Summer Associate Review

I was not allocated to one specific project for the duration of the internship, and instead had a number of pieces to work on. This would vary from spreadsheet and document saving work to writing project proposals, attending job-specific trainings and reviewing documents and writing summaries to give on to a manager. There was also frequent opportunity to sit on meetings with more senior colleagues.

My particular role had a lot of emphasis on note-taking and summaries, allowing me to greatly develop critical reading and writing skills. There was also training given for specific software used by the organisation and wider IT learning opportunities.

I was given significant amounts of responsibility. When I was allocated a new piece of work, I would have a meeting with a member of my team who would explain the project and what had to be done. Beyond that point, they would leave me to it and only review work at the end or give assistance when it was asked for.

As much as was required. On more challenging projects more would be given and on simpler tasks none more than necessary was given. Everyone is also happy to help with any issues you have or put you in touch with other colleagues in different parts of the organisation.

Everyone was always incredibly helpful and friendly with any questions you had for them. The work culture was also excellent - I was never expected to work late and was frequently asked if I had an appropriate workload and wasn't being overburdened.

Was a vey enjoyable experience overall. The organisation has a great culture and the breadth of work being undertaken means there is always lots of different people you can talk to to learn more. There were occasional points when I was relatively inactive and could have done with slightly more to do - but this wasn't generally an issue.

Yes

Really pay attention to their mission and values throughout the application process!