Information and Risk Intern Review

I really enjoyed my internship with CRUK. It was varied and a great way to get an insight into the work that goes on within the organisation as well as in the Public Health sector in general. Occasionally the work was a little repetitive and dull but there was plenty of other opportunities to get involved with such as fundraising or intern socials.

My team were great. They really made me feel welcome and I felt like my opinion mattered. I was invited to all team meetings and socials from the very start, so I felt included from the beginning. There were a few individuals who I thought looked down on me because I was an intern, but they were by far in the minority and most were incredibly welcoming.

I cannot fault my manager, she was amazing. She took a lot of time out of her own work to help me with mine. She answered any question I had, and I felt I could ask her anything. We had weekly meetings where we discussed any issues I might be having or things I wanted to ask.

It varied day to day. I had a main project that I was working on which required quite a lot of work, but to break up my day a bit I was given some other smaller tasks. As the internship came to an end and I had things to tie up my work load increased a lot. Talking with other interns it seemed that work load varied massively depending on what team you were with. My internship was probably one of the busier ones, some interns struggled to fill their days.

I was given quite a lot of responsibility in that I was writing a paper that we were hoping to publish. However, it wasn't urgent work and I don't think it would have made a huge difference if I didn't finish the project. That being said I do feel like it was a big responsibility to be asked to write a paper in the first place (in a good way).

If I stay in the public health sector, some of the skills I have learnt will be hugely valuable e.g. learning to use software, experience of writing a paper etc. As far as general skills go, I think you could definitely get involved in things that would enable you to develop, for example I wanted to develop my presentation skills and so I am now leading a workshop. The opportunities are there for you to develop but sometimes you have to actively seek them.

Most people seem really passionate about their job and as the organisation is striving to beat cancer, there was often a buzz around the place, especially when big fundraisers such as Stand Up to Cancer were taking place. We also quite often got freebies from companies too which is always a bonus.

My internship was really well organised but I think it completely depended on your manager. Some interns had barely any work/responsibility, others had too much. I was lucky in that my manager was a former intern herself and so she knew the process which meant she was very understanding if I said I had too much work or wanted to get involved in something else.

I had a mentor which was incredibly valuable, she helped me with personal development but also job applications which was a huge help. They also put on CV, presentation and interview workshops and there were several people you could approach if you wanted to develop any particular skill. They also had a buddy scheme if you wanted something more informal.

There is no guarantee of a job, which is a huge negative of this internship. They won't create a job for you even if you have excelled, you just have to be lucky and hope a position becomes available as you will then have a slight advantage from being an intern. There seems to be a high turnover of employees within the organisation, which means that is you are patient enough it is likely something will come up, but this might be well after you have finish your internship. However, although doing the internship will look good on your application form, it doesn't mean you'll get the job if a more qualified external applicant applies.

We had weekly socials and had lunch together.

As with any London based job it was very expensive! This is an unpaid internship so unless you come from a wealthy background you wont be doing much socialising.

I was commuting so didn't spend many evenings in the area. It seems like a good place to socialise though.

Lots of volunteering opportunities, but when you're already 'volunteering' during the week anyway you don't feel that motivated to spend your evenings and weekends doing even more volunteering. There weren't really any other non-volunteering opportunities.