Employee Engagement intern Review

I enjoyed every aspect of the internship.

I worked as part of a small HR team and I was involved in several projects where I could see the work I produced being shared directly to the rest of the company. I was involved in large projects supporting my team and felt like I made a valuable contribution to the final presentation of the project's results. My team itself had many social events that I was invited to and I felt really settled quickly. CRUK encourage interns to get involved in any area of the business that they have an interest in and everyone that works here is keen for you to ask them questions or spend a day in their team.

The internship involves weekly 1 to 1 sessions with your manager, where you can ask questions about CRUK, applying for jobs, interview tips or any other issues you have. At the induction day we were encouraged to think about the skills we wanted to develop, so in these 1:1 sessions we could discuss what tasks I could do to improve my skills. Day to day my manager was very supportive and spoke about my projects and I never felt afraid to ask questions or ask for help if I needed it. There is also an opportunity to have a mentor from somewhere else in the organisation, who can be another supportive point of contact.

My internship slowly built up to a busy 9-5 working day, particularly as the project I was supporting took off 2 weeks into the internship. I was often emailed a list of tasks by my manager to complete in the day/week and so could fit these around any other commitments and learn to prioritise. Some days would be quieter and then I'd be given some work with a tight deadline for the same day, but I enjoyed the variety and handling pressure was a good learning experience. The team were very supportive to make sure I was never overloaded with work, and that I had opportunity to visit other teams and be involved in intern fundraising/activities.

My internship offered responsibility in terms of producing reports that were sent to Directors and heads of teams, and also producing presentations of award nominations to be shared on the CRUK intranet. Whilst I wasn't in charge of any projects, I felt really involved in current projects my team were working on, I had to manage the tasks given and be proactive about decisions and could then see my work being directly used by my team for the rest of the organisation. This was a great balance as my manager was very supportive and if I wasn't confident about something she would encourage me to make my own decisions and finish the work but that she would sign it off before it was shared with the organisation.

I developed project management skills, presentation skills, networking skills, commercial awareness (particularly how to be 'on brand'), using Microsoft Office package - lots of Excel, Outlook, Powerpoint and Word work! These are essential skills as I am now a graduate looking to go into a HR role, and will all be useful in future roles! We were also given a group intern session on interview skills and CV workshops which were really useful to applications I was making and interviews I was attending!

It's really positive - bubbly, energetic, and passionate about the cause

The process for applying was really smooth and easy. My induction day was a great introduction to all of CRUK but a lot to take in. My manager had organised a big pack of information so I could learn more about the organisation and the work I would be doing. There was support and contact from many members of staff throughout the internship, and it felt well organised from beginning to end. CRUK takes the internship seriously so it is well organised so that you really benefit from the experience. The interns are always encourage to get involved in other areas of the organisation and interns are encouraged to fundraise and socialise together.

I was given SharePoint training as the knowledge was required in one of my projects. My manager gave me sessions on project management, presentation and networking skills.

There is an internal jobs page that interns have access to, and vacancies are often sent round by teams or sent to all the interns by the internship organisers. There are many different teams and different roles across the organisation, so whilst my team did not have an opportunity after the internship, there were other HR vacancies. Doing the internship definitely puts you in a good position to then apply for a role and many people who work here have done exactly that!

As there were about 40 interns across CRUK there was plenty of socialising! Most lunchtimes we would meet and eat together, often go to Jamie's Italian at the bottom of the building for after work drinks and sometimes meet up at the weekend. We did fundraising projects together and it's good to learn about other areas of the organisation through your fellow interns. My team also had a great social scene, we had meals out, drinks out, went to CRUK events together.

It's London so of course it can be expensive! We would often go to Jamie's for drinks and the free nibbles on Thursday evenings or seek out somewhere cheap to have dinner. I didn't live in the area so I commuted in which made it harder to stay out late, but a few of the interns who did live in London would meet up on weekends. Expenses for travel and lunch definitely helped.

Didn't really explore this, but it is a very busy area with bars and restaurants all around Angel tube station!

There are so many opportunities to get involved with fundraising activities or volunteering at events as CRUK representatives so that events can be carried out. Interns are regularly emailed by staff and other interns to get involved in the latest events. A lot of these can happen on the weekends.