Meet Ajan: Paid Work Experience That Multiplies Confidence and Possibility

We are currently halfway through delivering our We Job Box Digital Futures Work Experience Programme in Bristol, the third phase of our government funded pilot, and I’m incredibly proud of the talent that is emerging through it.

Providing CPD-accredited work experience is important.

But being able to offer paid work experience, real opportunities that multiply confidence and possibility, takes the impact to another level.

Take Ajan.

He joined our Launch track as a participant in January after life threw him a curveball and he had to step away from his degree. His talent was immediately obvious.

Since then he has:

• progressed to become a paid virtual floor walker supporting our Prepare track for 16–18 year olds in Birmingham

• gained mentorship and micro-job opportunities from our employer partners

• built confidence and belief in his own potential

And tomorrow, he will be running his own paid workshop as a trainer for our programme.

He’ll be working with 14–15 year olds, showing how entrepreneurship, dance and community can come together to build something sustainable.

Huge thank you to our employer partners including Siu Mun Li, Tamara Barton-Campbell and Katherine Bryan-Merrett for the mentorship, encouragement and opportunities you have given Ajan and many others.

There are many more “Ajans” coming through our programme, and their progress is the real measure of the impact we’re making.

At We Job Box, we believe in standing alongside young people, encouraging their talent, and creating genuinely inclusive opportunities for them to thrive.

Picture: Participants from the Launch and Prepare tracks of the Digital Futures Work Experience Programme meeting Baroness Lloyd of Effra, Minister for the Digital Economy at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. We are grateful to be funded by the Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund.