Kickstart scheme success

These are just a handful of examples of how the Kickstart scheme has been a success so far.

11 November, 2021

In recent months 46 16 - 24 year olds have taken part in the Kickstart scheme with the Council. And an additional 20 new vacancies are due to go live by the end of the year.

The aim of the scheme is to provide young people, who are at risk of long-term unemployment, with work placements to help them gain the neccesary skills and experience to apply for permanent employment opportunities. 

As well as offering placements within the organisation, the Council has supported other local businesses to take part in the scheme by acting as a gateway employer.

Three individuals who took part in the kickstart scheme have now secured permanent roles with the Council. Ethan Harris is working in a clerical role within our finance department, Alex Cheung completed a kickstart placement with the schools ICT team and has now secured a job with the same team and Rebecca Gibbs started with the schools ICT team in a kickstart placement and now has a permanent clerical role with the Council.

Two further kickstarters have had their placements extended.  

This is what some of the managers who've taken part in the scheme have said.

"The kickstart programme has provided the Wales Coastal Monitoring Centre with two enthusiastic and capable placements who were unemployed and eager to get their careers moving. The additional resource has allowed processing of backlogged data and new research to enable us to gain efficiencies in our operations.

"We also targeted skillsets they require, to gain experience during their placements and hopefully they can contribute back to our sector." Gwyn Nelson – Wales Coastal Monitoring Centre Programme Manager 

"Having a Kickstarter has been great; it has really helped support the needs of the team and enable us to free up resources in other areas. It's also a great opportunity for the kickstarter to get their foot in the door and to show what they can do - it's great for their CV to show they have worked for us and we as an organisation get to help them develop new skills, whether they stay with us or move to the next opportunity." Lloyd Davies – Organisational Development and Learning Consultant.

To find out more about the kickstart scheme, please contact Joanne Higgins in our Organisational Development team.