Worlds Biggest Coffee Morning Intern Review

I need to state at the beginning of this review that I am not a student waiting to start my first real job. I am a 52year old man who recently decided to leave my job after 20 years with one oerganisation. I am in the fortunate position that I can spend some time volunteering before I move on to my next life stage. I applied for the internship for many reasons, some were about personal experience but I also like to "make a difference". This placement allowed me to use my years of project management for the benefit of people affected by cancer which is exactly what I wanted.

In general, Macmillan staff work to a very high standard of values and ethics and everyone I had contact with made it clear that my time was valuable to them and they were pleased to have me on board.

I was continually given support by my line manager at the level I required.

This varied on a day to day basis but ultimately depended on my personal input, I knew what needed to be done and the timescales required so my workplan was basically up to me.

Please see the previous comment

N/A but I can say that, my time with Macmillan has added to my "skills toolbag" and I am sure the experience will assist me in the future.

Unfortunately my area, in the North of Scotland only has one office which is 100 miles away so I mainly worked from my home office but I was still made to feel like part of the team. On the occasions I attended the office, I was made welcome and felt at home from the beginning. There is a lot of work carried out by a small team but always with a sense of humour and kindness.

I was the first Intern in the Highlands and the first "mature" intern overall so I was expecting a bit of disorganisation but I was wrong. On a National basis the Internship scheme is extremely slick and well valued by senior management. They recognise and actively look out for talented peiople which is why about 20% of interns gain employment. Like all national organisations they have an NHQ centric set up which is unavoidable but they have supported this strategy with a very good I.T. set up and an excellent comms strategy that gives staff outside London the feeling of inclusion. On a local basis, my line manager and I worked together to find the most effective method of working which seemed to work well and, hopefully, I have been effective because of that.

I have attended countless training courses/sessions during my carreer and I can honestly say that the training I received was of the highest quality and relevance to the job in hand. Media management and stakeholder relations were two key parts of my role for the last 10-12 years but I have still learned from the courses I have attended with Macmillan. There was no evidence that I was offered less training than employees, in fact, most of the training was specifically designed for interns.

I would definitely be applying for a job with the Charity, if, I was in a position to move to the London area. If I was a young single guy again I would jump at the chance.

For the interns based at NHQ the social life was excellent and encouraged by the organisation

N/A as working in my home area.

please see my previous comment

In my case I could have been involved in any amount of fundraising committee activities.