fs-kickstart-to-career

FS’s story: how a Kickstart placement became a new beginning

At The People’s Orchestra, our Positive Futures and Back to Work programmes exist to do more than fill placements — they are designed to restore confidence, routine, and real routes into paid employment for people who feel shut out of work. FS’s journey through a Kickstart placement with us shows what that looks like in practice.

From graduate promise to pandemic freefall

FS had done everything she was “supposed” to do. She graduated with a Law degree from the University of Birmingham in 2018, stepping into a world that promised opportunity to anyone willing to work hard enough.

Then the pandemic hit.

The ladders people climbed suddenly disappeared. Doors that once opened with a knock were bolted shut. CVs went unanswered. Interviews evaporated. Weeks blurred into months, and ambition began to fade — not in one sharp moment, but slowly, like a light dimming from lack of use.

For young people stepping into the world of work, that time brought a particular kind of fear: not just the fear of being unemployed, but of becoming unemployable. The longer you’re out, the more you doubt. The more you doubt, the less you apply. And the less you apply, the more that imagined future narrows into a quiet question that becomes harder to say out loud:

What if this is it?

That was the risk for FS — not a dramatic cliff edge, but a slow, silent erosion of confidence. If she couldn’t find a route back in, she risked getting trapped in a cycle of rejection and retreat, watching her skills and self-belief dull through no fault of her own.

The lifeline: a Kickstart placement at TPO

In 2021, a lifeline appeared: the UK Government’s Kickstart Scheme, which funded six‑month job placements for young people on Universal Credit who were at risk of long‑term unemployment. Kickstart wasn’t just about filling positions — at its best, it offered a bridge back to structure, responsibility, and the simple but powerful feeling of being needed.​

FS’s placement was with The People’s Orchestra (TPO), based at our West Bromwich head office and arranged through the Jobcentre. On paper, it looked like a straightforward match: a young graduate, a community‑focused charity, a funded role. In practice, it became a test of something far deeper — whether FS could rebuild a sense of direction in a world that had stopped feeling open.

The problem wasn’t talent. It was traction.

One of the cruellest misconceptions about unemployment is that it’s only about ability. Many people aren’t out of work because they lack skills — they’re out because they lack a bridge back in. That bridge matters because being out of work doesn’t just change your schedule; it slowly rewires how you see yourself. “I haven’t found the right role yet” becomes “maybe I’m not the right person.”

Our employability support aims to interrupt that slide. Through Positive Futures and our Back to Work support, we combine real-world work experience with coaching and mentoring so that people build confidence as well as CVs.

Inside the placement: confidence, craft, and identity

From day one, FS says, her placement felt different. She wasn’t treated like a temporary helper. She was treated like potential.

Her role came with structure — regular team meetings, weekly check-ins, and in‑house mentoring that showed her what professional life looks and feels like when you’re building a career instead of simply hanging on. She gained experience in grant funding applications and monthly project reporting, contributed to policy documents, and attended strategy discussions: the kind of behind‑the‑scenes work that keeps charities running but rarely gets applauded.​

In short, she wasn’t shielded from responsibility; she was invited into it.

Responsibility itself can be healing. It says: we trust you. It gives you proof — day by day — that you can learn, adapt, and deliver. It also builds something invisible but essential: work identity. The quiet confidence that comes from knowing how to show up, plan a day, ask questions, give updates, and be part of something bigger.

Without that identity, FS might have left with experience on paper but no belief that she belonged anywhere. That was the real cliff edge — not whether she could do the job, but whether she could see herself as someone capable of building a future.

The turning point: being kept on

At the six‑month mark, the story could easily have ended like so many others: “thank you and goodbye.”

Instead, FS was offered a part‑time paid role as a Business Administrator at TPO.

It’s a small sentence with big weight. Being kept on isn’t just a nice outcome — it’s validation. It tells a young person that their contribution mattered, that they weren’t a charity case, and that they’ve earned their place.

And with that, the question shifts. It’s no longer “can I get back into work?” but “how far can I go?”

The next chapter: competing on open ground

Later, FS moved into a new role at Dudley Council, joining the Procurement division. Out of 145 applicants, only two were chosen — FS was one of them. That moment marked the quiet dissolving of earlier fears. Not because the world suddenly changed, but because she now had evidence that she could compete — and win.

She went on to pursue professional development, including CIPS Level 4 qualifications, stepping into a structured career path that many graduates struggle to access even in stable times.

From stalled potential to steady progress, FS’s journey shows what can happen when a placement becomes a launchpad, not just a line on a CV.

Why FS’s story matters — and where Positive Futures fits in

If you zoom out, FS’s story is just one example of how our employability work changes lives. Through Positive Futures and our wider employment support, more than 2,500 people have moved into paid work with help from our programmes and business partnerships. Of those on government Kickstart placements with us, 71% secured jobs — a figure that reflects not only opportunity, but dedicated mentoring and meaningful work.​

The real challenge in youth unemployment isn’t motivation. It’s disconnection — the quiet collapse of purpose, of belonging, of self-belief. Our programmes are built to restore three things at once:

• Structure — a reason to plan and show up

• Belonging — a team and role where you matter

• Progression — skills that lead somewhere, not tasks that vanish

FS’s experience weaves those strands together and challenges a familiar myth: that young people “just need to try harder.” Often, what they need is someone to build the bridge — and to walk alongside them as they cross it.

There’s another version of FS’s story where she never finds that bridge. Where rejection becomes identity. Where a graduate quietly gives up. That version doesn’t make headlines, but it is real — and it is exactly what our work is designed to prevent.

What makes FS’s journey worth telling isn’t simply that she found work. It’s that she found motion, purpose, and self-belief again. She proved to herself that her future wasn’t closed off after all.

Once you regain that sense of momentum, everything changes. Not because life gets easier — but because you start believing your future is something you can build.