Special Events Intern Review

I really enjoyed my internship because I was given a lot of responsibility and so I felt that I was really able to learn from it and gain some practical experience. Helping out with the events also gave me a great insight into the processes behind creating them. Possibly the most you could hope for out of an internship. The one drawback would be that we weren't paid. This was a pretty big drawback as it means you have to spend your spare time working which is distracting and also quite exhausting. It also de-values the work that we do.

My colleagues were all incredibly friendly and welcoming. I always felt that they were genuinely concerned with making sure I had the best time possible. I was treated like another colleague which is great as interns are often overlooked in work environments. They always gave constructive

I had a huge amount of support not just from my manager but also from my buddy and my mentor. In fact, everyone in my team was very willing to lend me advice if I asked for it. In fact, through my mentor I was also introduced to a lot of different people working across all the different departments in CRUK who were all kind enough to have individual meetings with me about their work.

I was always given work to do without ever feeling particularly over-stretched or stressed. Someone was always there to share the load or give me more if I needed it. Time rarely ever dragged for me which is a good sign that I was being kept occupied with the work I was doing. Working hours and lunch breaks were also very decent and outside of work there were always loads of extra projects or events you could help out with.

I was given enough responsibility to feel like I was making an impact and learning without feeling as if I could irreparably damage a relationship with a client or an event delivery. I was also able to help another intern out and work on a project by ourselves which would then deliver to the Innovation Team. When we needed help, we were able to have meetings with our supervisor but we were largely trusted to be left to our own devices which was exciting. Overall it was a good balance for intern level.

I now have a great insight into how CRUK works as a large charity and in particular the processes involved in the delivery of high value events. This insight alongside the level of responsibility I was given throughout my internship, will undoubtedly help with my future job applications. I was also able to take part in CV and Presentation skills workshops and both my manager and my mentor gave me lots of cv advice.

The general atmosphere in the office was very welcoming and friendly. The building itself is incredibly beautiful and really lovely to work in - the facilities such as the amazing rooftop garden definitely contribute to this. Hot desking seemed to be an issue amongst my colleagues but I really enjoyed sitting with different people everyday and meeting different people within the department.

The work placement was incredibly well organised with regular check-ins and reviews with the intern manager. I also had 2 week, 4 week, and 6 week reviews with my manager as well as weekly 121s and mentor meetings set up by myself so I could regularly update them with my feedback and raise any issues that I had.

I don't feel like I have learnt any particular specialised skills from my internship. However, if I was to apply for a job within Cancer Research, I feel like they would invest in helping me with advice before my interview and my CV as well.

After doing my internship, it is clear to me that Cancer Research is an incredible charity to work for and pretty much all of the employees continually sing its praises. I would definitely consider applying here in the future, as I feel like they are constantly making sure their employees are happy and they are very quick to change and reassess systems which are not working.

I was not able to attend many of the social events so I can't really comment but there was definitely a nice atmosphere amongst the interns and I felt that I could sit with and talk to any of them at lunch if I wanted to. I think this was largely down to the fact that we were all introduced to each other before our internship started, which really helped.

Very expensive which definitely held me back from socialising more with the other interns and within my team which they wanted to go out for birthday or team lunches. The fact that we weren't being paid also made this feel particularly bad. However, there is a local bar which gives CRUK employees discounts and has a nice atmosphere - although still very expensive even with the discounts!

I never explored it.

There were a huge amount of opportunities to volunteer at events. For example, I volunteered at three big events which were run by my department and I also volunteered to help photograph the stand up to cancer tube takeover. I also helped run an intern Pub Quiz and there was also White Collar Boxing Training which I could have joined if I wanted to.