HR Brand Intern Review

I greatly enjoyed my internship, as it gave me a real insight into what it's like to work in the charity sector, and also more generally in an office environment. A lot of students go straight from full time education to a graduate level job with little or no experience of either the work or work culture in organisations. CRUK has provided me with real work that will actually make a difference, whilst also allowing flexibility and time for my own personal development and fundraising activities. It balances well on the fine line between making sure its interns are contributing and getting the most from their internship, whilst remembering that they are only being paid lunch allowance and expenses.

I felt part of the organisation immediately, as from day one I was expected to contribute in team meetings - describing what I was working on and answering questions. All the interns were treated with respect from team members who seemed genuinely interested in what we were doing. Also, members of staff were more than happy to give up time to discuss their particular roles with me, which really aided my understanding of the organisation and game me some ideas of what I wanted to do upon leaving University.

I was given the ideal amount of supervision during my internship. I had weekly 121's with my manager, as well as reviews at the start, middle and end of the internship to feedback and discuss my experiences and personal development. I felt as though I was allowed to work completely independently and control my own work load and time management, but still as though I could ask any questions or for more/less work if I needed it. More widely speaking, the volunteering team put on extra development sessions for interns such as cv skills workshops which were incredibly useful when it came to applying for graduate jobs.

Day to day, I felt busy enough but not as though I was overwhelmed with work. I knew that my manager would be more than happy to give me further work should I need it, but generally she would email me various tasks as and when they became relevant, and include a suggested deadline for completion. Having several projects on the go as opposed to just one for the duration of the internship, allowed me to manage my time effectively and improve my organisational skills further. As well as this, interns were encouraged to leave at five and take a full hour lunch break, as emphasis that our roles were voluntary. Furthermore, interns were encouraged by the volunteering time to spend time doing extra fundraising activities alongside their individual projects, as well as putting together a yearbook of our time in the organisation. This made the internship more enjoyable as it gave us a greater variety of goals and achievements.

At the start of my placement I was worried I would have too much real responsibility that would lead me to make mistakes. However, whilst I had a lot of responsibility in terms of making contacts, meeting deadlines, booking rooms for important conferences etc, I was able to run these things past my manager to ensure I had not made any mistakes. Through doing this, my confidence grew throughout the internship, although I still feel nervous about making big decisions!

Doing this internship will be invaluable in my career development. Firstly, having experience of both the charity sector and more generally working in an office will prepare me to a greater extent when I come to apply for graduate jobs. Furthermore, having done work experience at such a well know UK charity will be beneficial in terms of its reputation when coming to apply for other jobs. In terms of skills, having a better knowledge of the workings of Outlook, as well as more transferrable skills like time management and organisation will hopefully prepare me to a greater extent for both my studies and beyond.

I've found CRUK to have a really positive working atmosphere, everyone seems willing to answer your questions and do favours for one another. People work incredibly hard but not ridiculous hours, and during my time there I attended team lunches and meals, drinks and birthday events. The atmosphere was also helped by the cause, as it seemed as though everyone really cared about beating cancer sooner and what they could do themselves to help achieve that. When I first joined, having never worked in an office before I found my surrounding quite loud and hard to concentrate in, but after the first week or so I really got used to it.

The internship itself was extremely well organised. All the roles we advertised individually online, and we had to fill out an online application which then went through to interview if we were successful. We had both an induction and leaving day, as well as a few scheduled drinks events to get to know one another better. The volunteering team made us aware of events/roles we might be interested in, and reminded us to schedule monthly 121 review sessions with our managers which we would then feed back to them. When recruiting, all hiring managers had to make sure they had a specific role profile and project in mind for their interns to undertake, as this made sure the work we were doing was worthwhile as opposed to menial as with some work experience placements.

All interns were encouraged to make the most of their time at CRUK by improving their own skills, for example we were encouraged to make note of every task and situation we were involved in and compile it into answers for competency based questions we may be asked in interviews. This was incredibly useful, as going over the tasks really made me consider the skills I had used and learned, and I made me think about asks may have forgotten doing otherwise. We were also encouraged to partake in a CV skills workshop, where members of HR looked over our cv's and suggested improvements, and we ourselves critiqued example cv's and considered other necessary skills such as using LinkedIn and writing cover letters. Alongside this, we were encouraged to speak to other members of staff about their roles in order to gain a better understanding of the organisation and what we ourselves may be interested in.

I think CRUK would be a fantastic organisation to work for in the future, although perhaps first I think I would like to experience a different role in a smaller charity, as the differences within the sector are quite large. I believe CRUK would be rewarding to work for full time as there is a good work/life balance and employees really care about the cause they are working towards. The graduate scheme also seems like a great opportunity, but is extremely competitive to get into.

Alongside the events organised for us by the volunteering team, the interns have run a number of fundraising events amongst ourselves. These include anything from bake sales and drinks, to pub quizzes, bingo nights and gatherings on the roof. Day to day, the interns all broke off into groups and had lunch. This could at times be problematic with the number of interns (48) as it made events hard to organise, as well as the fact that a lot of people had long journeys on trains so were reluctant to stay more than an hour or so after work. Regardless of this though, there was always a good turnout at fundraisers and everyone got involved.

Being in Angel, the cost of socialising could be quite expensive at times, but as we had a £4 lunch allowance and travel expenses paid for, this made things a lot easier. As well as this, many bars and local restaurants were either independent or did happy hours which meant that not only were the food and drinks fantastic, they weren't nearly as expensive as in other parts of London. As well as this we were often able to get discount in places such as the Hummingbird bakery because we worked for CRUK.

As many people had long train journeys home, we did not have too much of a chance to explore the nightlife. However, when we did go out there were a large variety of independent pubs, bars and restaurants to go to, as well as the roof of the Angel building on which we were allowed to have drinks receptions. Being in London also made it easy to do others things after work, for example meet up with university friends or go to the theatre. If you lived more locally in a permanent role it would be a fantastic location.

All interns were encouraged to organise their own fundraising activities for the duration of the internship. We split into smaller fundraising teams and organised events such as bake sales, drinks receptions, pub quizzes and bingo nights. We did a 16 mile scavenger hunt following CRUK's DNA trail around the streets of London, in order to raise money for the building of the Crick research institute. There were also opportunities to volunteer at events such as wireless! On the whole interns were massively encouraged to socialise and get involved with activities other than their projects.