International Supply Chain Finance Intern Review

The company was a great place to work were everyone is so friendly and the office was a really relaxed environment. There were lots of different opportunities to get involved with lots of things that were beyond your role which kept the year exciting and fresh. I tried to get involved in as much as I could outside of my day-to-day job to ensure that I got the most out of my year here. I have learnt so much during this year which I can then use in my further career choices as well as meeting some great people.

I work within a small team of 4 and a wider team of 30. I got on really well with my immediate team and we would often have team lunches or drinks to help us bond better, especially at the beginning when I was new to the company and very nervous. They made me feel at ease in my new role very quickly. While I get on with the wider team I am not as close to them as due to the layout of the office it is often difficult to have a conversation with someone without disrupting someone else. However, they are all very lovely and again made me feel very welcome when I started the placement

When I first started I had a handover period of 5 weeks due to my manager going on holiday at the start of my placement. My previous intern was very helpful in answering any questions that I may have about any part of the job or any of my work and if I was struggling with a certain task she was very willing to help. When she left I was a bit nervous at first however my manager has been very supportive throughout the placement helping me if I am struggling with solving a particular issue or if I have any specific questions about some of the tasks that I undertake, especially if they are new. At first I was quite hesitant to ask questions, in case I came across as incapable or stupid, however I have learnt during my time here that there is no such thing as a stupid question and to always ask if I am struggling rather than suffering in silence

Due to the nature of the job we are busier at certain periods, near month end, and often in the second quarter and the fourth quarter of the year. During these periods I would be very busy on a daily basis trying to sort out multiple invoice issues or other issues. However, normally at the beginning of the month, just after period close, it would often be quieter. While there was still work to do, after the busy period it would often seem very quiet and there was much less work to do. However, during these periods it enabled me to catch up on some of the more ad-hoc tasks or some of the on-going tasks that I have been doing

I was given a lot of responsibility on my placement. A lot of the tasks that I do are my responsibility alone and if I didn't do them then they would not get done and it could end up with lots of invoices not being paid because they are blocked. This could then cause further issues later on down in the supply chain. Also some of the reports that I run as part of my work are sent to the finance directors within the different territories. If the comments or work on the report was incorrect then it could cause further issues with the teams in regards to their P&L reports or the revaluation of their stock

In the first few weeks of my placement I was sent on an advanced excel course which was offered and paid for by my department. The skills that I learnt on this course will greatly help me with any further career choices as excel is one of the most important tools that businesses use. Also I have greatly improved my SAP skills. Before joining Warner Bros. I had never used SAP, however I now use it on a daily basis. There are lots of different T-codes that I use within SAP on a daily basis and at the start I struggled with what codes I would need to use for what work. However, with practise and over time I have come to know SAP a lot better and are now able to use it and all the different T-codes with ease. SAP is a programme that a lot of companies use to help keep track of orders and while every company may use it slightly differently the principle and the skills are still the same.

The office as a whole is a very relaxed and fun environment. With the industry that we are in it helps to have a sense of fun in the office and there are constantly things going on, whether its screenings of new movies, book sales, consumer products sales or just a redecoration of the communal areas to celebrate a new release. My floor as a whole is often pretty quiet because of the nature of our jobs, people will often have to make important phone calls. However, it was never a tense or awkward atmosphere and while it is quiet it still feels a very friendly and welcoming atmosphere.

Warner Bros. have been doing placements for a few years now and I think it shows. The placement scheme is very well organised with help being there from the day you join to the day you leave. There were a lot of training schemes at the start of the placement which were there to settle us into working at the company and to provide us with skills that we were likely to need throughout our placement. The HR team and my own team worked hard to ensure that everything was set up for when I arrived at the placement and to help me settle in as quickly as possible. There has been a support network there for me from the very beginning whether it's other interns, HR or my own team.

At the start of the placement there were about 4 different workshops which were there to help us improve the skills that we were likely to need throughout our placement. There was a workshop all about presenting ourselves - which included both giving presentations but also how to present ourselves in front of colleagues face to face, through email and over the phone. Some of the other skills that were worked on included time management, SAP, team work and prioritisation. We were also given the opportunity to do an MBTI which helped us to understand better the way in which we worked best and how to work well with others that may have different work styles to yourself. I was also lucky enough that my team invested in me by sending me on an advanced excel course for the whole day where I learnt a lot of different shortcuts for the programme as well as learning more about some of the more complicated formulas, pivot tables, macros and coding.

Warner Bros. have been a great company to work for with the office environment being very relaxed and fun and the industry that we work in being very interesting. I have a great interest in films, TV and the media industry as a whole so I found it really interesting this year to work within the industry and see how much work goes into the films and TV from them being initially released to them ending up in our homes. The finance department within WB is large so I hope that there will be an opportunity for me to come back and work within a finance role at WB again.

There was a large group of around 50 interns all from different parts of the UK and all studying different things. At the start of the year during the summer months there was a lot of drinks every week where we would all go out one night after work and interact with each there as often we would not interact with other interns during the job. It was a chance to get to know lots of different people who all have had very different lives and very different skills. We had our own intern Christmas meal which was really nice again to talk to people that you maybe don't see everyday in the office. Over the year you started to form smaller friendship groups within the bigger group however everyone is still so friendly with each other and the big group still goes out for a drink normally after pay day

I lived at home this year to save money as I lived in south-east London. While the cost of travel was expensive I definitely saved myself money as London is not the cheapest place to live. Even when going out after work with colleagues or other interns it can very quickly turn into an expensive night because of how expensive drinks are in Central London where we worked. However, we soon began to take advantage of certain apps and happy hours within London which made the nights seem cheaper as well as offers from certain bars.

With the office being in Central London and only a few minutes walk from popular places such as Covent Garden, Piccadilly and Leicester Square we were perfectly situated for a good night out either after work or during the weekend. London is known for having one of the best nightlife's in the country because of the amount of different bars catering to different people there are. There is something for everyone and clubs/bars within minutes walks of each other making it very easy to go from one place to another. The tube system also makes it very easy to have a good night in London with it being very easy to get to another place in London but still get home, especially with the introduction of the night tube

There were lots of opportunities to get involved in activities outside work. There were screenings of our new releases in the screening rooms downstairs and there were also sometimes opportunities to go to a premiere if you were lucky enough. There was also the opportunity to be charitable during my year in placement through the Impact programme where I give £5 of my pay check every month to a charity of my choice. This year I also took part in the Centrepoint Sleep-Out with some of the other interns where we had to spend a night in November sleeping outside the O2 to raise money for Centrepoint, the charity aiming to help get young people off the streets. The company as a whole managed to raise over £17,000 for the charity from this event