My Internship at Toynbee Hall

By Chloe Rutland

Chloe Rutland shares her thoughts on why her Financial Health Communications and Research Internship has been a useful experience.

Did you know that there are still 1.5 million people in the UK without a bank account? Or how difficult it can be to attain a current account with a UK high-street bank, when you do not have a permanent address?

Before starting my internship at Toynbee Hall, I thought I had a reasonably good understanding of these kinds of financial health issues that face people across the country, but I soon found that I had much more to learn. My internship at Toynbee Hall was both interesting and challenging; useful and eye opening. It allowed me to understand more about the field of financial health, as well as gain a really useful overview of work in the wider charity sector.

My time at Toynbee Hall was an invaluable opportunity to develop and practice my non-academic writing skills (writing engagingly for an audience can be very different to writing a good school or university essay!). I also had the chance to learn more about political process in the UK, and how this influences effective charity campaigning. I was taught how to use social media and design email campaigns to communicate with charity partners and supporters. Closely mentored along the way; I was given the independence to work on my own when I felt comfortable to do so. At the same time, help was always on hand if I felt I needed some further direction or mentoring.

Importantly, I’ve been able to use my experiences to give useful examples of my experience gained at Toynbee Hall in job interviews, and have since secured a full-time job in public relations.

I would whole-heartedly recommend the internship scheme at Toynbee Hall to anyone who wishes to gain more experience within the charity sector, someone with a particular interest in the field of communications, or both. To the team at Toynbee – keep doing your amazing work, and thank you so much for having me!