Consumer Products Intern - UK Review

I loved my placement! The work was very interesting, I felt a valued member of the team and was given a lot of responsibility - a placement working with toys meant there was never a dull day. We got to go on lots of trips and events which were extremely fun.

My team helped me learn so much about the licensing industry and gave me help and guidance throughout the year as and when I needed it. They trusted me to do my job fully and be proactive with tasks which made it such a lovely working environment day to day.

I received massive amounts of support over the year. We had weekly 1:1s and team meetings as well as regular check-ins (roughly every 3 months) with the HR team to make sure we were getting the best out of our placement. Everyone was very approachable so any problems/issues I had were easily raised with the management.

It changed day to day; some days were hectic and some days were very relaxed. The busy days tended to be in the lead up to events like tradeshows and licensee meetings but we also had days where there were internal events and launches that were very relaxed and laid back.

I had loads of responsibility and was given my own projects to run and regular jobs within the team. For example, I ran the CP social media schedule and budget whilst working with other lines of business and also assisted with the planning and running of many different licensing events.

It was interesting to see the theories we studied at Uni actually in practice. Doing a placement has helped with my confidence in presenting which I have to do in my degree and will use in future jobs, and the training I received will help in future jobs ie. how to manage workload.

The general atmosphere in the office was generally very good but was a bit tense during SS & AW previews. There is quite a high turnover of staff which lowers the general morale but there was always office wide activities and events for everyone to get to know each other.

We were given extra intern projects to work together away from our day-to-day responsibilities which were interesting and gave us a chance to work with other lines of business. The induction at the start was 2 weeks and gave us a chance to understand the roles with the previous interns. We also had regular check ins with HR and given the chance to shadow someone in another department if we wanted to.

I went to young licensing professionals events where I got to network and speak to other young people in the industry whilst also learning from industry veterans. I was given the chance to do lots of different training, which will help me in future jobs and in my final year at Uni.

Future employment prospects are very appealing - I would love to go back in the future, although they do not do grad roles. Within the consumer products department, there are a lot of opportunities to develop in your career and whilst learning from a fantastic and supportive team. I don't think I would go back to another department, however.

I lived in a house with some other interns, so a good social scene amongst us but a lot of other colleagues commuted so there was not a lot of regular events that everyone could attend. The company did organise some social events for charity which were fun and regular.

Cost of living is quite high as it is not too far from London and not in a student area. As there is not much to do around Maidenhead/Slough I ended up going to London quite a lot which was expensive, and also going home which ended up in a lot of travel costs.

There are quite a few pubs and restaurants around but no bars or clubs. You would have to go to Reading or London for a better nightlife which isn't feasible when you are drinking, although the train is easy enough to catch from the office if you didn't want to drive (there is a shuttle from the office to the station).

There is a charity committee which you could get involved in, where we went to charities to volunteer and also put on days for young children to come and play with the toys. There was also lots of Christmas activities and a 'bring your kids to work' day which we could help out in.