Since being founded in 2016, one of our key aims as a business has remained the same: create as many opportunities for young people as possible.

   The covid-19 pandemic had a catastrophic effect on employment and economic activity, with 400,000 people made redundant in the first 9 months of the pandemic and unemployment benefit claims doubling between March and May 2020 (ONS Labour Market Review, 2022). It’s notable that the highest age groups affected were young adults, with 40% of the total fall in employment being people aged 16-24 (ONS, 2022).

   To combat this growing issue, an impressive £1.9 billion was allocated to launching the Department for Work and Pensions’ Kickstart Scheme. The scheme provided funding to employers to create jobs for 16 to 24 year olds on Universal Credit and proved to be extremely successful with over 30,000 organisations taking part and over 163,000 jobs created.

   We took on a total of six Kickstarters, offering full training and support to each and every individual. The scheme was a success, with three of our Kickstarters being offer permanent contracts at Hoop. Find out about the progression of our Kickstarters below:

Jack – Jack joined us in June of 2021 as a Customer Service Executive with no prior recruitment experience. We saw potential in Jack and he proved exactly that as he is now our Nursing Account Manager and thrives in the office each and every day. He has proven to be a great asset to Hoop and has an excellent ability to form great relationships with his candidates and clients.

Megan – Megan joined Hoop in April 2021 after making the decision to leave university after her first year. She found out about the opportunity through iTech and immediately applied to be a Customer Service Executive on our Education division. Megan was extremely mature for her age and showed great promise. She transformed the Education team in the 14 months she was with Hoop, and during her time here she grew tremendously as a person. She has now taken the leap to restart her university experience and will begin her studies this September. We wish her the best of luck!

Bethan – Bethan also joined Hoop in April 2021, after being made redundant during the Covid-19 pandemic. With a background in marketing, she joined Hoop as a Marketing Assistant with a primary focus on Social Media management. Since then, Bethan has been promoted to Marketing Executive, and now manages the marketing department overseeing all areas of marketing. She has experienced enormous personal growth and career development in her time here and we look forward to seeing what the future of Marketing looks like for Hoop!

Read more about Bethan’s experience here.

In July 2022, we were awarded the DWP’s SME Recognition Award for our contribution and support of the scheme. This was a great achievement for Hoop as one of 11 organisations recognised, out of the 30,000 organisations that took part. As the only welsh organisation to to win an award, we were delighted to be able to represent the great work businesses in our local community do day-in-day-out.

Following the closure of the government’s Kickstart Scheme, we continue our mission to lower youth unemployment, partnering with colleges and universities such as the University of South Wales and schemes such as Jobs Growth Wales and Itech to offer as many opportunities for young people as possible.

If you’re a young person looking for a new opportunity, please get in touch with the team on 02922 400 519 or browse over 900 live vacancies here.

Sources

https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/uklabourmarket/previousReleases

https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/datasets/employmentunemploymentandeconomicinactivitybyagegroupseasonallyadjusteda05sa