Intern story: Project Coordinator at The BIG Alliance London

• Internship Organisation: The BIG Alliance London
• Internship Role: Project Coordinator
• Length of Internship: 3 Months (after the initial internship my contract was extended a further 4 months)

‘An internship organised and executed correctly can be a valuable experience. The internship far exceeded my expectations’

While I was successful at securing a job after graduating I did not enjoy the type of work I was doing. I decided to do an internship because I thought it would be a great opportunity to try out a new job for a short period of time and acquire new skills and experiences. I decided to apply for this internship because I wanted to build a career in Project Management and also work in the third sector. Fortunately, this internship ticked both those boxes.

I expected my internship to be filled with opportunities to gain new skills that would help me build my career. I am very pleased to say that this internship did exactly that. As it is only an internship I did not expect to get any real responsibility, however, from the day I joined I was given important tasks and was made to feel like an important part of the team.

I was very fortunate to be a part of some very big events during my time at the BIG Alliance London which included the STEM Aviation event organised by the London City Airport, The BIG Alliance forum and Boardmatch.

My proudest moment would be being involved in launching the Guardian Youth Insight Challenge and working for an organisation that is helping the community in a meaningful way.

I would highly recommend Essex interns to a peer. I think it is a great programme run by the university that supports recent graduates. Many of my peers who graduated from other universities do not have the same level of support and guidance that we receive from Essex. So I think Essex graduates should make full use of it!