Site Merchandising Intern Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my placement year at The Walt Disney Company. I was given a high level of responsibility and my team were amazing. I had the opportunity to learn new skills and also practice skills I had obtained from University whilst working on personal development. I would recommend this placement to anyone wanting to gain experience in Merchandising.

I felt incredibly valued by my team and colleagues around the business. They were very welcoming and helpful in my first few months and I was treated like a member of the team rather than just an intern. I would 100% love to work with them all again in the future and wouldn't have wanted to change the way I was treated.

I was given a lot of support at the beginning of my placement by my colleague however both my manager and colleague left the business around 3 months into my placement. I had to take on a lot more responsibility and lost the guidance I had from them but I was still supported by the rest of my team and in hindsight it was extremely beneficial to my development within the role and the company to be thrown into the deep end.

On average I was quite busy on a daily basis. There were quiet days and also peak times as well at different times of the year but this is generally due to the nature of the role and the retail environment. For example I was very busy around Black Friday and Christmas time and less busy during summer.

At first I was not given much responsibility and if my manager had not left the business I don't think I would have been given as much as I did get afterwards. I feel very lucky that I was given a high level of responsibility after they left as it was extremely beneficial to my growth within the company and I was able to prove my confidence within the role a lot more. I also enjoyed the role a lot more because of it.

The skills that I have gained and developed over this placement will definitely assist me when applying for jobs in future. I have learnt an incredible amount over the year and my confidence within the role has peaked. I am hopeful that these skills will also assist me in my studies next year however it is most likely that they will assist me in a new job after my degree based on the first hand experience.

The general atmosphere within my team and across the floor was great. Everyone is so friendly and fun to be around and work with. Across the floor there would be stressful times but never so much that it affected anyone massively. Overall it was a great environment to work in.

The placement was not well organised in terms of applying for the role. Currently there is no way to directly apply for a Merchandising placement with Disney so I was unaware that it existed until very late in the year I was applying. However, it is a new role so this can hopefully be improved. In terms of once I got here the placement was amazing and I was treated like a new member of the team rather than an intern. There are not many intern events over the year.

At first I felt like I was doing a lot of admin work and wouldn't develop much but given the opportunities that I had I was very lucky and able to develop a huge amount in comparison to when I first started. I received a lot of training from my colleague in the beginning and the company and team have always been supportive of my work and personal development throughout the year.

I would love to have the opportunity to work for Disney again. I feel like I am very confident within the role however I would want the opportunity to grow within the company as I feel I have fulfilled the role I am currently in. I wouldn't hesitate to come back and work here in future.

Mainly interns stick to their own floors in terms of socialising but because Disney is such a big company and office this is just how it works and there are at least 10 interns to a floor so plenty of people to meet. The socialising is completely down to you so you have to make an effort to meet everyone at first. There was only one big intern event but again everyone stuck to who they knew, there is opportunity to do more intern events that would allow interns from other floors to meet each other.

The placement is in West London so very expensive. The good thing is rent is more affordable in the local area compared to Central London and therefore the commute is short as well. Socialising in London is expensive but that's just how it is! The salary is more than enough to live and socialise on for the year.

The area has a lot of nice pubs and shops and is really nice in summer. London itself is great for nightlife and there is always something to do! It's expensive but if you want to go out there are so many places to go to and it's a great experience to live here.

There are opportunities to get involved in lots of activities both internally and around London. I enrolled in the local gym so that was my main activity but there is always lots to do. Disney have some events throughout the year like sports day and Halloween and you can always do team building activities as well if you arrange them.