement programme which allows you to experience different areas of the business.

SAP has become my second family these past few months. Everyone in the office, no matter what role and seniority in the business, show how much they care for the interns and are always happy to chat and provide you with feedback or valuable lessons that they have learned in their careers.

This really varies from task to task. In the beginning, we were given a lot more guidance as we were new to the business. Throughout the year, you have to become self-sufficient. If you need more guidance or clarification, you'll have to ask. And of course, they will help you if you need more help.

This varies depending on the time of the year. If its the beginning or end of a quarter I will be a lot busier than in the middle of the quarter. However, this is still manageable, and managers are more than understanding if you still need some time off during these busy times. I would say that there is a perfect balance because you'll have quieter times that will compensate for the busy times. Throughout the year you learn how much you can have on your plate and also how to balance different tasks at the same time.

I was given a lot of responsibility, from working with senior leadership to running several mini-projects, working with confidential data, creating reports for key areas fo the business. You always have to make sure that your job/information you work with is accurate as other people in the business depend on that to make the appropriate business decisions, which is a big responsibility.

I feel that when I go back to university, I will be even more successful in my degree studies. I have improved my work ethic, created good working habits and increased my productivity. Before I joined my placement, my time management skills were good, but now they are even better! I gained a lot of confidence in myself, learned how to work with people from different cultures and personalities, and found out how resilient and capable I am of doing a great job. Not only that, but I feel more equipped to join the professional world, the placement was a learning curve from student to professional. When I finish my degree and join a company as a graduate, I will be more prepared than the students that didn't have a placement.

There was always something happening in the office, from network opportunities to customer events. The office has a great environment to work in. Everyone is nice and friendly and easy to talk to. The open space allows you to meet different people. You have several communal spaces with tables and sofas to work in if you don't feel like sitting at your desk all day.

The placement was very well organized and structured. They planned everything from onboarding, training sessions, time with the team in the first month. The internship started with two weeks of training with basic office training like outlook, excel, work etiquette, org structure, business solutions, etc. We also have frequent reviews with the placement programme, where we can give them feedback and let them know which opportunities/training we would like to see/focus on the future.

I would say they invested a lot of their time into training us. We've had people from different parts of the business to give us training from SAP solutions, Public Speaking, Sales. And we also have a lot of say in what trainings we have, as they will do their best to cater to our needs. We also have different training platforms available for free like Linked In Learning and SAP's internal training platform such as openSAP.

I haven't finished my placement yet, but I've seen from the previous intern cohort that a lot of interns get hired back. Some even get the opportunity to start a part-time job as soon as they finish the placement. which is great, they go back to university without worrying about getting a part-time job. Even if they don't get hired back from SAP, the prospects of getting a job with one of SAP's partners are also very likely.

We are quite lucky because we have such a big intern cohort. There are 78 interns and most of them are in the same office so it is quite nice. We get together to have lunch and play pool in our work breaks, chat and have a cup of coffee. We usually have a social night every Thursday as well. It's also really easy to hang out with other people that have been in SAP for longer, go on a coffee break with them and get to know them.

I would say in terms of costs of living is quite reasonable considering we are so close to London. It really depends on the city that you choose to live in. I live in Feltham and is quite cheaper than the other cities around here. It is also really easy and cheap to get to central London from here.

The nightlife in Feltham it's not great, but considering that you can easily get the tube or the train to get to central London or other cities with pubs and clubs I can't really complain. It really depends on the person's preference. There are a few pubs in Feltham but we always prefer to go somewhere else to go out.

There are a lot of opportunities outside of work. We get to go to SAP events in central London and sometimes even abroad. We've also had volunteering opportunities and some of us visited SAP's partners like Microsoft and PwC. Recently they've also started an initiative to have guitar lessons and singalongs which is really fun! One of my placement highlights was participating in a mindfulness course called "Search Inside Yourself" for two days, it was such a unique experience!