Corporate Partnerships Intern Review

I had a fantastic time during my internship at Cancer Research UK. In the 3 months I had the opportunity to learn so many things - office skills, knowledge about the charity sector and specific skills related to my role in Corporate Partnerships. I also met lots of really great people! One aspect of the internship I particularly enjoyed was being able to volunteer at different events and to organise a fundraising event with the other interns outside of my intern role. It also gave me an insight into the different departments of a charity and helped me realise what field I am interested in working in.

I felt valued by my colleagues as I was assisting them in their projects and got great feedback on what I was doing. The internship was great as I was able to have quite a bit of responsibility and was able to help my manager with important tasks. For this reason, I felt valued in my position as an intern.

My manager was brilliant and gave me lots of support during the internship. We met once a week for 1-2-1 sessions but she was more than willing to arrange catch ups and was always approachable. She provided me with great feedback for me to think about and I always had projects to work on. She helped me develop certain skills that I wanted to learn (i.e. database skills, admin skills, presentation skills) and gave me opportunities to assist with tasks that which I learned lots from.

The workload varied during my internship which was great. There were some times when I had less tasks to do in my department and I used this time to organise a fundraising event with my fellow interns (which I learnt a lot from) and go to meetings. At other times I was very busy with my projects and had several deadlines to stick to. All in all, I would say that I had almost the perfect balance of busy and quiet times during my internship.

During my placement I was given quite a bit of responsibility which I really enjoyed. I looked after several client inboxes and was in charge of designing and writing a fundraising pack for a partner.

The skills I learned in this internship are invaluable and will apply to almost any job I apply to. I developed IT skills (including database), project management skills, organisational skills and office skills in general. During the internship we had a CV and interview skills workshop which will undoubtedly help me in the future. I feel much more prepared and skilled to be applying for entry level jobs in many sectors after having completed this internship and feel more confident in interviews and when applying to different positions.

The atmosphere in the office at Cancer Research UK was really friendly and pleasant. I was fortunate enough o have my own desk during the internship and sat across from the other intern in our team which made the working environment really enjoyable. In general, I thought that the office was very open and everybody was very approachable. At the beginning of my internship I asked to have inductions with team members of other departments and everybody was more than happy to chat to me and tell me what they were doing. Due to the fact that the office is very open plan and that we rarely used meeting rooms, the office had a very friendly and relaxed atmosphere.

The overall internship was very well organised and was clearly explained to me when I started at Cancer Research UK. When I started the internship in June, my manager gave me an outline and plan of what I would be doing during the three months at the charity. I had 3 main projects that were clearly explained and which took me a good amount of time to complete. After I had finished these projects there were new events starting that my manager needed help with, which filled up the rest of the time I had at the internship.

The charity provided several opportunities for personal training and development, such as the CV and interview workshop, which was really helpful. However, most of my personal development came through my project work which my manager helped me with.

At the moment, I would really like to be able to work at Cancer Research UK again as I had a fantastic experience and really like the charity. It's a great place to work due to the nature of the tasks and the general environment and people working in the office. I have been keeping an eye out for jobs and would love to be able to apply for a position in the team I volunteered in. Hopefully there will be a role coming up soon which I can apply for.

There was quite a good social scene, especially with the interns. We arranged several intern fundraising events and often went out for drinks after work.

The cost of living in London is generally very high and especially in Islington it is quite expensive to live. In terms of socialising, the area is really nice and is similar to the rest of London. I was very happy to have a subsidised canteen which made it easier to stick to our £4 lunch allowance.

I didn't have any experience of the nightlife in the area, as I do not live in the vicinity. However, I know there are some great bars and clubs around Angel.

There were some opportunities to get involved in volunteering at certain CRUK events, such as festivals and fundraising events. I was also aware of certain CRUK sports teams that met after work to play, which I didn't join. They also offer certain classes such as yoga on the roof of the Angel building.