Project Intern Review

I really enjoyed the placement because of the variety of work that I was given over my 6 months. I was able to prove my worth in the team and over time was given tasks that stretched my capabilities and taught me new skills. However it wasn't all positive. Sometimes I felt as though the jobs that I was doing dealt a bit too much with angry colleagues and a customer relations role isn't really my thing.

I couldn't have asked for a better team. I was trusted with responsibility for big projects and my team believed in my ability to complete these. It really makes a massive difference to work with people who value your opinion and it creates a great atmosphere when managers and directors respect interns and want their input.

Sometimes during the placement my manager and supervisor have not had the time to provide the support and guidance that maybe would be necessary as they have been very busy with their own projects. That said, whenever I have asked for feedback or meetings I have always been able to arrange time to speak to them and they are very understanding and want to help me anyway that they can.

This varied a lot. At some points in the project I had days where I was running around all day to get tasks done, however some days when I had finished all my tasks I would have periods of time where I didn't have any assigned work. At these times I was always able to ask for more work and my manager would make sure that I had things to do.

I was given a lot of responsibility during my time at CRUK. From the start I was trusted to get on with my work and make decisions in the team. This increased as time went on and my team asked for my input more and more so I accomplished a lot.

I developed my content creation skills that I learnt at uni through the projects that I was assigned. My team fed back their comments and helped my improve my skills. Some things that I was tasked with I felt didn't stretch my skills too much and were a little basic.

The atmosphere in the CRUK office is normally great. Being a charity it is relaxed and not too corporate. There is a big emphasis on wellbeing and support is given to ensure that everyone feels welcome. My team was lovely and although hard work is essential this is balanced by a good environment.

To introduce us all to the company we spent our first morning hearing a presentation about the internship from HR, we were also given a talk from security about building logistics. We were then taken to The Angel Building where we were given laptops and picked up by our managers. The onboarding process was a bit dry and in hindsight the information that we were given was not really essential.

Towards the end of my time at CRUK, I have been trusted with some major decisions and consulted on most things. Working at a charity has allowed me to do work beyond what an intern would usually be trusted with as the resources are less. I have learnt a lot from the people that I have worked with and from the projects that I have done and will be sorry to leave on the 20th December.

I could see myself working for CRUK in the future, however, it would have to be in the right role. I was lucky in my role to have a lot of responsibility and my team invested in me so if I was to work for the company again I would look for a similarly supportive team.

There was an excellent social scene. We went out together as interns a lot. My team is also very keen on social events and we would have a team social most weeks, especially as it got closer to Christmas. The attitude that most people have at CRUK is work hard, play hard.

London had been very expensive for me. From living costs to travel costs it is a lot more than I have been used to in the past. Socialising is not too bad as managers tend to contribute a lot to the bill as they earn more than interns, their generosity is a big reason why I am able to join so many socials.

The nightlife is very good in Stratford and London more generally. However, as I mentioned in the previous statement, it is very expensive. This means that I tend to go for drinks with my team a lot rather than going on nights out with the interns as when managers generously subsidise socialising often is possible.

There were opportunities to get involved with activities outside of work. Such as joining the CRUK choir, or one of the several sports teams that we have. However, there wasn't any that interested me. It would have been great if we'd had a company hockey team as I miss playing competitive sport.