Presales Intern Review

I have experienced some challenges in my time at SAP however; on balance, I would say SAP provides a great opportunity for an internship/placement year. In this context, I have enjoyed it immensely and towards the end, I felt treated more like a long term employee than an intern. Although it must be earned, respect and responsibility are given to their interns and at no point did I have to do menial tasks just because I was an intern. There are still things that SAP need to improve when working with younger individuals.

As a whole, I sometimes found it difficult to offer colleagues support because of the nature of the job role. However, on those matters I could support on, I felt I was given a high level of gratitude for what I accomplished. Something I was able to do in the latter 6 months was identify those tasks that only I could complete or that I was best at from the team. This meant that the level of value I could add was even higher. Again, it is important to be able to attribute these ratings to yourself as well as those around you however, at SAP you will work with people who are truly grateful and genuinely appreciate the help you provide. Also, in my department, there was always an opportunity to get to know people socially as everyone was so friendly. This in turn led to more opportunities to help and then more appreciation from colleagues.

I had 3 managers in my 13 months at SAP and my third manager especially was very engaged and provided me with much support in the last 6/7 months of my placement. However, this is still an area that SAP need to realise more. I think that younger workers entering such a prestigious and corporate environment need much more support (certainly than I was given) especially at the start of the job. Even simple things like an introduction to the whole team or the manager taking the first steps to put the intern in contact with people would be beneficial. This is something myself and my manager have discussed and they are aiming to ensure a formal introduction and far more time devoted to next year's intern.

I have to be incredibly grateful for how my workload turned out in the end at SAP. However, I must also state that this was largely down to myself and being pro active. Initially, I had nothing to do but I went out and found tasks and joined/started projects to keep my workload up. Towards the end I was given much more to do by my manager and found myself erring on the side of 'too busy' however never felt stressed or like I couldn't handle it - also I felt if it got too much I could openly communicate this. This is obviously key as managing expectations is a huge part of working life. I also felt comfortable in balancing my university work and when needed, was allowed to take days off by my manager. I know some other intern job roles are drastically different to this however I believe I have had a near perfect balance in terms of workload.

As previously mentioned, the level of responsibility given to interns is very high. After the initial few months, I carried much of the responsibility for the reporting for my department. I was given direction on what to report on by management and then I had to go away and complete the task. If I was unable to carry it out myself, I was required to find the solution by asking the relevant people. As well as this, I was given the opportunity to interact with customers and work alongside other employees to even give customer and partner presentations. The fact that SAP were willing to let interns do this clearly shows we were entrusted with high levels of responsibility. Although I would not describe it as 'I was running the show!' I think that I was allowed as much responsibility as I wanted and needed to excel and show my abilities in both a back end office and customer facing way.

Engaging in a work placement in an environment such as SAP will teach you many general skills that will be integral in the future. I picked many of these up naturally but could also learn from others and ask when I needed suggestions to develop. In terms of official training courses, I think more could be offered to interns especially in terms of soft skills but I know this is something that my department will be looking into for next year's intern. I think that myself and the wider community could have learned from general enterprise training courses such as presentation, communication and other soft skills. They may have picked these up themselves however, to give a more educational and well rounded experience, this would have added to the experience and learning.

The office in general was very vibrant and there were always people around to talk to. The amenities although may not seem important were fantastic such as the subsidised coffee shop and free canteen. There were quiet periods and many people from my department were often out at customer visits however, if this was the case there were always other interns or employees around. I think most of the employees at SAP are quite sociable and would not hesitate to introduce themselves or have a quick chat.

My internship fell short in terms of prior organisation. This was due to many factors however, it is something my department has learned from and have now ensured a very comprehensive plan for the next on-boarding and year ahead.

Again, I never received any 'formal' training but this is something that will be changed. Also, I think interns should receive more formal personal development reviews for example, one intial, one at 6 months and then one at exit stage. Much of the investment in me came from other employees giving up their valuable time to coach or train me. Another example of investment was a business trip to the Dublin office which obviously cost the company time and money. I think to improve, SAP should look more into how they can more easily retain the investments they make in interns.

There are many different factors that have structured my view to returning to the company. I think SAP and my department specifically have given me a great placement year and I am grateful for everything I have experienced. However, I think the company needs to develop how it works with younger employees before I would strongly consider it as an option. I have applied to come back to SAP as I genuinely appreciate the company's general ethos and wouldn't want to neglect the 'little things' they offer such as the flexible working hours, ability to work from home, amenities, opportunities to travel and opportunity to learn. (amongst others)

SAP often has social functions including Club SAP, forums in different cities and departmental functions. As well as this, the majority of the intern community often arranged nights out or social functions such as comedy nights in London. I think the intern community had some cliches however, I have definitely balanced work with the social side well and made firms friends with many other interns and colleagues.

Being on the outskirts of London meant that I did not pay high prices for rent or travel as I lived within driving distance of the office. We chose the location of our house further out of London because it was less expensive. However, we did not suffer location wise as there were many transport links into central London as well as being able to go out in Windsor - this was much closer to our house and is a relatively cheap night out. On reflection, for the salary we were on, I was more than happy with the amount I spent on housing and socialising.

The nightlife directly around the office was almost non existant however, being on the cusp of London meant it was easy and cheap to travel into central where the nightlife was better. Again, where I lived was also close to Windsor which is a great place to go out.

Again, everyone at SAP was very friendly and we often had company offsites as well as social activities with work colleagues. Also, being close to London meant there is a vast amount of activities to engage with. In my time at SAP, we, as interns, have been to comedy nights, art galleries and other days out. The company has many links to charities and allows every employee one CSR day to go out to a charity to help out. I went with my department to Heathrow farm. Also SAP sponsors the Prince's Trust and I was allowed to take another day to go and help them by conducting a workshop for young people on how to find a work placement. I know that there is a male football team and potentially more sporting activities for the female constituents might be a good idea.