Digital Editorial Intern Review

Macmillan strikes me as a nice place to be regardless of your exact role specifically because of the friendly atmosphere. I should say, however, that the UK main office is split among six or seven floors, and depending on your role you may not be on the other floors all that much, so as far as I know every other floor could be hell incarnate and I'd be blissfully ignorant. To my knowledge, though, this organisation creates a fun and friendly atmosphere in which you'll probably enjoy your internship simply because you don't feel corporate pressure to conform to just your role description - you can embrace an internship as what it should be and explore what Macmillan is.

My projects were pretty independent so it was difficult to gauge how much impact and therefore value I was having on the overall team goal, but in terms of value attributed to you by the people you work alongside, it's pretty good. I was continually thanked for my work at every milestone or if I ever found something not related to my work, but that could be passed down to a relevant party. How valued you feel will largely depend on how cynical you are about compliments.

At no point did I feel I didn't have someone to take a problem or a question to. The number of people willing to spend up to or sometimes even over an hour of their time to explain a system, function or project enthusiastically and in detail boggles my mind. The corporate ladder stereotype falls pretty flat at Macmillan - my supervisor didn't feel like some higher power I should not disturb but rather a friendly face I could get information or guidance from at short notice. I even worked alongside my manager's manager, and even then there was zero sense of power ego or any of that nonsense that gets in the way of good work. You really can't ask them for anything more than that.

I was given a few initial projects at the start of my internship. How busy I felt really depended on the project I was doing, but as to be expected of intern work, some of it could get a little tedious. However, my supervisor was aware of this possibility and encouraged me to switch from project to project if I ever felt myself getting bored with one. The number of inductions and shadowing of members of staff around the organisation also helped to keep things fresh - to a certain extent it is what you make it, so make your internship interesting.

I mentioned before that my projects were pretty independent, and so you do feel a certain level of responsibility. Macmillan (according to the intern recruitment guys) don't allow teams to request interns if the work they have for them is stuff they would get around to at some point soon anyway - the idea being each intern actually feels they have reason to be there beyond being an extra hand. It's hard to gauge how true this is, as I felt about half my projects would probably have been done to some extent in my absence, just much later on. Credit where credit is due though, my supervisor made a concentrated effort to focus on the projects that would allow me to really do my own thing and feel like I was fully responsible for the outcome.

In terms of raw, practical skills, I wouldn't say I was required to learn much beyond very context-specific tools and programs. However, the experience of working with a team you can trust to do good work, and one that seems to trust you, is very valuable - allows you to approach other work with a far more positive attitude.

Friendly, inviting, helpful. The only pressure on you is the pressure you apply to yourself out of wanting to do good work - it sounds cheesy but the positivity can be inspiring. None of that fake office positivity either, there's an intangible aspect of it that just feels honest and down to earth without feeling pessimistic.

Outside of my supervisor every intern has a central point of contact for any questions or requests. My team had projects planned for me in advance and a structure was quickly set up for going over work done so far and any ideas I might have or skills I'd like to learn. There was an induction day before the internship and a wrap-up shortly before the end. They knew what they were doing.

There were countless opportunities to develop skills and gain experience. It's hard to say what you feel will actually be useful to you in future until you actually sit down and begin to learn it, but you get the feeling that this is very much Macmillan's part of the 'deal' - you work on a voluntary basis a few days a week with only money covering travel and lunch, and in exchange they give you an all-access pass to everything and everyone in the organisation. It's just up to you to capitalise on this.

Due to the independent nature of the work it's hard to say what a day at Macmillan would actually be like in full time employment in terms of the work I'd be doing. The stereotypical office-type jobs are certainly there, so the allure from a ground-level start is the atmosphere and the people. It depends on what you consider to be more important.

There were some intern-organised opportunities to meet fellow interns, but I was not heavily involved in these. A more visible effort by the internship liaisons to gather the interns together at least once a month would have been appreciated.

At no fault of Macmillan, London is London. You can't expect to get much for a low price, and if it sounds too good to be true it probably is. That said, if you prepare appropriately and get in a university hall for the duration of the internship you should be okay. A part-time job to buffer your wallet doesn't hurt, though.

Didn't really have the opportunity to get involved in this unfortunately, but I heard good things.

Some events came up during my time. Nothing huge or especially frequent, but they were there. Again, expenses of travel, etc, may factor into your enthusiasm to do these.