Abdal had spent a year at university studying for a Law degree before deciding that wasn’t the right path for him. Turning his focus to employment, Abdal was helped by staff at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to join the Kickstart Scheme, which provided funding to employers to create jobs for Universal Credit claimants aged 16 to 24.
After contemplating various job opportunities presented to him, Abdal decided to apply for the role of CRM Administrator at Buckinghamshire Business First. In just the second interview he had ever attended, Abdal landed his first job.
“I wasn’t looking for a part-time job, I wanted something like work experience for around six months to gain some experience and get a sense of working life,” says Abdal. Jobs via the Kickstart Scheme had to last for a minimum of six months, so this was a perfect fit and a great way for Abdal and Buckinghamshire Business First to see if the role was right for both parties.
Abdal’s expectations were realistic and practical, focusing above all on gaining experience and building up his skills and employability. “In the back of my mind, I thought that if something permanent came from it, that would be great, but if not, that’s okay too as I can use the role to gain experience and take that with me into my next steps.”
Having a six-month contract in place turned out to work perfectly for both parties, says Abdal. “The team at Buckinghamshire Business First did a good job catering to that six-month timeframe, planning around it to ensure we both got something out of it no matter what happened at the end of the contract.”
Given that this was his first taste of work, Abdal had a lot to take in, not least how to navigate starting work during a pandemic and meeting all of his colleagues via Microsoft Teams. All BBF Group staff receive everything they need to work from home as standard, but what also helped in Abdal’s case was that part of the £1,500 funding that companies received for employing a young person through the Kickstart Scheme could be spent on providing them with IT equipment and software. The scheme also covered 100% of their National Minimum or Living Wage, National Insurance and minimum pension contributions.
The CRM Administrator role that Abdal succeeded in getting also opened up a whole new world of required skills and knowledge, such as learning how to navigate an in-depth CRM system - and then create process documents to ensure others can do the same. This is where relying on the support of individual colleagues becomes so important, and Abdal soon realised he was far from alone in his job.
“I was a bit unsure of how it was going to go, especially working digitally from home,” admits Abdal, “but everyone was so welcoming and made it a relaxed introduction to the organisation and work in general. Everyone was interested in helping me and people were always available to answer any questions I had. My line manager encouraged me to ask every little question I had and reassured me that making mistakes at the beginning was fine, as that’s how you learn.
“My colleagues taught me the knowledge that I needed, all the ins and outs of the job, but they also asked me what I wanted to learn and took me through how to do things in a really clear way, like showing me via a screen-share how to do a certain task.”
“Abdal instantly made a contribution to the team,” says Sarah Randall, Head of Operations at Buckinghamshire Business First. “He’s a quick learner, works hard and isn’t afraid to ask for help. His perseverance is truly impressive and it’s clear that he has made a big investment in himself. He’s also a great fit for our culture - another must for our organisation!”
Those who can remember their very first day of work can relate to the uncertainty Abdal felt at the beginning. “Because I hadn’t worked before, I was unsure what to expect. I was wondering what I’d be doing on a daily basis, and how I would split up my day to ensure I did my work but also took breaks. I found it helpful to think, ‘I’ll do this task from 9am-11am, take a break, then do this other task until 1pm, then take a break, etc.’
The BBF Group is a busy organisation, supporting businesses across Buckinghamshire and surrounding areas, meaning Abdal was never going to be short of tasks to do and things to learn. Crucially, while the CRM Administrator role was a brand-new job, as required under the Kickstart Scheme, it was not something just for show; it is an important role in the organisation, helping to ensure the vast data requirements are met and that enquiries into the organisation are logged and tracked.
Despite the smooth start to working from home, Abdal feels there’s no substitute for meeting in person, and didn’t have to wait too long to see his new colleagues in the flesh. “About a month after I joined, Buckinghamshire Business First held a team away day, which is where I got to meet everyone face-to-face for the first time. It’s always nicer to meet people for real and it’s easier to communicate when you can see their body language and see them eye-to-eye, plus it was great to put faces to names across the organisation.”
Abdal had only been with the BBF Group for two months when he became aware of a full-time job opportunity within the organisation on a grant scheme that helps businesses fund energy-efficiency improvements, called Low Carbon Workspaces.
One of his tasks with the CRM team saw him work on an assignment for the Low Carbon Workspaces project. Knowing that Abdal was a contender for the vacancy with Low Carbon Workspaces, his line manager encouraged him to do as thorough a job as possible to make a good impression on the project team. There was no thought of holding Abdal back – the BBF Group wanted to see him flourish and progress and he was encouraged to pursue the job.
“They helped me to update my CV and gave me pointers ahead of the interview,” says Abdal of his CRM colleagues. Specific support with CVs and interviews, as well as careers advice and skills development, was a key part of employers’ responsibilities under the Kickstart Scheme to ensure the young person becomes more employable as a result. What could represent increased employability better than being offered a full-time job just two months into a six-month contract?
For a young person working for the first time, meeting members of the senior management team could feel daunting, especially when they are on the interview panel. With Buckinghamshire Business First’s Managing Director one of the interviewers for Abdal’s role with Low Carbon Workspaces, what could have been a slightly intimidating experience was quickly proved to be the opposite. “I was thinking, ‘she’s important’,” Abdal says of MD Philippa, “but it was fine, very relaxed and normal.”
And so Abdal’s third interview in his life saw him land his second different job as Low Carbon Workspaces Administrator. Jobs are not handed out lightly, and this was no easy internal job switch, as the role was another crucial one, keeping a busy grant scheme on track ‘behind the scenes’.
“As an employer, we couldn’t ask for more,” says Philippa Batting, Managing Director at Buckinghamshire Business First. “For both Abdal and the BBF Group, there were challenges, but it’s certainly a worthwhile investment of time and resources to offer a young person a job and help them develop their confidence and skills in the workplace. The energy and ideas you get from young people can be a breath of fresh air too.”
Through his work with the CRM team, Abdal had shown an aptitude and work ethic that impressed his colleagues. Crucially, he was also learning transferrable skills. “Things that I learnt in my first role with the CRM team, I’m now using in my role with Low Carbon Workspaces. I would upload onto the CRM system details of interactions and enquiries between BBF staff and businesses in need of support, which is something I’m now doing with grant enquiries for Low Carbon Workspaces. Learning that skill helped the transition between jobs.
“I was made to feel really welcome by the low carbon team too. They encouraged me to ask the ‘silly’ questions if I wasn’t sure about anything and were always willing to answer and advise me.”
This period also gave Abdal one of his favourite moments so far with the BBF Group. At a company away day, after he had accepted the role with Low Carbon Workspaces but was still finalising his work on the CRM and data side, both project teams were, in good humour, encouraging him to join their table during the lunch break - with Abdal feeling the love equally from both teams that value his company.
Abdal also joined colleagues on the Low Carbon Workspaces exhibition stand at the Bucks Future Tech Summit held at Silverstone, which featured expert speakers and exhibitors geared towards preparing businesses for future tech trends. Oh, and there were Formula One cars hanging from the roof! “I’m a big Formula One fan, so that was amazing,” says Abdal. “But it was also great to meet and speak to the delegates at the event about what we could do to help them. The team taught me the tricks of how to network and make sure I took people’s details!”
After meeting his steep learning curve head on, what does Abdal have planned for the future? “My plan is to keep learning, keep gaining experience, keep adding to my CV, and we’ll see how things go!”