High Value Special Events Intern Review

I loved my internship at Cancer Research UK - I have met so many lovely people and have learnt so much throughout the twelve weeks.

Every member of the team was incredibly welcoming and supportive, and very grateful for any work I did for them.

My line manager was incredibly supportive and encouraging. She always gave me good feedback and guidance, but also gave me enough freedom to do my own research and make my own decisions. I could always ask questions and she was always happy to help.

I was very busy and had several projects throughout the internship. I was able to develop my time management skills by making sure I balanced projects and met deadlines.

I felt like I was given real responsibility and really helped the team and charity as a whole. For example I contacted and built new relationships with lots of companies on behalf of CRUK.

I feel like I have learnt skills that will help me in later life and have so many examples I can use in future interviews and applications e.g. team work, persuasion negotiation, public speaking, time management, networking, communication, phone manner, organisation. I have been able to learn from a very skilled and talented team.

The team were very welcoming and supportive of each other. The office was always busy and had a good atmosphere. People really get on and are happy working at CRUK.

The internship was well organised and CRUK are very geared up for taking on interns, they have three intakes a year. They offer several training sessions for interns e.g. public speaking, CV training. We had a full induction day where we were introduced to different teams, and I had a 1-1 with my manager every week, as well as two more formal reviews halfway through and in the final week. My manager gave me a list of priorities and projects in my first week, so I knew what was expected of me. There were 48 interns in my intake, and there was also a leaving event organised for us.

We were given a personal development plan in the first week. Here I highlighted the main goals and skills I wanted to develop throughout my internship. I chose public speaking (as it is not my strength), organisation, managing deadlines, building new relationships and networking. I went through these with m manager and identified how I could achieve and develop these skills. My manager was very helpful at suggesting ways I could develop further and make the most out of my internship, for example she suggested I could improve my public speaking by volunteering to present at the leaving event.

I would love to work at CRUK in the future. I am returning to university to continue my studies but I would definitely be interested in applying and working at CRUK later down the line. I have joined alumni pages and will connect with my colleagues via linked in to hopefully stay in contact. There are lots of jobs which are advertised internally, and lots of the people working here have done an internship previously. There is also a grad scheme.

Yes! As there were 48 interns there was a huge amount of socials organised. We had a team of dedicated socials secretaries. We had drinks every Thursday and did more special evenings such as a trip to the shard and a leaving meal. The internship also included intern fundraising which was a great way to get to know the other interns better. We organised six fundraising events to take place across the summer, such as a pub quiz, sweep stake, cake sale etc. All the interns were keen to get to know each other. On the induction day CRUK organised drinks and nibbles at Jamies Italian for all of us. I loved having such a big group of interns and meeting so many new people.

The CRUK Head Office is in Angel - London. I travelled in from Woking so do not know the cost of living, my travel expenses were covered. Socialising was typical London costs but many places offered discount for CRUK staff e.g. Bills, Radicals.

Angel is full of bars, restaurants, lots going on

Yes, our team went out for breakfasts and lunches which was a really nice way to get to know the team better in a more relaxed environment. CRUK has lots of activities e.g. yoga classes, pilates, massages, running club. There were away days with drinks and food afterwards. There were lots of intern events and socials every week, as well as intern fundraising which sometimes happened outside of work hours. We can also volunteer at events in the evenings and weekends, I volunteered at Summer in the City and am coming back in September to volunteer at an event. As an intern you can get involved with as much or as little as you want really.