I joined the Movement to Work in July this year as a Project Delivery, Events, and Communications Manager. I wasn’t entirely sure what I had signed up for; all I knew was that it would be challenging yet rewarding, and very different from my daily work at Marks & Spencer. I chose to dive into it like an excited kid entering the swimming pool for the first time, and with time, learnt to swim (I think!).

Over the last 5 months, I have been involved in developing the Youth Voice Digital Tool – a tool that surveys the unemployed youth in the UK about their biggest challenges to gaining employment and then presents it to employers for them to use while building their employment programmes.

I must admit that I was not aware of how much of a game-changer this tool would be with employers when I joined. Today, after the umpteen positive reviews and employers’ delight in seeing the tool, I realise the difference it could make in solving the issue of youth unemployability in the UK. I feel grateful that I got the opportunity to work on such a project and it is something I’ll declare proudly forever.

Along the way, I exposed myself to situations that forced me to push myself out of my comfort zone and develop my skills continuously. The thought of leading a workshop with employees from companies like Tesco, Diageo, IBM, etc. would have terrified me a few months ago. Cut to now, I have done that multiple times. During my third week at MtW, I was leading a call with a team of developers from Accenture, another feat I could possibly not have imagined even when I joined the team on my first day. 

While I consciously joined this role with the aim of pushing myself out of my comfort zone and developing certain skills, the team around me made it so much easier. Right from the first week when I got the warmest welcome, it was clear to me that help was always around the corner. What also caught my eye was the plethora of experiences everyone came with. Where else would you get to work with a team that has employees from Accenture, BAE Systems, Diageo, etc. all in one room? It would also be remiss of me to not mention James (MtW COO) at this point, who has helped, empowered, and pushed me to achieve all my goals, while simultaneously making me feel like I’m in a safe space.

My time at MtW has not only been extremely rewarding from a work perspective, but it has also helped me make friends along the way, and for that, I’ll be forever grateful.

You can connect with Div on LinkedIn