Health and Wellbeing Intern Review

I have really enjoyed my internship at Cancer Research UK. All of the staff are very friendly and welcoming, I have received a lot of support not only with my work but my career and personal development as well. I have also been given a range of 'real' projects to work on that are contributing to the team as opposed to been offloaded all of the jobs that everyone else want to avoid.

I feel highly valued by my colleagues as a lot of the work that I have been doing during my internship is tasks that are important to complete but they would not have the time spare to complete these tasks themselves. It has also allowed me to utilise my skillset for video production which is filling a gap within the team.

I have been given a lot of support and guidance by my manager throughout my internship and the tasks that I am completing. I have also had a lot of support in my personal and career developments with my manager actively signing me up to training courses and networking opportunities to build my contacts within this organisation.

During my internship I have had a number of different projects to work on simultaneously and while this has meant keeping organised it has been the perfect balance between never being bored or watching the clock tick round but also not rushing or feeling stressed to complete tasks.

I have been given a lot of responsibility during my internship. While my manager is always on hand should I need any help or guidance I have been assigned projects and then left to carry them out. Especially with the video project that I have been working on as I have more experience within this area then my team so I have been given complete control with how this project develops which has been a great experience with project management and organisation skills.

I have developed skills during this internship that I will definitely use throughout the rest of my career. From personal skills such as organisation, project management, working within a team and balancing multiple projects at once to the practical skills that I have gained with video creation, communication and writing content for the online audience. I have also gained a vast amount of knowledge of the charity sector which is the area I am most keen to continue my career in.

The atmosphere in the office has been very lively and interesting. All the staff are easy to talk to and more then happy to have a conversation about anything you share a common interest in. Being within a charity there is also always some fundraising event happening from soaking the directors and heads of department to cake sales and raffles there is always something going on while maintaining a professional environment to work in.

My internship has been extremely well organised from the very beginning there was loads of support and help with the application process and what to expect when coming for interview. On my first day I had an informal with meeting with my manager to plan out the tasks that I was expected to complete throughout the internship and given advice and resources for how to complete the tasks as well as loads of training sessions and social meetings between all of the interns to develop social and career skills alongside my assigned tasks.

Cancer Research UK has loads of training sessions available to all staff regardless of level or how long you have worked there which you can just sign up to through the intranet. My manager put me forward for a number of these and we also had a number of sessions for the interns to develop project management skills, cv, cover letter and interview skills as well how to utilise resources such as Linked in and plan for our next career move.

I am very eager to continue working at Cancer Research UK once my internship finishes and there are plenty of potential opportunities available. My manager is actively helping me to network with other areas of the business that I am interested in working within to see if there is any potential openings or experience that can be gained and with some jobs only been advertised internally this is the best time to move into another, more permanent position.

There were a number of other interns who were working in other departments at the same time that I was working at Cancer Research UK and we had good social interaction during our development sessions together, social meetings outside of work as well as working together to host a number of intern fundraising events throughout our internship.

Being based in London the cost of socialising could be quite high in some places, although our earnings during the placement reflected this. There were places that were recommended to us for being suited to a more 'student' style or places that were generally cheaper then their competitors.

Again being in London there is a very active night life with several different pubs, restaurants and places that offer entertainment. I went to a free comedy night at Angel comedy that I thoroughly enjoy even with the comedians just starting out in their careers.

There are a lot of staff led sports and social groups at Cancer Research UK that anyone can sign up to and attend on the days that they are organised and while I was there the Stand Up to Cancer fundraiser was running which provided a lot of other opportunities to get involved with activities outside of work.