World's Biggest Coffee Morning Intern Review

I have been interning with Macmillan Cancer Support for the last 12 weeks on the World's Biggest Coffee Morning project. I have thoroughly enjoyed every moment of and aspect of my internship. It has challenged, driven and stretched me, and I have forged some amazing relationships with volunteers and patients, who have inspired me with their courage and determination. Applying for the internship with Macmillan was genuinely one of the best decisions I have made.

My colleagues made me feel very welcome from the interview through to the end of my internship. They were approachable, friendly and eager to help me with anything I was unsure of. I had no worries about asking them for advice or support at all. Everyone I have met at Macmillan will go the extra mile to make your experience a positive one.

I was given an excellent balance of support and guidance from my manager. We had regular phone call catch up's, where we would update one another on our progress and achievements outline the tasks I needed to tackle next. We remained in contact via email all of the time, which made it very easy if I had any queries. We also had periodical 1:1's, where my manager listened to the areas of the internship that I was enjoying the most, and helped me to incorporate more of these activities in the future weeks. However, my manager also gave me appropriate space to complete tasks using my own creativity, rather than micro-managing all of my tasks.

Due to the nature of my internship (leading up to the World's Biggest Coffee Morning fundraising event), my internship did vary day to day in activity. There would be some weeks in which I was travelling all over Yorkshire to attend various events and meet with various people, and other weeks where I would have lots of office based wok to complete, and would work from home. I think that this made the internship all the more exciting, as no two weeks were ever the same.

I was given more responsibility than I had imagined I would have been given when I applied for the internship. However, I never felt as though my supervisors had left me with no support, I enjoyed the responsibility as I felt as though I was being given the opportunity to really achieve something myself, and that my colleagues trusted me, but I know that if I needed help, someone would have been there to give me it.

When I began my internship I was unsure about what direction I wanted my future to take. Now I know that the charity sector is definitely where I belong on so many levels, and I have a lose idea of the specific areas in which I want to work in the future. The internship programme has given me the experience and insight I needed in order to make these big decisions,

I was a mobile intern. I worked from home, but spent my time mostly out and about meeting with local fundraisers and volunteers. To compensate for not having an office, Macmillan provided me with a Blackberry to help me to take my work with me on my travels.

The internship was very well organised. There was a clear structure in terms of start and finish, with a welcome and wrap up day which helped us to understand what was expected of us, and how to maximise our experiences at the end. I had a very clear job description which indicated specific dates and deadlines which was explained to me at the start of the internship. Throughout the internship I also had regular 1:1's with my manager, where we discussed the progress of all of my projects to ensure that everything was being kept up to date.

At the start of the internship, I was offered the opportunity to have my own career mentor. I was assigned a mentor, who contacted me to arrange some 1:1's. We had overall 5 individual sessions of over 1 hour per time, I cannot express how useful these sessions were for me We covered areas such as: CV development, writing cover letters, interview techniques, searching for jobs and what sectors I might want to look into. My mentor was so eager to help, the information she gave me was absolute gold dust,

I still have a year of university to complete, however, when I graduate I will be very eager to search for new opportunities within Macmillan Cancer Support, ad I have thoroughly enjoyed working with them.

As a very northern regional based intern- I didn't actually meet any other interns other than on my welcome and wrap up days. However, I was invited to several social events- unfortunately they took place in London which was too far to travel for a social event. I know that the interns were actively encouraged to have social events, as a social representative was appointed and did contact me. It was my location which was my downside.

I lived at home during my placement. Macmillan reimbursed my expenses such as petrol and lunch- which was really helpful when I was out and about.

N/A- as above- I didn't meet any other interns whilst in post as an intern due to locational restrictions.

N/A- as above- I didn't meet any other interns whilst in post as an intern due to locational restrictions.