Sales Intern Review

The role can vary on any given day, which allows for a range of experiences to discover what you enjoy. Typically, there will be an element of pipeline creation, where I'll work with the business development team to gather contact details of employees of targeted accounts. From there, I will create an outreach email containing what Adobe software can do for the company showing how we've worked with similar companies in the past. As well as this I will work with Account Executives of current deals, typically creating content or doing research to support the sales process. There are also frequent opportunities to shadow the AE's in customer facing calls that can be insightful for both my personal experience and to enhance the quality of the partnership between the account and Adobe

Throughout my placement I have been stretched constantly. I'd say one of the skills I've developed the most is learning how to talk to external contacts. It can be quite daunting at first to be responsible for prospect accounts and with little previous experience it can become a trial and error process. It has taken me a while to come to grips with how to talk to customers, what to say in different situations, and maintaining a professional outlook but due to constant exposure I have enhanced each of these skills. Second to this would be understanding the sales cycle and experiencing how different processes come together in order to make a sale.

When I began I was surprised with how much responsibility can be passed down with what feels like little experience in the space. Dependent on the role you can be given accounts to manage or be tasked with the first stages of contact with moderate size companies. There is typically a good level of support when you do this. As well as this the work you are assigned can be significantly valuable to the company and it is your responsibility to ensure the quality of the work is appropriate

When starting the placement there was a short period of training where you learn individual products, and there are sessions run almost quarterly for sales employees to learn better ways to sell and demonstrate the value of each solution or more understand general sales strategies. As the placement continued and I was exposed to various situations there was always the opportunity to check in with your team to see if you're on the right track or if things need refining. With that said, it can be very much down to you to find out what needs to be done or what opportunity you can get involved in as most people are focussed on their own role and considering what could be useful to a placement student isn't always their first thought. Additionally, members of your team can hold high stress roles and things are often fast paced and people are constantly busy, this can make it hard for others to find time to support

Company culture is amazing and there is a heavy orientation around employee welfare. Adobe provides 'Global Wellbeing Days' that are spread throughout the year, typically on a Friday or Monday. They also provide a personal 'Wellbeing fund' to accommodate an investment into your welfare.

My placement has been such an insightful experience, an opportunity to find what I like or don't like, to find what I'm good at and has been my first exposure to the 9-5 corporate world. I have been to multiple feature events which have been a lot of fun. Day to day workings have been really encouraging and each deal you work on can be so different from the last. With that said, some tasks can be quite repetitive, a lot of the contact sourcing is a manual process and can take time to sort through hundreds of different accounts. When I started I thought my tasks were going to be a bit more structured than they turned out to be. There aren't weekly tasks and things are more in the moment asks but once you acknowledge it is your responsibility to find things to work on everything opens up and there are so many opportunities

Yes

The company is very inclusive and when applying the best thing you can do is be yourself and let your personality shine through. You aren't expected to know everything before you show up so there's no need to feel more professionally mature than you are, they are looking for potential so show your thought process and unique character. This goes for any application but do your research on the company before applying, not necessarily specific products although that can help, but things like company ethos, role specific tasks and try and contact current placement students in the role. Many people apply for 30-40 applications in a short time, it is much better to do your due diligence for 5 of your favourites