Daniel Brown joined Barca-Leeds as a kickstart apprentice in November 2021 for a six month placement.

Daniel shares his experience at Barca-Leeds:

My time as a Kickstart trainee – A Barca-Leeds Journey

Hello my name is Daniel Brown, last year I became part of the Barca-Leeds team through the kickstart program. This is the story of my time with the organization as well as the effect it had on me and my career.

Kickstart, job-hunting and the long struggle

Before joining Barca-Leeds I struggled to find a job that suited me. I had enough experience to go for roles in digital marketing or social media but I had found most employers weren't willing to hire someone without significant job experience, a fact that held true even for jobs that were advertised as beginner roles.

Then after a completing a skills development course I discovered kickstart and found out it was designed to help people get into their chosen industry. I kept track of the different Kickstart opportunities and eventually I discovered a social media and marketing role at an organization called Barca-Leeds. The job spec looked promising as it featured a good mix of duties that I was familiar with alongside opportunities that would allow me to develop my skills. My job interview went better than expected, with the interviewers (my soon to be co-workers) taking an interest in my previous work and asking me about my design/work philosophy.

A few days after the interview I was informed that I had landed the job. I was overjoyed at the revelation as it felt like all of the perseverance, endless job hunting and skill development courses had finally paid off.

Despite the immense excitement I had for my new job, there was a part of me that was anxious. I had been turned down for similar roles for quite a while, it made me worry.

I asked myself “was my success just a fluke? Did I really have the knowledge necessary to do such important duties? Could I maintain the speed and quality of work needed to keep a long-term job?”

Working at Barca-Leeds and the relief that followed

When I actually started the job, I was surprised by how different it was to my initial expectations. Where I had initially expected to find a hectic work environment, I found the opposite. Work flow was smooth, tasks were quick to deal with and even large projects were easy to managed, especially when working alongside my co-workers. They were incredibly supportive of me during my time at Barca-Leeds and helped teach me how to use new types of software as well as the ins and outs of how the company functioned.

The work variety was amazing, it seemed that each day I was doing something new and interesting from publishing social media posts, designing graphics on Canva, writing copy for the Barca-Leeds website and even helping to organize several company events which were a blast to attend.

It was during my first couple of months where I also gained an appreciation for the breadth and depth of support Barca-Leeds provides the Leeds community. Not only does the charity provide several projects aimed at helping particular causes but they also partake in dozens of smaller community initiatives, support groups and charity events. All of this made me realize how much Barca-Leeds had helped people and this, along with the exciting I work I did, made me feel more fulfilled than I ever had felt before in a workplace environment.

I was taken aback by how relieved I felt whilst working Barca-Leeds and my time with them gave me a level of self-confidence I never thought I would achieve.

Life after Barca-Leeds and how it has affected me

Considering my time with the organization was short, I feel it has left a big impact on me and my career. Skills that I was only beginning to learn are now like second nature to me, work duties that intimidated me are now things actively look forward to and where I once I hesitated to apply for jobs out of lack of trust in myself, I now feel I am ready to go full time and make my mark on the industry.

To any jobseekers reading this I wholeheartedly recommend getting a job at Barca-Leeds. It is an organization that cares about the development and welfare of its own employees and the corporate culture is one of friendly cooperation where you will find genuine support and understanding.