Felicity Mattos

Country of origin: United Kingdom

Placement: Microsoft

Working in sales at Microsoft has been incredibly valuable to me, as I’ve gained experience of every stage in the sales process at a multinational technology company.

My role ranged from speaking to prospective customers in the small and medium business market (any organisation, including schools, with 5-1000 computers) to inputting potential revenue into our sales database and training Microsoft’s partners on our Customer Insights tool. I’ve also had the chance to attend many careers fairs and presentations, promoting Microsoft and technology careers to schoolchildren and college students armed with our new Surface devices, as well as helping at many of the new product launches, including Windows 8 and Halo 4.

The great thing about the placement scheme at Microsoft is that there is such a vast number of business areas you can go into, depending on your interests and skills. These range from sales and marketing to programming and project management. Plus, you don’t need any technical skills for most roles! You are able to experience different areas of the company and are given real responsibility right from the start.

The main highlights for me during my time at Microsoft have been raising over £32,000 for charity and inspiring so many young people to pursue a career in technology by changing their opinion of Microsoft (in addition to the large collection of branded hoodies and t-shirts I have accumulated!).

Applications for placements usually close at the end of January each year and more information can be found on the Microsoft UK Careers website. Good luck!