International Tobacco Control Programme Intern Review

I really enjoyed my internship. I went in not knowing much about the work Cancer Research does and the type of day-to-day work carried out by the Policy and Information Directorate. I took on a good level of work and was relied upon to deliver work to my team. I also liked being part of a big intern group, which helped a lot with the social side of work and getting to know people.

I was part of a small team, just 4 people including me. As a result, I was relied on by my manager for a lot of the work she was tasked with. Because I was given work that mattered, I felt I was being valued by my colleagues and at no point did I think that they were treating me as if I was good enough.

I was given a very high amount of support and guidance during my internship. There was a supervisor of the intern programme, who made sure to offer her full support throughout the internship. I had one-to-one meetings with my line manager each week and I was assigned a mentor, who I was able to choose, to offer me career advice and listen to any problems I had.

With my manager, we went through a workplan for my time at Cancer Research UK, which set out all the tasks I needed to accomplish over the internship. I appreciated not having too busy a workload at the beginning of the internship as it helped me settle in to the new environment and I built up the amount of work as time progressed.

I was quite independent in what I was doing, because it was a small team so could not cover everything. This meant I was responsible for planning when to do my work and what deadlines I set for myself for work to be completed. I would check these with my manager, but otherwise I was left to my own devices to plan my days.

Having been able to get onto an internship designed for postgraduates, even though I am yet to go to university. I have learnt a lot from CV and interview workshops and I have developed skills that will be very useful at university; time-management, organisation etc. Beyond that, this internship has really increased my employability as I have developed a great set of transferable skills

There was a very welcoming atmosphere and everyone was concerned about making the interns feel like a part of the team. I felt I was able to approach most people in the office with questions about anything. It was clear that there was work to be done, but that didn't hinder being able to chat with work colleagues - it was a very nice place to work.

It was obvious that the internship has been running for a long time as it was very organised and designed to benefit the interns. There were lots of events for interns and run by interns, including team-building events and fundraisers. Near the beginning of the internship, there was a big effort to help all the interns get to know each other, which helped socially at the office, e.g. who to have lunch with. There were also workshops and information packs provided that were designed to help the interns; the internship felt like it was there to benefit the career prospects of the interns rather than of Cancer Research UK.

Every intern was assigned a line manager, who oversee progress and have more formal personal development talks three times over the internship. It was also possible to sign up for a mentor, who was there to provide insight into different sectors and roles and could also help with personal career development. More informal chats were available with buddies, who were employees at Cancer Research UK, who had been on past intern programmes.

As I am going to university, this part of the internship was not what I was most concerned about, although all internal job possibilities were sent to all the interns. Many of the other interns applied for internal roles and some succeeded, getting onto the graduate programme or assistant/officer roles. Around 20% of interns got an internal role by the time the internship finished.

There was a fundraising programme that was left completely to the interns - this built up the social scene among the interns. There was also drinks organised for all the interns after work each Thursday. The group of interns was large, so it was easy to make friends quickly and get to know different people. Some people had a long commute in so it was hard to meet some of those people regularly

Most parts of London are expensive, so it wasn't cheap to live and socialise. Lunch and travel were covered on expenses, although £4 did not go a long way to buying lunch each day that wasn't a sandwich meal deal. The Cancer Research UK badges got discounts at some places, so that helped with the cost.

The nightlife was very good around where I worked, as it was near to UCL. I didn't go out in the area, however, as most of the interns weren't able to stay out that late.

Yes, there was the intern fundraising scheme, which was open to all the interns and it was possible to get involved in organising a pub quiz, helping with a bake sale, running a Valentine's Day event or office Olympics games. My line manager was very open to me adapting my schedule to fit in activities outside of work as long as I could get my work done.