Campaigns and Research Funding Review

It is difficult to be motivated in a position where you have a definite end date, so i think it would be a struggle for most interns to really enjoy and feel connected to their work. Given that this internship is an unpaid position it is also difficult to feel motivated doing work of a similar standard to colleagues, yet not being rewarded for it. I did not not enjoy it, more that I seemed to be on autopilot for the majority of my time spend in the office.

The staff in senior positions were at best indifferent, and at worst downright rude to interns. Those in junior positions clearly felt the relief of pressure when interns were working with them and were happy to express their gratitude. However this did not span the department, or indeed the company.

My manager was extremely useful and helped me out whenever she could. She was very friendly and welcoming from day one, and always supported me when difficulties arose from other members of staff. She really wanted to make the most of my placement for me and it showed.

I was never under pressure to complete deadlines, and I never felt bored. It would have been a perfect balance, although I would have liked some tighter deadlines to force me to time manage more and to give me a sense of true responsibility.

Not a huge amount, I was responsible for the work that I did, and this work was used and held in the same regard as those on my team. However, all work I did was thoroughly proofread, even towards the end, leading me to believe that perhaps I was being humored in the position as to my importance. But work was divided equally on the team between me and my permanent colleagues, which was a bonus.

The department I was in was very research-focused and these analytic skills are useful in any job, and I will be using them for the foreseeable future. I also learnt a lot of basic IT skills I didn't have in place beforehand and this will help out no end in future employment.

It was appropriate for an office environment, sometime a sense of boredom prevailed a little but more often than not it was as if a lot of people were getting on with their jobs happily enough. There were a few social events held on birthdays/leaving drinks etc, and shared sweets often came up which was nice.

It seemed to promise more than it delivered. On the induction days a lot of emphasis was put on various 'perks' which in reality were almost impossible to secure, such as mentoring schemes and inter-departmental opportunities.

We had a CV and training day with a 20 minute session with an HR representative, which was useful but not really enough, and very diluted. Other than that, any training courses were limited to online partially accessible excel and office courses.

Not brilliant, the department I was in advertised for various entry-level position whilst I was there, none of them offered to interns of internal staff exclusively first.

There was a real sense of camaraderie amongst the interns, as there were so many of them. The company had an intake of 62 I think when I was taken on.

Expensive, but then, so is all of London.

I never experienced it, but there were many pubs and bars dotted around the place, so not too shabby I would imagine.

Internal emails were often sent round for various volunteering opportunities at events around the country, which was good, and the company has various employee-run activities open to all.