“Experience is by Industry Achieved” – The Two Interns of SAP Concur

National Intern Day was created by WayUp in 2017 and is dedicated to celebrating and recognising the next generation of our workforce. Businesses are encouraged to thank and commemorate their hard-working interns on this day. On the flip side, it also brings attention to the challenges and inequalities faced by entry-level candidates.

On top of giving credit where credit is due, National Intern Day also marks the publication of WayUp’s annual coveted 100 Top Internship Programs List, which highlights which businesses went above and beyond for their interns and in 2021, SAP made that list.

Introducing…

To find out what being an intern at SAP Concur is really like, we sat down with Charlie Haclin, UK SMB Marketing and Olivia Cleary, Enterprise Marketing, who started by explaining each of their roles at SAP Concur and how their experience has solidified their love of marketing enough to make it their career choice.

Both Charlie and Olivia have each been supported by two managers throughout their internship and had the chance to gain experience in all corners of the marketing department, from product marketing for enterprise businesses to creating content master lists and analysing the performance of marketing assets.

They also discussed a 70/30 split within their internship, meaning Charlie and Olivia spend 30% of their time gaining experience in different departments, whether that’s sales, HR or finance. We discussed their typical day-to-day responsibilities, as well as any exciting projects they worked on during their time at SAP Concur.

All in a Day’s Work

No two days are the same at SAP Concur, but there are common threads. For instance, Monday mornings are all about catching up with teams and getting prepped and ready for the week. “On my team, there’s 11 of us,” Charlie explained. “We’ll always have a chat first thing, just to catch up and see what updates everyone has – there’s good communication throughout the team.”

Monday tends to be the busiest day for both Charlie and Olivia so once their calls are finished, they can crack on with their day’s work. For Olivia, that can be anything from whipping up a new product or client newsletter to planning and working on marketing campaigns. “I also have a one-to-one with my manager on a Monday, just to catch up on what I did last week, how everything went and what I’ve got on this week,” Olivia added.

For Charlie, a typical day sees her curating social media posts, producing content and analysing the performance of marketing assets. She also has a one-to-one with her manager on a Monday too. “We go through what work needs to be done and have a catch up on what I’ve been working on and how that’s going. For the rest of the week, I get on with the work that I’ve got to do and if I’ve got any questions, my managers are there for help and support.”

Gain Experience in What Interests You

Although our internships specialise in certain roles within different departments, we offer full flexibility within these roles. We understand that many young people aren’t certain about their career goals, especially when they’re just starting out. Sometimes, it takes working in a few different departments to help you decide where you want to go, and we want to support our interns through that. 

The flexibility of an internship at SAP Concur enables the future generation of workers to try anything, even if the focus on their internship is within a different department. As Olivia explained, “You could try sales, you could try HR and they’re [SAP Concur] happy for you to do that. Your manager will speak to someone to set it up, and you can work with them for a week. I really liked that I could join a big company and be able to just go to a different part and try that out.”

But That’s Not All…

As well as gaining experience and owning their responsibilities within the marketing team, Charlie and Olivia also had the chance to work on bigger projects that go beyond their day-to-day tasks. When asked what her favourite project has been, Olivia explained “I think for me, probably organising the [Client] Christmas lunch. My manager gave me the project pretty much in my first month. It was mine to run with her support and that was so exciting.”

During her time at SAP Concur, Charlie has created a master content list, which contained the top 30 performing assets based on analytical data, which has been hugely helpful for both the UK and the US team. On top of this, she’s also had the opportunity to join internal teams at SAP Concur, The Sparkle Team and The Green Team, which she does alongside her normal responsibilities. The Sparkle Team have taken on the responsibility of getting people back into the office after the pandemic, “We organised a party at the office that we had about 250 people come to, which was amazing. I got to meet loads of people who I’d never met before. A few weeks ago, we had a sports day and that was really fun.”

Both Charlie and Olivia have had the opportunity to get involved with teams outside of marketing to help the business in other ways. As well as being able to join the Sparkle Team and the Green Team (who have already planted 300 trees in the SAP Forest this year!), they both also could have joined the mind and body team, the diversity team and the inclusion team, to focus on outside interests, on top of their professional ones.

What’s The Best Thing About an SAP Concur Internship?

Charlie and Olivia both echoed that before starting the internship with SAP Concur, they had an idea of what they wanted to do, but neither of them were certain of their career goals. By having the flexibility to try what was appealing to them and being given responsibilities within their marketing roles, they are now both sure that marketing is where they want to be.

The support they have both received throughout the internship has been paramount to their time here and that support goes beyond their managers. Both Charlie and Olivia stated that they’ve always felt comfortable and encouraged to ask questions to anyone in their teams.

Charlie said, “Taking this internship has definitely been the best choice I’ve made. You really get to experience the real world of work and it’s amazing for your personal development and preparing you for the future because of how many opportunities you get here.”

Olivia said, “I would 100% recommend an internship and especially at SAP Concur. I think if you weren’t sure on what kind of role to go for, I would say that doesn’t really matter because you can try out different things. Don’t think because it’s an internship and you’ll just be doing the basic things, you will be doing proper tasks and your own projects, so I recommend you definitely do it. It’s helped me with what I want to do and also given me so much more confidence.”

Curious to find out more about our internships?  Find current opportunities on our website.