Business Operations Associate Review

My time at SAP has been exceptional so far. From day one, I was treated like a valued member of the team and the role gave me real responsibility . This placement has definitely enhanced my personal development as well propelling my graduate opportunities for when I return to university.

My team consisted of 5 other amazing colleagues. They were supportive and always recognised my work. They were always there to give me guidance when needed and I had felt like I had been a part of the team for years! There was also an 'appreciate' scheme where you could be recognised (via financial rewards) for tasks completed that were beyond your scope of work.

In my role, I was supervised closely by a member of my team. We had Bi-Weekly meetings set up where we could discuss any issues that I was facing or even just how I was finding the placement programme in general. My manager was always available to speak to me and was willing to sit with me on numerous occasions to discuss how to make the most of out of my placement and helping me discover different areas of the business.

The workload was dependant on the time of the month. My role was a lot busier towards month end and the start of the next month as we are forecasting and reviewing actuals in the system, however it was not unbearable and was relatively easy to maintain the deadline. If you do see yourself having some downtime, there are numerous courses you can take on the Open SAP page which are definitely useful!

I was solely responsible for handling certain tasks so I was given quite a lot of responsibility. The information and data that I had gathered was then presented senior management in the business. It was never a case of doing small, meaningless tasks, there was real responsibility within the role.

My role allowed me to increase my skills in Microsoft Excel and my analytical skills. However, I feel that working at SAP and working in a corporate environment has allowed me to work more on my 'soft' skills. My interpersonal skills, time management and work ethic have improved significantly which is definitely useful for when I return to university.

There is an open plan layout in the office so it was very open and sociable. Everyone was very approachable and there never really felt there was a divide between full time employees and interns. There is also a games room which was used by the interns during their lunch break and gave us a great space to unwind and have some fun!

The Placement Programme have a dedicated team that gave us a smooth one month on-boarding phase, allowing us to settle into our roles. They constantly reviewed our feedback throughout the programme and took action upon it to help better our experience. Even during the COVID-19 outbreak, the programme set up a virtual engagement team to help keep us motivated and resilient throughout the pandemic.

Throughout the year, the team gave us exciting external opportunities to work on such as attending the UKI User Group conference as a delegate for SAP. The team was also providing opportunities to explore other areas of the business such as the Pre-Sales Discovery Day. Most importantly however, they had set up sessions to help further our personal skills, such as public speaking training and excel training.

There is not a set graduate scheme at SAP however they do have a Sales/Pre Sales academy. Furthermore, there are a few hardworking and talented interns who are given a fulltime role after they graduate and some are even given a part time role for when they are back at university.

With over 50 interns, there was a vibrant social scene across the placement. The games room always provided a great social space in work and outside of work, we had a dedicated social night on Thursday which was awesome. Monday nights was a 7 a side football hosted by a fulltime employee at SAP which was great fun.

Feltham is not great to live in or to go out in, however, most interns live in or near Richmond/Clapham Junction which are great for socialising, but dig a deep hole in your pockets. Cost of living really is what you make of it, the more people you stay with, the cheaper the rent. I'd suggest living in Clapham Junction, it is 18 mins from Feltham and extremely close to London, providing you with a great social scene at a reasonable cost of living.

I don't think there are many places to go out in Feltham and I wouldn't really recommend it either, which isn't really a problem considering Richmond is only 10 mins away and is great for nights out. Furthermore, its not far from Central London which is a goldmine for nightlife.

Yes, there were lots of opportunities provided by the placement programme team that allowed us to be involved outside of work. Furthermore, you're minutes away from London! You can spend your time sightseeing, eating at some amazing restaurants and visit some of London's most amazing attractions. The possibilities are endless!