Halo and Collaborations Intern Review

I really enjoyed the year industry. There was never a day that I dreaded going into work, even if I was super busy. Every day was different which was also exciting, because I imagined going into an office job would be repetitive. Definitely not the case for Disney!

Everyone treats the interns with the upmost respect. The managers listen and value your opinions, and are also always available to answer questions and help you develop your skill-set in the working environment. There are lots of social opportunities with all the other interns too, so you come out of the year with lots of new friends.

Support is always available. If there is something that you want to know about or experience, the managers do their best to ensure that you are able to achieve these goals. Guidance is also constant; the managers help you with your quality of work by giving you feedback and clear deadlines.

This can fluctuate depending on the time of the year, but nevertheless there is always something to do. For instance, preparing for the Christmas period and the celebration of Mickey Mouse 90th Anniversary in November 2018 meant that there were very busy times in the office.

Responsibility was slowly increased as the placement went onward, and as the relationship between you and your team builds so that they can measure what tasks can be achieved. They don't give you much responsibility until you are confident in all the programmed and have practiced (are settled in), which I really liked.

The speed of my Photoshop skills have increased because industry deadlines with regards to creative tasks are a lot quicker than university projects. This means that my work output will be larger and quicker in projects. Furthermore, I have gained lots of insight into the business side of collaborative create projects, and the different stages of launching product. This can be applied to my independent project next year (a large project, equal weight to dissertation).

I loved the layout of the office because I was sat next to my manager, and also sat close to the other interns. This allowed me to be able to build a relationship with my manager and learn from her quickly, and also get to know the other people in the office my age and in the same position as me. Plus, the character visits are GREAT!

Very well. I have been able to observe collaborative projects progress from start to finish, and also have been given a steadily increasing responsibility. I've also been able to attend lots of events and had lots of networking opportunities.

There are a lot of training sessions in the programmes used by the company, as well as all the general training i.e. confidentiality etc. External speakers are also asked to come and give talks about subjects which is a good learning opportunity, but you have to book onto these quickly because the spaces fill up.

There isn't a guaranteed employment at the end of the placement; however, the contacts that you make over the year have contacts that they can give you upon graduation. This is why it's so important to network and build relationships with the people you work with over the year. Having said this, there are some managers that were interns a few years ago, which is reassuring because it implies that there is a higher chance of being re-employed through this internship.

Yes. There is a huge intern community, and an annual intern ball is held which includes all 200+ interns. You meet people from the same university as you that you've never come across before, because they will be doing something completely different to you. As a design student in the School of Design, it was brilliant to meet people from the Business School and other areas of Leeds that I wouldn't otherwise have come across.

London is expensive and I haven't managed to save any money this year, but that is because I have chosen to enjoy the year and go to places and events. It is possible to save if you don't do after-work activities and don't go out on a weekend. Also, the annual salary wage is increasing next year by £3k to cover these costs.

There are lots of pubs in the Hammersmith area and a Be At One cocktail bar. To get to a nightclub you have to travel on a tube. As a person that prefers pubs and bars, I really enjoyed the Hammersmith nightlife. There are also plenty of food places open until late.

There is a VolunTEARs group at Disney that give opportunities for employees to attend events and help out. With regards to social, venues often hold corporate events which give out exclusive opportunities to businesses in the local area. An example of this was a locl