Helping young people into work

The Kickstart Scheme was a new programme launched by the government to deliver funding for employers offering new job opportunities on a six-month contract for 16-24 years olds who were currently in receipt of Universal Credit. The programme was aimed at preventing young people, who were currently unemployed, from facing long term unemployment. Over the past couple of years, due to the coronavirus outbreak, many organisations had to reduce the number of graduate roles they could offer. Many industries were affected by the crisis, which had had a noticeable knock-on effect on the number of graduate roles they could offer.

"A survey by Prospectus on the effects of COVID-19 on graduate recruitment revealed that out of the 1,202 final-year university students who responded:

• 26.1% lost their work placement/internship
• 29.2% lost their job
• 28.2% had their job offer deferred or cancelled."

This led to a situation in which several graduating classes were all in direct competition with one another for the same graduate jobs. For a student fresh out of University, I had the necessary education to gain employment but none of the relevant work experience. I was therefore very fortunate to be employed by Citizens Advice Portsmouth as part of the scheme. It enabled me to enter the workforce and gain experience, which in turn made me a more employable candidate. During my time in this programme, I was able to: gain valuable experience in completing a work order to a specific deadline, collaborate with co-workers in different departments, and learned how to properly function as a member of a team.

Citizens Advice Portsmouth is a not-for-profit organisation that provides people with free and confidential advice on a range of issues spanning from immigration issues to financial problems. My Kickstart role was as a Marketing and Publicity analyst. I spent my time monitoring and updating Citizen Advice Portsmouth's social media pages, and creating content to drive up interaction, growth, and performance. However, after my six months under the Kickstart Scheme, I was offered a full-time job and transitioned into my new role as an Administrator for the Money Advice team. I was able to absorb all my previous responsibilities whilst also completing some administration and clerical duties for the Money Advice team.

After graduating, I was originally unsure of what my next step should be. I knew that I wanted to increase my skill set in the area of marketing, but I had no idea which industry I should join or if it even mattered. I never expected to enter the third sector, but it turned out to be a rather good fit. Volunteering has always been a passion of mine and community outreach is something that I already had experience in. To summarise, I would say that the Kickstart Scheme allowed me to understand what it is that I value in a career and to gain valuable work experience to set me up for the rest of my working life.