Halfway through my internship with the Anthony Nolan Team. I’m surprised how quickly I got used to working here! Got used to my desk, colleagues and places for lunch around.
So what am I actually doing in the office?
My first week was focused around inductions, so meetings with different teams. Anthony Nolan hires around 350 people. It may seem quite a lot as for a charity. It is not. Individual teams are small, thus, let’s say ‘Politics and Public Affairs’ in Register Development counts only 4 people. They deal with everything connected to MPs, affairs connected to stem cells, blood cancer etc. This year they’ve put extreme amount of work to change government’s attitude towards second transplants. Successfully! Another example – communication team. Again, just a few people. They talk with patients and donors, make interviews, write stories – they are constantly on their phones. They get close with some patients, follow the most emotional stories of donors, organise campaigns. I had a pleasure to be a part of one of them- we are targeting young people and BAME to join the register. We made a photo-shoot that was promoting the idea of students donating stem cells. Another team- studio. They are incredible. And their computers are incredible too. They are the designers, producing anything connected to graphics. I am creating an interactive map with them at the moment, which is meant to help the whole office navigate between different regional managers.
Last Friday I had a pleasure to participate in the ‘Summer in the City’ festival with AN team. That was my first recruitment event and my first recruited donors. It is actually an amazing feeling to sign up the form of someone who thanks to you decided to be a potential lifesaver. You honestly feel like a hero. Summer in the City is the biggest YouTube festival in the UK, so… that was a fun day at work ;). I’ve then learnt a lot about the donations and processing donors’ data with the Operation Team, where we analyse all the forms and correct the mistakes.
My favourite projects so far were: organising the Away Day, planning a team trip to Barcelona for the International RAG conference, creating a presentation for Marrow AGM. Although each of them took loads of time, me staring at the computer screen for hours and replying to tons of emails, submitting the reports to my coordinator was really rewarding.
Fun facts about office life. Everyday there’s something to celebrate. Either someone is going for a maternity leave, or someone has birthday, or someone is getting married. There is a cake everyday. I am not kidding. Sometimes when there isn’t anything particular happening, the team gathers for ‘High Fives’ – they share their new achievements, give each other high fives and … eat cake. Can’t complain. We have an hour break for lunch everyday. People pair up or go in groups to different places and wherever we go they know their tricks (10% discount for our office in one place, 50% discount on Tuesdays in the other place…). I am working, but I am also having an amazing time.