Policy Intern Review

I really enjoyed the internship. The organisation really takes care of you, providing frequent feedback and opportunities for development. I was made to feel really welcome within my team and given my own project to work on so didn't feel like 'just' an intern.

I felt very valued by my colleagues in my immediate team. I felt comfortable contributing to group discussions and approaching others to ask questions. I was listened to and by the time a team away day came up I felt included and appreciated by all my colleagues.

The internship programme was structured in a way that meant we were each allocated an individual supervisor, separate from the person we were doing work directly for, as well as a mentor who provided general development and career advice. We had weekly catch ups to make sure I was coping with the workload, as well as monitoring my progress and asking if there was anything else I wanted to get involved in.

I was fairly busy on a day to day basis. I had frequent meetings either with the team, my supervisors and mentor or other members of the organisation. This broke up my day and also meant I didn't feel ignored. I also had two consecutive research and presentation projects that I was working on, as well as other tasks supporting the team like researching news stories for the weekly policy update. I always had something to be getting on with, particularly because I had my own project and didn't feel that I had to keep asking for things to do.

I was given a surprising amount of responsibility during the placement. I led on two pieces of research. The first was a significant step in progressing a research brief and the second concerned a vital aspect of health policy work that was relevant to other members of the team. I not only felt like I had responsibility, but that I was given substantial tasks that were really important and valued pieces of work within the team.

Although the team I was working in was very specialised in policy, I feel I developed good transferable skills that I can use in my future work. The internship developed my skills of research, presentation, facilitation, analysis and project management as well as increased my knowledge of health policy in general. I developed the confidence to liaise with other members of the organisation, and to build relationships with people even if they were more senior than me.

The atmosphere was generally good, although I was quite overwhelmed by the sheer size of the organisation and the number of employees. I didn't expect the size to have as much impact on the day to day work of the organisation as it did. At times bits of the organisation felt very distant, but the atmosphere within my department was always positive, intelligent and interesting.

The overall placement is set up incredibly well. There are cohorts of interns so you get to know other people on the scheme who are at a similar stage in their careers. Your supervisor produces development plans with a list of tasks and skills for you to develop which is revisited next week. There are also the opportunities to work within other teams in the organisation which is also well organised and supported. There are lots of people there to support you and your work, showing that Macmillan is very dedicated to its internship scheme and its interns.

The organisation invested a great deal of time and effort in my personal development, particularly my allocated supervisor who was always keen to get my feedback on things I wanted to more of or to develop particular skills. There are also constant opportunities to see how other aspects of the organisation work, meaning that you can develop your skills across teams and understand other aspects of the work. The company does this for its permanent staff as well as its interns, and other members of the team were always feeding back about training and development that they had been involved in. In terms of career progression, I was supported and assisted when looking at other job opportunities, given advice on interview technique and my CV and on how I could improve.

I really enjoyed the team I worked in and found the people interesting and supportive. The organisation's size is a bit overwhelming for permanent employment at the moment because it means the teams are all very specialised and the work can feel a long way from the people we are trying to help. I would be more keen to seek employment there at a later stage in my career when I had got more comprehensive experience somewhere else and had decided to focus on policy at a big charity. In terms of working in a campaigning organisation, Macmillan is fantastic experience. It is incredibly influential, has a big public facing side and covers a huge range of important issues and therefore is a great place to intern and understand how a big charity operates, but is something I would prefer to return to after getting experience at a smaller organisation.

There was a group of interns who regularly had lunch together and this was really nice. Two social officers were appointed at the beginning but it was difficult to organise bigger group events because everyone worked different days or lived further away.

The offices are in central London and the area therefore very expensive. I was lucky enough to live at home in Kent, but my travel costs were huge and it was good I got my full travel expenses reimbursed. We also got expenses for lunch. The internship could be either three or four days and I was able to work part time as well, although not everyone was able to do this and for an internship that lasted three months, it could become very expensive.

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I was only interning three days a week so had time outside to get involved in other things. I also volunteered at another charity and worked part time so was very busy.