Legacies Operations Intern Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my internship. I initially saw this internship purely as an opportunity to experience something different, but it became so much more than that. With a personal connection to the cause, being reminded of the effect that your work has on a daily basis is something I feel privileged to be a part of. It’s refreshing to have such a drive to want to come to work in the morning and work with people who are just as motivated as you.

I felt extremely valued by my colleagues. I was lucky enough to be put into the Legacies Operations team where it felt like I was joining a little family as opposed to a team. Everyone at CRUK valued my opinions and were always willing to provide me with what I needed from them for both my project and my personal development.

I was given a huge amount of support from my managers. They made sure I was welcomed into the team and felt settled immediately.

After learning about the projected I was going to be working on and how to go about it, I was essentially in charge of my own workload which meant I was as busy a I wanted to be. Meaning I was busy but it was by no means unmanageable. I always had things to do from day 1 and the workload increased as my project got underway, but I never felt overwhelmed by the amount of work I had to do. I was able to pick up optional things alongside my main job such as intern fundraising and coding classes which made me slightly more busy, but again, never unmanageable.

I was given a significant amount of responsibility as I was working on my own project, managing the workload and keeping the planning and tracking up to date. I really enjoyed the autonomy I was given by my managers to essentially run my own project. Having that trust from them really allowed me to develop and gave me experience in dealing with difficult situations. Having to make important decisions yet feeling supported through it all was something I wouldn't have expected as an intern.

I developed so many skills at CRUK which I know will benefit me greatly in the future. Working on a project and learning business analysis skills allowed me to gain further employment at the charity. Working with multiple stakeholders and time management are two things which I know will benefit me for years to come. Additionally, the extra opportunities such as interview practice, resilience training and learning how to code were really helpful and again, will be in the future.

The atmosphere in the office was friendly, chilled but also motivating. Everyone is always willing to have a chat or help you out in any way but they also make sure they're work gets done in a timely and efficient way. It makes for a really enjoyable place to work.

It was very well organised. Managers have to go through a detailed process in order to have an intern in their team, meaning you always have something specific to get done over the course of your internship. There was an induction morning where we got to meet the rest of the interns and regular check-ins and workshops with the talent team in HR to make sure everything is run smoothly.

They invested in me hugely. They provided training on how to use all of their systems as well as various Microsoft tools that they use such as MS Visio, Flow and Power BI. They also provided other training such as RStudio for differing levels of proficiency, project management training, resilience training to name a few. They really want to up skill you so that you're set for the future.

Very appealing. There are many internal and external vacancies that interns are encouraged to apply for. Everyone in the charity is more than happy to explore these options with you so that you get the best chance of being successful when applying. I, along with multiple other interns in my cohort have found internal jobs and will be staying at CRUK.

The social scene is really good. The interns work together on fundraising initiatives alongside their day to day roles which allows you to get to know them. We then organised our own socials through them and our intern channel on MS Teams. In my team we often went to the pub after work for team socials and also did our own weekly bake-off competition while it was on TV. There's other events you can get involved in or go to watch such as big Stand Up 2 Cancer events like Ultra Ballroom and Ultra Boxing and volunteer opportunities such as the Emeralds & Ivy Ball.

Being in Central London, the cost of living is quite high which is to be expected. However, we get lots of discounts through CRUK and many food outlets give us discount on certain days which helps bring the cost of some things down. The most expensive cost is renting but this can be reduced by living with family/friends or using sparerooms to find cheap accomodation

The nightlife is good, there are lots of pubs and bars, and being really close to Shoredtich means there are endless amounts of places to choose from to suit everyone.

There's lots to do outside of work, join a sports team, go to art shows, cinema, shopping. The list is endless!