Why Intern Stories Should Matter to You
In recent years, the word “storytelling” has become a corporate buzzword in every type of industry. Through stories, individuals both stand out from the crowd and connect with our communities. It makes perfect sense why companies prioritize their ability to tell compelling stories … but you likely already knew that.
Here’s what you may not know: Storytelling isn’t just about crafting the perfect narrative to connect with an audience; it’s much more complex. We have to constantly lean in and listen carefully to better understand what our audiences want and how we can best speak to them.
In my role as the brand manager for SAP’s Internship Experience Project, my goal is just that: To lean in and understand the needs of our candidates so we can better attract the next-generation of talent. I’ve interviewed dozens of interns across the globe to learn about their journeys in and outside of SAP.
No matter their country, background, or cultural upbringing, the reasons they choose SAP have an underlying theme. No, it’s not because of the perks or the benefits, or even to have the name on their resume (though to be frank, all of that helps). They chose SAP because of a certain personal connection they feel with our mission to help improve people’s lives. They want experience working on things that directly feed into this mission.
So, why should SAP’s intern stories matter to you? It is our responsibility to improve people’s lives not just right now, or tomorrow, but for decades to come. Our interns are the next-generation of consumers, thought leaders, and innovative visionaries. Their stories, experiences, and perspectives help us better understand what makes our business work well. With their stories, we can begin to learn where we can better improve how we run.
Without further ado, let’s meet three of our most recent interns and hear why they joined SAP and how each of their journeys feed into SAP’s mission to improve people’s lives.
Meet Maggie Mendoza:
The first thing you should know about Maggie is her love for community and building relationships. Maggie is a first-generation college student who graduated from Washington State University with bachelor’s in marketing in May 2018.
“Ever since I was young I knew education was important,” she says. “I didn’t exactly know what path I wanted to take, I think that part is difficult to go through when you’re the first person in your family that has to go through the process.”
Maggie first learned about SAP Concur through an SAP employee who spoke at her sorority her sophomore year. She says she instantly felt compelled to learn more about the company. The following summer, she applied to more than 10 different internship opportunities within SAP, and eventually landed an offer. Maggie returned for a second internship on a different team the summer after graduating.
Meet Sam Schumacher:
Sam’s passion for storytelling across different multimedia platforms shines with his creative agency. He joined SAP Fieldglass as a media content developer intern to build a contextual online learning course for employees. Prior to SAP, Sam worked in journalism and interned at The Washington Post.
He’s a continuous learner at heart.
“I tacked on a human-centered design certificate because I wanted to be more involved in tech,” he says. “Now I live in the intersection of those two fields, of journalism and UX.”
His eye for visual content is showcased not only in his day-to-day projects, but also in our iXp program video where he filmed his own interview and b-roll.
Sam is currently studying journalism at Northwestern University and is excited to merge his knowledge from his projects this summer.
Meet Abisola Olawale:
Abi’s family moved from Nigeria to Chicago when she was eight years old.
“We moved because of the economic opportunities here … because Nigeria is a third-world country,” she says. “My parents thought that we would do better academically.”
Abi fell in love with robotics via the high school program FIRST and knew she wanted to pursue a computer science degree. After graduating high school, she joined Stanford University because of its perfect mix of strong technology and humanities programs, and good weather.
In her first year at Stanford, Abi felt like everything was falling apart. The class workload was a big learning curve, she was falling behind on her projects, and started questioning whether she should be in this space.
The summer after her freshman year, Abi joined SAP Concur as a spend management intern. She says that after coming to SAP, she’s rekindled her love for robotics.
“I think after coming to SAP and seeing the difference between industry and what computer science is like in school, it’s helped me realize that I do want to be in this space, I just have to get through the uphill battle of learning and struggling with it for a while.”
Learn more about Abi’s journey.
Want to get involved in our mission to build the next-generation of SAP? Visit sap.com/careers/ixp to learn more, or reach out to ixp@sap.com.
Follow iXp on Instagram & Twitter to hear more intern stories. #MyiXpStory
