Corporate Partnerships Intern (Stand up to Cancer) Review

I enjoyed gaining work experience in an office environment, my manager was lovely and I met some great people. But I sometimes felt like my tasks lacked responsibilities as none of them were truly project based.

The department I worked in had a very nice team, they all introduced themselves and what they do in the first weeks of the internship making me feel more comfortable in the office. My whole team were very friendly and were grateful when I assisted them in a task. I enjoyed very much being a part of their team.

My manager was lovely , her managerial skills were very good, and she always made sure that I was getting out what I needed/wanted of the internship, she was also curious to know what the scheme offered in terms of personal development and eager to help out. She stayed aware of my work load, checking if I had enough work, she was also super friendly and available if I had any questions; I didn’t feel intimidated by her. The scheme and the organisation offered the extra support and guidance that I might have needed, such as workshops, CV one-to-one, team builder, mentoring scheme. The internship scheme was well organised and the everyone on it including the supervisor were incredibly friendly.

As I was working in the Corporate Partnerships department focusing on Stand up To Cancer it was obviously much busier before the campaign. So it depended on the days, I was busier at the start of my internship and less so at the end when he campaign had passed.

I felt like most of my tasks lacked real responsibility, they mostly consisted of bringing items to the post-room, counting merchandise, keeping aware of what was in the stock room. In addition to this, I did quite a bit of admin work, preparing presentations, creating excel spread sheets, doing research work. All in all my internship could have benefited from a clear and precise project that I would be able to mention on my CV.

In terms of skills, the internship mostly enhanced my admin skills. But I truly benefited from working in an office environment, understanding the dynamics made me much more at ease with people I don't know, by meeting new people, writing emails, making phones calls; my confidence was definitively boosted helping me adopt a more professional attitude in my work.

I loved the general atmosphere at CR-UK. Working in a charity has a really warm feeling to it, people are very nice and always willing to help out if you have any questions / enquiries as you are working towards the same thing fundamentally. And the volunteering opportunities across the various departments allow you to meet lots of people.

The internship scheme was incredibly well organised from the application process to the end of the internship. Support was provided both from your manager and from you placement "supervisor", additional support was also provided under the form of workshops, CV 1-to-1's, a mentoring scheme.

I would say the company tries to invest as much as possible in the interns in terms of training (induction day, team builder) and development (workshops, mentors), a lot of opportunities are available throughout the organisation if you are interested.

The company encourages internal employments, and most of the people working at CR-UK were interns in the past. The scheme is a very good way of putting a foot down in the organisation if you are interested in working there on the long term.

The scheme was a very social one. If you were interested in getting to know your fellow interns and getting a drink at the same time, every Thursday there was the opportunity to go to "Thirsty Thursday" in the local pub or sometimes somewhere a bit more fancy. A good way to get to know people was also helping out with the organisation of Intern fundraisers like a pub quiz or a bake sale. Overall the internship was a fun and social one.

The Cancer Research office is based in Angel, it's a social area but pretty expensive. But as CR-UK pays for travel expenses up to £60/ week most people live outside London or in a cheaper neighbourhood.

The Nightlife in the was great, very lively with lots of cool pubs around.

Being an intern in the Autumn scheme means that Stand up To Cancer happens during that period, so it is very easy to get involved in the fundraising for that campaign. You can also volunteer to help out with intern fundraising or volunteer at CR-UK events, but this might be outside of your work hours.