Finance Intern Review

First 6 months was very challenging, however second half of the year was incredible. Overall, thoroughly enjoyed the year. Even the challenges were an incredible experience & a true depiction of the working world!

Very valued, I was consistently praised for my work and able to see how my work is used to make important decisions. I was given a number of opportunities to present my work to seniors myself and take the credit, which was incredible!

This varied based on the manager I had, I worked with a variety of managers over the year and each manager had a different working style. Some managers like to have a hands on approach and some prefer to let you be independent and learn your own way. Overall, I was given a lot of support when it was needed and if I ever had any issues, there was always someone to go to for support.

Not overwhelmed, but i'd never be sat twiddling my thumbs! There was always something to learn, to improve or work on throughout the day.

A lot of responsibility, I wasn't grabbing coffee or doing printing for people ever! I was involved in real work which was used to make senior decisions and I was the contact point for a lot of markets in my area of work which was incredible.

Excel is a vital skill which all finance & accounting roles require so gaining knowledge using excel will be incredibly useful in the future. Also, I worked on a variety of softwares and reporting tools, each company will have different tools so my adaptability to these softwares is a key skill and the fact that I'm a quick learner now will be very useful for future jobs and studies. Also, having an understanding of finance in a media conglomerate provides great context and further improves my business awareness and understanding which is going to be very useful when studying final year and in my professional accounting exams some day!

Very relaxed, everyone was friendly! You could sit and listen to music with your own headphones, you were never treated differently because you're an intern at all.

Disney have been running the internship programme for a very long time, however I don't think my initial set up was the best. I didn't have a 1:1 catchup with my managers for a long time into my placement which made it difficult to settle with my team and bond. This is something I've fed back to my team and for my replacement this year, a variety of changes are being made to welcome her. Every team is different at Disney though, but I'm glad I made a difference to the way my team ran things for interns!

Not a lot, we only receive one / two weeks (depending on which area you work in) of training and this is a handover period where the intern you're replacing will train you up. It's a stressful time because a week isn't a long period to teach everything! You tend to learn through trial and error and support from your managers. However, we had industry days set up by the company where we were able to visit head offices like Amazon, Spotify and network and understand how they operate. This was a great experience especially for us young interns starting out our career! Disney also have International Women's Week and a variety of courses and talks from inspirational people available to all staff, so this was always interesting to attend and network!

Disney don't have a graduate scheme which is a shame, however they made it very clear if you contact them and there is a position available for you, they will prioritise you and try to get you in to the company. However, it is very much based on luck and positions available at the time!

Disney hire a ton of interns so the social scene is great! You're all in the same position and become a really tight knit group of friends which is great coming from University. The atmosphere is quite like Uni but in a working environment, great transition for your first job.

I lived with relatives in London so luckily didn't pay for rent, but fellow interns have said it is expensive but the amount you're paid is enough to live and enjoy the city!

Hammersmith had quite a few good bars and pubs!

Disney have a 'Voluntears' scheme where you can volunteer and help out with the community and various events. They also have a triathlon team, a number of sports teams, a choir etc! Not to mention watching a number of films for free and occasionally winning tickets to Multimedia Screenings and Premiers if you're in the Studios department!