Scotty’s Little Soldiers is involved with the government’s Kickstart scheme which provides young people with the opportunity to gain work experience. The growing King’s Lynn based charity, which supports bereaved Forces children, is encouraging young adults to take advantage of the scheme to learn valuable skills upon which to build a career.
The Kickstart scheme is a new initiative for 16–24-year-olds on Universal Credit, whereby the government pays their salary during the course of a 6-month work placement, based on them working 25 hours a week and earning the national minimum wage.
Scotty’s is delighted to have been accepted to take part in the scheme and is offering work placements in a number of roles including graphic design, fundraising, ecommerce and content creation of blogs and podcasts.
Now in its eleventh year, it is an exciting time for Scotty’s Little Soldiers. Initially the prime aim of the charity was to help put smiles on the faces of children and young people, which continues today through respite breaks for families that need to get away, gifts at extra difficult times of the year and connecting bereaved Forces families through special events. However, having identified the number of challenges faced by bereaved Forces children, Scotty’s now additionally offers so much more including emotional health and wellbeing care and educational support and grants.
Stuart Robinson, Scotty’s CEO, said: “The charity has developed a lot, particularly over the past eighteen months, and there is room for plenty more growth. The Kickstart scheme is a great opportunity for young people to gain experience working with an incredible team and we have some really interesting roles to fill.”
Giving an example of how similar work experience opportunities have been successful, Stuart said: “We currently have a graphic designer who originally came to Scotty’s on an internship. He wasn’t being paid, but he wanted to gain experience. He was so great that we ended up offering him a full-time paid job because we realised we couldn’t manage without him. He’s so busy that we actually now feel we need another graphic designer!”
Stuart added: “The Kickstart scheme works really well for us as a charity, as well as providing young people with a great opportunity. As the team grows, we are able to offer more support to more members, raise awareness of our work and develop our income streams through fundraising and grants. To have people on board, with their salaries funded by the government for 6 months, is hugely beneficial to us financially.”
Scotty’s welcomes applicants and offers flexible working, unlimited holiday, a flat hierarchy and collaborative teamwork.
Talking about the culture at Scotty’s, Stuart said: “We draw inspiration from many places and follow closely the business models employed by the likes of Gymshark, Netflix and Uber, all of whom have experienced phenomenal growth in the last decade and are much closer to our own life cycle stage than much more mature organisations like Cancer Research UK or Oxfam for example. Our culture is much more ‘San Francisco Tech Start-Up’ than traditional UK charity.”
Scotty’s is also recruiting and has full-time paid roles available. For details on opportunities with the charity, please go to www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk/jobs.