What a great start to my work experience program at SAS! I arrived with ease around 8:45 and proceeded to navigate my way through building C after checking in and getting our visitor badges. George and I figured out that we will be together throughout this whole program. We met with Patty Hager from the sales and presales department of SAS. Since it was our first day and I had limited knowledge on SAS and what they do, Ms. Hager was kind to explain in detail what SAS is to George and I. We had this discussion in the beautiful C building café dining room. Patty then explained briefly how sales and presales work and then George and I told her a bit about ourselves and what we hoped to get from this program. After our talk, we went upstairs to meet Kristen Eggenberger who we would be shadowing for the rest of the day. I was initially surprised that Kristen was so young. We learned that she had recently graduated from the SAS Sales Academy, a program for young adults internationally who just graduated from college. Later in the day we would sit in on a lecture with the Sales Academy students. George and I both expressed our interest in International Business so we were very much exposed to the wide culture of SAS. While listening and talking with students we heard many accents and met people from around the world. We continued on to meet with Kristen’s mentor and boss and asked them questions about their career paths and what it was like to work in sales and presales. Kristen was kind enough to take us on a tour of the SAS campus before lunch, so we were able to better understand SAS before the day was almost over. After lunch, George and I sat in on a team meeting with Kristen and her boss/colleagues. We got to see the team’s goals and how close everyone was to reaching their yearly quota. George and I expressed our gratitude to Kristen and we wished each other luck! I am so excited to see what HR has in store for us tomorrow.
