UK Finance Intern Review

Working for Warner Bros. has been great! There are a lot of interns and apprentices so there are loads of people to make friends with and find a flat with if you want to move to London. There are staff screenings of new WB films, discounted merchandise sales, volunteering opportunities, DVD/blu-ray give-aways and more! I would have loved to have learned more about the figures for individual films and what they meant for the title.

I was given a lot of important responsibilities and deadlines to help the team complete essential tasks, especially around month-end. The data I collated and helped to analyse was used by the UK Finance teams to budget, forecast and report to the senior staff as high as Burbank! I felt like my contributions were an important part of the teams' processes.

I had two managers to oversee the work I did for two UK Finance teams. I knew that I could just ask my primary manager for a meeting if I needed to discuss anything in particular. I think the relationship between the intern and the managers could be further improved by more frequent and regular catch-ups where you can discuss what you've been doing, any upcoming tasks that may need extra attention, your coursework progress, any particular topics that need reviewing, etc.

As is typical with Finance roles, the workload is somewhat cyclical depending on how close to month-end you are. I worked predominantly across three UK Finance teams but did some smaller tasks for two others as well, so I was generally kept rather busy. As training and development are strongly encouraged at WB, whenever there was a lull, I was able to spend the time on my coursework, independently study a short course online or research the industry.

I was given a lot of responsibility and certainly more than I was expecting as a placement student! The stereotypical intern roles you see in films (getting coffee, making photocopies, etc.) are not what you get with this job at WB! The amount of responsibility they gave me made me feel valuable as an employee and trusted to perform to a high standard. I performed some important tasks to help the UK Corporate Finance Director, the UK Finance VP and the UK Finance SVP and CFO, some of which were to prepare for the external auditors' important review!

Getting training and practical experience of SAP was really beneficial! A lot of companies use this software so it's a great addition to your CV! I've also been able to develop my Excel skills which are essential for most office jobs. For future placement students, training could be further improved with the opportunity to shadow someone in another Finance team or even another department if they would like to get a taster of a different area.

My desk neighbour was really friendly and sweet! People chatted here and there throughout the day. It was quite a relaxed and relatively informal environment with a smart-casual dress code. There were noisy renovations during my placement year that could be rather disruptive but I think they're close to finishing.

The placement had been available for a few years before I started so the roles and responsibilities were mostly already established with only a few changes and additions to those performed by the previous intern. The weekly and monthly timetables were very consistent so I could easily organise my workload.

There was a clear schedule for the placement training sessions and it had all been planned out well in advance. I think they had already been running these sessions for several years before I started so they had established what would be most beneficial to us. The training and development team was always keen to hear any suggestions we had for how to further improve the scheme.

I would love to work for Warner Bros. again! They invest in and value their employees so you feel like an important member of a big community. They don't currently have a graduate scheme but placement students are often offered opportunities to re-join the company after graduation. It's always been my dream to work in the film industry so it would be amazing to have the opportunity to come back after university!

A lot of the interns lived together and there were often nights out in London. There was a Christmas party arranged just for the interns and apprentices which was great! It may ease the process of making friends with the other interns in future if one or two fun activities were organised for them at the beginning of the placement year but once you've made friends, you tend to organise things yourself anyway.

I commuted to work as it was cheaper than renting in the city. You pay central London prices for living and socialising near work but some people found slightly cheaper flats in Zones 3-5. Thursday night was generally when we went out because it was cheaper than Friday or Saturday.

You're always guaranteed a great nightlife in London with the huge number of clubs and pubs. Drinks are expensive as you would expect but there are loads of places with different atmospheres to suit whatever you fancy. The London transport system made it easier and even sometimes cheaper to meet friends than in smaller cities and towns.

There were company drinks and events after work for assorted occasions. There were WB film screenings during the day when we released new titles and sometimes tea parties for maternity leave celebrations or pub trips for birthdays. I got the awesome opportunity to attend the London premiere of 'A Star is Born' and went to a press screening of 'Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald' which was introduced by the leading cast! There were also several great volunteering opportunities and teams dedicated to celebrating diversity.