SAP specialists are becoming more and more in demand in our digital world. Successful companies always strive to enhance and optimize their business processes. That’s why they select SAP Solutions and hire skilled employees to specialize and run enterprise solutions like SAP ECC 6.0 and S/4HANA. And, of course, if you are experienced in this sphere, you can easily find a good job. But, what to do if you are at the very beginning of your SAP career? A lot of people think that it’s unrealistic to find a job without experience and certification of your knowledge. Prosapia helps many companies hire employees with different levels of competence in a function for many years. So in this article, we are going to share some valuable tips on how to start your career with SAP.
Knowledge
The most essential point in every sphere is knowledge, and especially knowledge about business processes, i.e. in finances, logistics or human resources. After all, SAP Technology is here to support business processes and without a proper understanding of these, deployment of any technology to support them may be useless. It’s a good idea to start studying as much as possible about SAP. Thanks to that, you will show your commitment and eagerness to learn and apply the concepts to your daily activities if you get the job. Before the interview, do a little research about a company you are applying to understand what specialist they need. Is it a functional or technical position? Which SAP product do they work with (ERP, HCM, MM, CRM, etc…)? Which SAP technology does it require (ABAP, HANA, UI5, etc…)? And it will be relevant at every step of your SAP career – successful specialists are always hungry for new information. They search, explore, and upskill themselves all the time. It’s the right path to achieve a high top in your profession even if you don’t have a great experience at the very beginning. When you know the main requirements, you can focus on the studies and show you are also a good choice even without prior experience in this area. ‘
Certification
When you look through vacancies, you can notice that a lot of organisations usually require certification to confirm your skill level. There are some reasons why it’s getting important on the resume. Hundreds of people know some information about SAP. They attend training courses, are End-users of this software, or were involved in a minimal area (e.g., data conversion, testing, etc.). Thanks to this, employees think they have good knowledge of the module. Unfortunately, many of them haven’t seen the SPRO screens and don’t understand transport processes, underlying architecture, databases, ABAP, development standards, etc. Having a certificate is great, but once you secure the interview, it totally depends on the company representative’s perception, how you handle the conversation, and your own interpersonal skills. If you want to collect an SAP certification, you can get it from some institutes or SAP courses remotely. Along with the technical knowledge, you can also learn some functional parts as techno-functional consultants are more in demand. You can use Youtube, SAP technical, and other relevant sites to get more information. The significant thing is to get into SAP in an area you like. It will be easier to get certification and advance your knowledge and proficiency in that area.
Experience
If you don’t have any experience but are really into working in the SAP area, you can join any organization that runs this software. If you are a beginner, you will study different processes and get the necessary experience at your working place. Your learning scope will depend upon your role, e.g., End-users mostly work in doing day-to-day transactions and process testing. A super user will have a slightly broader role and more authorization like mapping new business processes, analytics, making queries, tables or critical transactions. Customization will depend upon the organization’s policy, and if it’s outsourced, one can’t learn customization. Try to get into the SAP Core team / key users/tester group, which will give you good exposure. It will help you greatly if you want to change your job and show your experience in the interviews for SAP vacancies.
Working with specialized SAP recruiters.
Prosapia is an example of a recruiting company that focuses on the SAP Industry. Deep insight into solutions, client needs and job market opportunities enable us to advise potential job candidates about their career opportunities. As such, they’re not career advisors in a direct way, but indirectly through their work. Having a laser focus on the SAP job market, a specialized recruiter has an interest in knowing you on a long term basis and developing a true partnership. In many ways, a professional HR manager can become a career change agent for you and will typically contact you proactively, once the right opportunity for you emerges on the horizon. Often, the interesting SAP roles and jobs are not even publicly announced through job ads or social media. And guess what? The recruiter often has the “insider knowledge” about what’s going on and with you in his/her network, you stand a better chance of being on their radar when the HR manager is trying to help their clients. Working with an SAP recruiter is an ongoing and perpetual process which can be a vital part of your successful SAP career.