Legacy Events and communication intern Review

by Cancer Research UK

This review was submitted over 4 years ago, so some of the information it contains may no longer be relevant.

Rating

3.8/5
  • The Role
    4.0
  • The Company
    4.0
  • The Culture
    3.3

    The Role

  • 1. To what extent did you enjoy your work placement or internship?
  • I have really enjoyed my internship here are Cancer Research UK. As a charity, it has been a fun and rewarding place to work, where everyone cares about the cause. I have liked that I have been busy and given responsibility. I have enjoyed being part of the team and I have felt like I am part of the team and not just the temporary intern. Some days I have found like it hasn't been busy enough and I found myself having to ask for more things to do. However, there have been other days when the work load has been quite high. So it was not too much on a concern and I was aware I could ask for more work. I have liked that there has been variety to what I have done and I have really valued the extra training that we have received as interns.

    4/5

  • 2. To what extent did you feel valued by your colleagues?
  • I love my team. This is not an exaggeration. I have felt so supported and so valued from the very first day. They have been so kind and patient, while challenging me and giving me responsibility to have a go. They have been great in sharing advice with me to help me progress in my career. I know that should I have had a serious problem there would have been lots of people that I could go to speak to and ask for help. I also have noticed that they have cared for me in a holistic way: not just in helping me with my work that is beneficial to the team but one occasions where I was feeling under the weather they would all ask to make sure I was okay and that if I needed rest time or less work they would be able to support me in that. I have received a great deal of praise and I have been aware that my work and contribution to the team has been a help to them.

    5/5

  • 3. To what extent were you given support and guidance by management/your supervisor(s)?
  • On my first day I was provided with a hand book to help me get started but also to refer back to should I need to in the future. I was also sat between my line manager and my supervisor and so I had people on either side to help me should I ever need it. This was invaluable and meant that I could ask questions at all times and made work that was done together very easy. I was also given a lot of personal development and members of the team gave me feedback on my progress. They also helped me in applying for a job within the charity and read my CV and gave me advice on this. I had regular meetings and catch ups with my supervisor in order to raise any issues and help monitor my progress. When I have needed to ask a question or help I have been able to ask and someone has always helped me as quickly as they were able to. In one situation where I seems a bit overwhelmed the whole team were there to support me, even taking on extra work to help me out.

    5/5

  • 4. How busy were you on a daily basis?
  • This was probably the most difficult part of the whole internship, although this (to some degree) is the nature of the role. Because a large part of my role is comms, how busy I was depended on how busy the phone and email lines were. There were some weeks when I did not feel busy at all, but then other times when I felt so busy and over worked that I couldn't fit anything else in. Some days I was having to ask for a lot more work and this often meant that I was given work that was unrelated to my project. However, this was not often. I might have appreciated it if there had been a physical list of other jobs for me to do, so that I didn't feel like I was disturbing people to ask for more work. It would have been preferable to also be given work related to my project, simply because I had a better understanding of that area.

    3/5

  • 5. How much responsibility were you given during your placement?
  • I had a lot of responsibility. My main role was communicating with the supports at three large events. This is a very important role as it is supporter facing and therefore it is important to get it right, while also being friendly and polite. I was also given the task of writing and prepping mailings raging from 200 letters to about 500. This also meant that I needed to come up with a system to make this work, but also organise and manage volunteers I had asked to help me to achieve this. I felt like I was trusted with the supporters contact details and also to be professional, kind and helpful on the phone and by email. I think the level of responsibility I was given was acceptable for the role and also my position within the charity. I didn't fell like I had someone watching over my shoulder all the time, but did feel like I had support if I needed it.

    4/5

  • 6. To what extent did/will the skills you developed, and training you received, assist you in your degree studies and beyond?
  • As I have already graduated it has not helped with my degree. But I think it has called upon skills I learnt and nurtured during my time at university. However, I have received training that has been really helpful in my career journey and I have got a job at the charity based on this. I felt like the CV and cover letter workshop was a good way to meet other interns but it also gave me good advice in building a strong application. It was practical and applicable. I also got a CV one to one which was probably the best advice I could have got. It was personal and it helped me to get specific insight into what someone understands about me from my CV and how what I write comes across as. The fact that I have a permanent role is testament to that. There were also workshops on giving presentations and public speaking. Doing this training in this format was helpful in that it has given me more skills that make me more employable and will strengthen my application. I also attending a project management workshop, which opened my eyes to possible career options for me that I had not considered before.

    4/5

    The Company

  • 7. What was the general atmosphere in your office?
  • It was a really pleasant place to work. There were always fun activities going on and staff fundraising. It was open plan so I often felt like part of the decision making process and people were generally kind. Although there was always work to do it did generally feel laid back and like a nice place to be.

    5/5

  • 8. How well organised was the overall work placement or internship set up?
  • The internship was very well organised, even when the intern manager changed part way through. There was a clear structure in terms of time and a pack to help with development that we could use throughout. There were opportunities to get involved in things that weren't part of my role and also there were opportunities to meet different teams and learn about the organisation more generally. We were offered mentors to help us grow too and this was something I have appreciated.

    4/5

  • 9. In terms of personal training and development, to what extent did the company or firm invest in you?
  • They provided a lot of training and mentors that we could go to and talk about anything. They were usually not from our team so this mean they gave objective advice.

    4/5

  • 10. What were the perks on your work placement?
  • Subsidised Canteen

    Company Parties/Events

    3/5

  • 11. How appealing are future employment prospects within the organisation?
  • Pretty good - and I was fortunate enough to get a job with the charity. I don't think there were that many options at this point in time for entry level roles. But I know that if there had been more roles of interest that I would have been supported in applying.

    5/5

    The Culture

  • 12. Was there a good social scene amongst any fellow placement students/colleagues?
  • Yes. Well organised, although not always well attended.

    3/5

  • 13. What was the cost of living and socialising in the area you worked in?
  • High, but I was living at home with mum and dad and this has helped. I appreciated that we were expenses to cover the cost of travel.

    3/5

  • 14. What was the Nightlife like in the area you worked?
  • Good.

    4/5

  • 15. Were there many opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work?
  • Yes. There were weekly intern socials and fun events with my own team that I was always invited to. As I work on the events team I got to attend events with my team to help out. There were also ways to volunteer with other teams if we wanted to as well. During stand up to cancer there was a great deal of staff fundraising activities. They were lots of fun.

    4/5

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Details

Internship (1 Month+)

London

November 2016


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