Sales Operations Associate Review

I really enjoyed my placement in SAP. During my placement year I got to learn and develop many skills such as effective communication, Excel skills and basic programming. I also got to know many friends in my intern cohort who share my interests and we would spend time during the weekends in London.

I feel very valued by my colleagues. My team will give me real responsibilities and work that adds value to the business. As I produce reports to senior Sales Directors, my team will ensure I get the recognition for my work and exposure to different opportunities in the workplace.

My manager and team is always ready to give me support and guidance when I need it. After the handover month from previous interns, my manager had weekly one to one meetings to check if I was comfortable with my workload. They also support me by giving me advice on non-work related topics such as interview tips and my long term career goals.

My workload keeps me busy on a daily basis but it's never overwhelming. As my team supports the Sales Team, we get more work at the end of the quarter. Occasionally when I have downtime I'll either ask my team if they have any work for me, or work on automating and improving my reports.

I was given a lot of responsibility in my placement. I was heavily involved in the company's Annual Planning and helped my team finish all work before the global deadline. In my day to day I also help my team support Senior Directors by providing ad hoc analysis and executive summaries on deals in different industries.

I developed many skills during my placement. In the first month we had a handover period from previous interns, who gave us a lot of training on our day to day work. After that I used SAP's Lynda.com license to learn more on Excel and VBA to ease my daily cadences. We also get presentation and product training exclusive to placement students.

Everyone is very friendly and relaxed. As it is an opened office space, it feels less daunting to walk to someone's desk to ask questions, especially in the beginning. I sit with my team and it is nice to be able to chat and socialize with them at the end of the working day.

It is very organised as we had a good on-boarding in the beginning on the placement and subsequent check in sessions where we get to share our experiences with other interns and the Placement Steering Committee. Everything was set up properly before we joined so there was no hassle for us new joiners.

I can do any online training course available on Lynda.com, which is perfect as I can learn whatever interests me in my own pace. We can also sign up for Pluralsight for free, where we get to learn more advanced skills such as programming. The Placement Steering Committee also arrange sessions for us to improve our presentation and Excel skills.

SAP does not have a graduate scheme for placement students but do offer part time or a role after graduation for placement students who perform well. SAP is also a large international corporation and many businesses use our software, hence our employment prospects with other companies are also really high.

We placement students have weekly drinks to socialize and wind down from work. I also visit London with my friends who I met during the placement to visit sights and watch theater productions. We also have a pool table in the office games room where we can play pool and socialize after work.

There are not a lot of places to socialise in Feltham. We usually go to Richmond, Kingston or Houndslow to drinks or movies. However, the cost of living in Feltham is cheap and I got to save some money for my final year. It is also very near to Heathrow Airport so I didn't have to pay a fortune to travel to the airport whenever I'm flying to another country.

There are no clubs and limited choices of bars in Feltham, which is why we usually go to Richmond for drinks. London is also a train ride away so sometimes we have team dinners in Central London. However this wasn't really a bother to me as my friends and I would rather have drinks and hang out at our house.

SAP provides many opportunities for employees to take part in activities such as the Green Team, Volunteering and Football games with colleagues. Placement students also get a chance to participate in events that are not related to our role, so we get to be exposed to different opportunities in the business.