Lessons learned from my 10-year anniversary
I’ve selected, interviewed, and mentored more than 30 students together with my manager since 2007. Each of us follows her/his own individual style of asking questions during an interview. Some questions will be asked almost always of course, and some questions should never be asked. Additionally, some questions are related to the fact that our team had to support more than 600 business consultants across all regional units. Last but not least: asking and answering questions is not the essential part of the interview. 80% of communication is non-verbal anyway. Thus, the overall impression is key for a successful internship application.
During my first interviews I was more interested whether the candidate fits to the team and is able to deliver the expected outcomes during the internship. With more experience I have noticed that it’s more important to evaluate whether the candidate has the potential to develop her/his capabilities and become “a talent” for one of our business areas.
Guess what: the interview situation starts with the application. Our HR colleagues filter applications based on formal criteria. Therefore an application with incomplete attachments, that doesn’t fit to the expected skills, or that has been written in a “mass mailing” style will not find the way in my inbox.
Therefore, there is no magic in creating a successful application: write in a brief and concise wording why you are interested in this specific position and how it fits to what you have studied and worked so far. Please, do attach the relevant documents. Reference letters from previous internships are especially valuable. Please consider that I’ve only a few minutes to scan through your application. I usually select 5-7 applications for a first round of telephone interviews.
Before the interview starts the most important activity is: research, research, research! Please check the sap.com website, the news about our company, the high level solution portfolio & strategy, think about what keeps our customers awake at night, google your interview partner to have talking points, and rehearse your pitch to start the interview. There is one question at the start of the interview that is essential. In my next post I’ll share typical questions that you should expect in an internship interview.
BTW: Find jobs at SAP is an excellent starting point!
