I’m Zoe, a BSc Business and Management student at Henley Business School, University of Reading. This year, I completed a 12-month internship at The Walt Disney Company in London.  I wanted to share my experiences of searching for and starting an internship – here’s my top tips that I thought might be helpful if you’re looking for an internship or placement. 

Apply broadly, and think of professional fit:
I fell into a habit of only applying to roles I felt would be a perfect physical fit for me, which limited my options for placements, (for example, not applying to a role listed as mandatory five days in-office, which would be unsustainable, fatigue wise.) The reality is, post-covid, the workplace is much more flexible and nearly everyone had some sort of concession, like working from home.

To help with the stress of searching, LinkedIn has search functions in the jobs tab which can be set up to alert you to key words, locations etc, so you can be notified when anything suitable is newly uploaded.  

 I also found it helpful to engage with the careers service at my university. A competitive CV wins half the battle of finding a placement, it is the difference between being up against 200 people during the resumé elimination phase, or 20 people in the interview phase.

Accommodation, a key challenge: 
With many summer internships and placements in London, a significant barrier is accommodation. Finding accommodation can be challenging even before considering hoists, PA rooms, etc! Luckily, many university halls open their accommodation to others over the summer, with many having accessible rooms ready to rent. If you’re in the process of choosing a university and are planning to do a placement year, it may also be worthwhile considering a placement or internship within a commutable distance of your current accessible halls.

Finding your voice and building your confidence in the workplace:
I absolutely loved working at The Walt Disney Company, but I initially found working full time and balancing SMA life tricky. I often found myself on the phone to my mum, explaining problems I was having, who would say, ‘why don’t you tell your line manager about this?’ It can feel like you are facing challenges that no one else would understand. I found that having honest conversations meant the difference between sinking or swimming. Once I began being more open, it gave the opportunity for more support to be offered. For example, my line manager was incredibly supportive, and often came up with new perspectives which I hadn’t thought of, like working from home while PA rota issues were being sorted out. 

I’m always happy to chat through my experiences and share my knowledge. If there is anything that I can help you with, let the Support Team at SMA UK know.