Marketing Intern Review

My placement at Disney was varied and interesting. What I loved about it was that every day was different, and the variety of projects I could get involved in to get as much experience in this company and the world of marketing general. Naturally there were days that weren't so great but thats part and parcel of the working world. In general, I enjoyed my placement and actually went back to work for them after I graduated from university.

There were a few of us on placement and they were used to have placement students around so I felt really valued and like they wanted to teach us and be hands on with the work. They were always around to answer questions and check up on how we were doing and progressing. We had appraisals after 3 months which was a really good way of getting feedback from my supervisors and from the team.

I was really lucky and had a really lovely manager who I really got on with. She was there from day 1 and even though she was busy, she really made an effort to make sure I was settled and knew what I could get on with. She didn't spoon feed me, that wasn't the point of the placement, but she made sure that I had opportunities to learn and made sure I demonstrated it as well.

It really depended. The beginning of the placement, like any job, can be quite slow especially when you're settling in and finding your feet. But how busy I was could depend on what project I was assigned to, there could be days when I worked late for a deadline, and days when I could leave on time. It really depended on the project.

Enough I think for a placement student. We were assigned our own smaller responsibilities and deadlines. The more complex and more important issues were of course handed to more senior members of the team, but they would often let you work with them on these issues so you could get that experience.

It really taught me how to be organised and how to learn to prioritise, particularly if you were assigned to more than one project which could happen from time to time. It also really allowed me to hone in on my communication and presentation skills as we were often asked to present any data or results in team meetings.

We were really lucky because there were several placement students, some who were from my university and had never socialised with before. Fridays were always casual and there would be regular post-work drinks to look forward to. It was very easy-going and very fun, everyone had such a bubbly personality that we really bounced off each other! We'd sometimes have baking competitions, where we all had to bake something and bring it in, and we would occasionally have team away days to places such as Go ape!

Our university was excellent and had a portfolio of companies that their students in the past had gone to for their placement years. We had an excellent placement "open day" where some of these companies came to the university which included Disney. Because they had had students from our University in the past, they knew what to do, what to give us and what to also expect from us. I had heard some horror stories from other students who were either given nothing t do and were just photocopying most of the time, or were given so much, the stress made them ill.

I'd say they really wanted to invest in us, and made sure we had enough opportunity for CPD and also to shadow or work with other people from other departments if we wanted to. Which was really good because you get to see how the whole company works together, and not just your department. It really makes you appreciate the importance of team work.

Very appealing, like I said earlier, I went back to work for the company and I think having had my placement with them really helped because I had that experience. It gave me an insight into what type of people they want, and I could see what the company values were too. It also meant I knew what to expect from them, and it wasn't going to be a difficult challenge to work for them.

Yes! But i think thats because there was so many of us there during the placement year. We made sure that we socialised regularly as not everyone was in the same department so we didn't want to leave everyone out. Having a placement year facebook group was very helpful for that.

I lived in Hammersmith and London in general is not the cheapest place in the world. I shared a flat with 3 other girls which helped keep the costs down, and as we were all placement students, we didn't have to pay for council tax which REALLY helped. It isn't cheap to live here but having a salary did help, although it wasn't much. But you learn to budget.

Its London! There is SO MUCH to do! There are many bars and you learn to know when the happy hours are. There are also so many museums to visit if you fancy something free (!!) and cultural too. East London has lots of quirky places to go for an evening out, which can really contrast with West London, so you can experience a bit of everything depending on where you are in the capital. I absolutely loved it.

Not much really, unless you sought these out yourself. I joined the local gym and went to a few classes here and there but i'm sure if I tried a bit harder, i would have found more opportunities to activities outside of work. My flatmate joined a local running club so there is definitely stuff out there, you just have to find it.