Special Events Intern Review

I’ve really enjoyed my internship on the special events team at CRUK. I think it’s given me great insight into CRUK as a company and also into working in the third sector. The placement was really geared to how we can get the most out of it and to our development which was really good. There wasn’t much stereotypical intern work. We were actually given proper responsibility which made it a good experience.

I definitely felt valued by my team. They really included the interns and made us feel like part of the team, even having a welcome lunch and a welcome breakfast for us. I felt that they really valued our help and relied on us to deliver events successful, even asking us to stay on an extra week. They were thankful for our help, especially in the busiest event season.

CRUK offer a lot of support and guidance to the interns. I had weekly one-to-ones with my manager where we would talk about the week’s tasks and where I am with my work, as well as weekly catch ups with a ‘Buddy’ on my team. In addition to this, I had bigger reviews at week 2, 6 and 12 about how I’m finding the internship and workload and also about my personal development. I was given really good feedback in these sessions. I also applied for a mentor, which was another option open to all interns.

Being event season, it’s a really busy time on the team and I joined 2 months before my first big event. I was busy most days. At the start, it was a little less busy only being given one or two ongoing tasks. This was good as it gave me a chance to settle in a bit. After that I was given more responsibility and as the event got closer the work load was bigger but I felt it was manageable. I was glad I was being kept busy and was getting to be involved in lots of different tasks. It really varied throughout the internship.

Throughout the internship I was given real responsibility and was given tasks that were important for the event, rather than stereotypical intern grunt work. For example I’ve been put in charge of silent auction prizes for an upcoming special event, sourcing food for the volunteers and was in charge of post event thanking. The tasks I was given were (generally) essential to the event.

I think I have developed really valuable skills throughout the internship. We had sessions on CVs, interviews skills and presentation skills. Some of the advice given has been really helpful (especially about answering competency based questions) and was things I’d never heard before. I think the internship has given me greater confidence in general and has really helped my phone manner and client management (as I’d never had much experience with calling people).

The atmosphere in the office is really friendly. They use hot desking system so you don’t have a set seat and you can move around desks in your area. This was really nice as I got to know more people. Everyone was really approachable and friendly and I felt as though they encourage talking to people on other teams and working collaboratively.

The internship was really well organised. My manager had got in contact with me before the internship to let me know about when I would start. On my first they had a folder ready for me with information about me events and what I would be working on. They had tried to set up as much of my IT stuff as possible. They would not let interns stay beyond 5 and insisted on a full one hour lunch break (being very aware of the fact that we are unpaid). There were regular intern meet ups and communication sent round.

I feel like CRUK really do invest in their interns and their development. As I mentioned above there were various skills sessions, CV Checks and interview practise sessions available. In my first week I set development goals with my manager and throughout my internship we revisited them and talked about how I was achieving them and looking at further opportunities to work on them. They also encourage getting involved with other teams be it through shadowing, have a chat with someone or an intern activity.

Having completed my internship I would quite like to work for Cancer Research UK. I feel like a lot of people come in as interns and then end up with jobs or go on the grad scheme. At least 5 members of my team interned with CRUK and then got a job.

There was a good social scene among other interns. There were ‘Thirsty Thursdays’ every week after work which was intern drinks. They also had activities during the day such as a dragons den type event where we were all put into teams and had to pitch an innovative fundraising idea to the innovation dragons. There was an intern fundraising event which a lot of interns got involved with.

Many nearby bars, pubs and restaurants offered a discount to Cancer Research UK staff so costs weren’t too bad there. Cancer Research UK also paid lunch and travel expenses so this helped keep costs low. They have a really nice and inexpensive canteen in the building. In general the cost was never too high.

Throughout my internship I was based at the main head office in Angel. It’s a really lively area. There is lots to do on nearby Upper Street and Old street. There are lots of bars, pubs, karaoke places and restaurants nearby. I think the nightlife is really good and CRUK encouraged the interns socialising.

There were loads of opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work. A weekly angel round up newsletter came every week that often had interesting things in it. There were lots of other fun CRUK related things that you could get involved with such as football match bucket collections and stand up to cancer stuff. There were also other opportunities such as massages, exercise classes and wellbeing sessions.