Employment Success for Young People After Loughborough College Kickstarts their Careers

Loughborough College has helped three young people on their journey to achieving a successful career as part of the government-launched Kickstart Scheme.

Chloe Preston, Regan Boynton and Saarah Bhalwani have been working at Loughborough College for almost six months and have spent time developing their transferable skills, practical skills and dealing with real-life situations within the educational business support sector.

Chloe Preston, Reception Admin Assistant at Loughborough College, said: “The Kickstart programme has given me the opportunity to develop and learn new skills for the career sector that I am interested in working in.

“Not only do I have another six months of experience behind me, but Loughborough College has taught me how to write a CV and prepare for interviews so that I have the best chance of gaining employment by the end of the programme.”

Regan Boynton, Admin Assistant at the Careers Enterprise Hub, is in a role where he is helping those that were in his shoes not so long ago.

He said: “Working at the Careers Hub has exposed me to so many more opportunities that I didn’t know were out there. By helping students to find employment, I have become more confident with the process and I look forward to seeing what my future holds.”

The programme has also benefitted young people like Saarah Bhalwani, who currently works as an Assistant Progress Tutor at Loughborough College, to make informed life decisions.

Saarah said: “This experience has been incredibly rewarding as well as challenging. Alongside gaining a breadth of transferable skills, I have been able to experience working in an educational setting which has helped inform my decision on studying a Master’s degree instead of completing a PGCE.

“This programme has helped shape my future because it has given me the responsibility of managing younger, more vulnerable students and therefore pushed me to face high intensity scenarios and tackle problem solving head on.”

Covid-19 affected many young people during their prime years of developing and learning transferable and industry-specific skills and therefore securing employment has proven to be a struggle. This has had an impact on young people’s confidence levels and their ability to progress in their chosen career pathway.

David Robertson, Student Recruitment Manager at Loughborough College, has managed two Kickstarters within his Reception team and Careers Hub team.

He said: “These roles have been designed for the individuals to build confidence within themselves and their abilities, gain communication and team-work skills and put them in a better position to move forward and find employment opportunities at the end of the programme.

“The skills they have developed during their time at Loughborough College can be tailored to other roles at Loughborough College, should they become available.”