Internal Communications (Fundraising and Marketing) Intern Review

Thoroughly! I would recommend the internship scheme to everyone. I really enjoyed the work, I had an amazing team and made great friends with the other interns.

Compared to other experiences, I really felt as though I was valued and part of the team on this internship. Little things like attending team meetings, being added to the team email distribution list and going for lunches and drinks with the team made me feel like I fit in straight away. The nature of the work I was given made me feel as valuable as a staff member.

I felt like there was a lot of support from my manager. I had weekly 1-1 meetings with her to discuss my work for the upcoming week and she was always available for questions in the interim.

A good level. I had a mixture of ongoing projects and short term work I fed into, so I always had something to do.

A lot - I felt pushed but not pressured. My main piece of work was creating a report into regional staffs' engagement with internal communications. As an example of my responsibility, this involved meetings with Heads of various teams throughout the charity - all of which I attended alone. I presented my findings to the Head of my team and the rest of the team on two separate occasions, and understand that it will be presented to the Director of their Department in the coming weeks. I completed this work largely independently, going through my plan and sections of my findings with my line manager throughout the internship. I was allowed a good level of creativity and scope to approach the project in my own way which was really exciting and refreshing.

I finished my degree so in terms of job applications, I understand how highly esteemed the internship is held both in the charity industry and generally in other sectors. For example, I told my previous employers about the internship and they said it would hold me in good stead in my future job hunt.

Great! CRUK is an amazing and inspiring place to work. There's a buzz throughout the organisation and everyone is notably passionate about the cause. For example, I was at the office when the standard packs policy went through and everyone was so excited that all the hard work paid off! Finally, everyone is really friendly and supportive and seem to genuinely value the interns - I had a one off meeting with someone in a different department once who left saying, 'thank you for all the hard work you do as an intern.'

Really well organised. There's an introduction meeting for the interns during the first week with drinks in the evening which is great to get to know everyone. The Volunteer Placement Executive asked for feedback from our 2 week, 6 week and 12 week extended personal development meetings to monitor our progress and take on board any suggestions or feedback. At the end of the internship, there is a 'thank you event' with speeches from the Volunteer Placement Executive, a director (we had the Executive Director of Fundraising and Marketing), interns and intern managers which was a lovely note to end on.

As well as my weekly 1-1s with my line manager, I had additional meetings at 2 weeks, 6 weeks and in my final week to discuss my personal development. Additionally, I had a mentor who I met with every other week. My mentor was on the graduate scheme so she had a wealth of knowledge and experience to share. I've become good friends with her and she offered to look over a job application for me and gave really thorough feedback and advice. The Volunteer Placement Executive (who oversees the internship scheme) was also on hand for advice at all times. I once mentioned that I received a job rejection and felt set back and she immediately offered to meet with me to discuss it and offer advice. Finally, as part of the scheme we attended a CV Workshop morning which gave advice on CVs, cover letters, applications and interviews. We also got a 1-1 session with HR staff who looked over our CVs.

Good. There's no guaranteed jobs at the end but having met a wide variety of staff at CRUK made it seem like a lot of careers there start with internships! I have stayed on at CRUK in a full time role in a different team.

Great! Its obviously dependent on the intake, but on mine, there were always people to have lunch with and quite a few of us went for drinks after work. I had my birthday during the internship and the interns surprised me on the roof with cake! I also went for lunch and drinks with team on occasions which made me feel well integrated.

I lived at home (in London) and got the tube in. Undeniably, working in London is expensive in terms of travel and socialising, but this is to be expected. The internships are advertised as 3/4 days a week to give interns the ability to try and find part time work and CRUK does provide travel and lunch expenses which helps.

Great! Angel has an amazing selection of restaurants, pubs and bars. We never struggled to find somewhere.

There's lots of sport/yoga classes to my knowledge that are available.