Our excellent Data Support Officer Tom Evans, joined us on a Kickstart placement. He has kindly shared his experience of the scheme and working at halow:

“I started working for halow in June on a Kickstart placement, an initiative the government rolled out to help unemployed young people (due to the COVID-19 pandemic) get back into work. Having always had an interest in Data and looking to have a career in Analysis; my role as a Data Support Officer at halow was an important step on my journey.

My role as a Data Support Officer involves ensuring data is collected and recorded accurately, monitoring compliance, analysing data and generating reports when necessary. I have acquired many useful skills as well as refining the skills I already brought to the role through my experience here. I feel very fortunate for the support halow and the Kickstart Scheme have given me to advance my career. Since working with halow, I have been offered a higher apprenticeship in Data Analysis for the DCMS department within the government. I feel confident and prepared for this next step and that is largely due to my time with the halow project.

What I love about halow is that they aren’t just focused on enriching the life of the young people that they work with, but also their employees. It’s been a pleasure to work for the charity and I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone that wanted to do work that contributed positively to the community, whether on the care side delivering direct support to young people or doing things behind the scenes in the office to keep the ship sailing smoothly. I feel a sense of pride in saying I worked for halow and I can say with confidence I’m far from alone in that.

If anyone is interested in working or volunteering for the halow project I would strongly recommend it. You will be greatly impacting the lives of people within the community as well as boosting your own.”

Thank you Tom for all your hard work, and we wish you all the best when you move to your new role!