Name: Alan Tilley
Job Title: Director
Pathways Programme: Pathways to Charity and Development 2025
Organisation Summary: Turning Heads is a community interest company (CIC) working across 3 sites in Torbay – a social supermarket, a day service and a community cafe. Turning Heads works with families in need, adults with disabilities and people furthest from employment. We currently have 31 staff and of this staff set we have 17 staff who have a disability.
How did hosting an intern via the Professional Pathways programme benefit you and your organisation?
The interns produced a valuable 360 look at our voluntary business, took time to interview clients and produced an impact statement that we will use for prospective funding bids and for promotional purposes. This work that is done and that has been done by previous interns is really important for our organisation to self-evaluate and move forward.
How was your experience of hosting a Pathways intern?
Our interns worked on site throughout the week. We met them prior to the internship and throughout it had regular catch-ups and debriefs. There were no challenges throughout the week.
Given the Professional Pathways internship is 35 hours in total, how would you recommend ensuring both you and your interns gain as much as possible from the experience?
I think we achieved what we wanted to because we had a clear aim from the start and a plan of action. This plan was worked together in collaboration and also the interns were able to plan and prepare before the week started.
Why would you recommend hosting an intern via Professional Pathways?
It is a really good way of bringing in young creative and intelligent minds into a business environment. It helps us, makes us a better business and provides us with feedback and criticism that we can use to move forward. I personally think it is a very valuable resource that can be tapped into!