Helping the next generation find purpose

We recemtly welcomed Isaac aboard for some (paid) work experience. He was amazing, helping out ably across multiple accounts. And along the way, we were delighted to help Isaac find a sense of purpose and confidence in his abilities. Over to Isaac…

As a school student I had always had a clear idea of what I wanted to do in life. In my naïve idealism, I wanted to be a diplomat, changing the world for the better and having a grand legacy on an international stage. But, by the time I left University in the summer of 2023, I had become disillusioned with the wider world. My idealism had been tainted by seeing the many existential crises my generation was facing: climate change, war, pandemics, the ineffectiveness of politics and increasing economic injustice.

I had reassessed and I had no idea what I wanted to do in life. I felt paralysed by the amount of choice, lack of good choices and how to get started trying to find a role where I felt that I was doing valuable work and was being valued at the same time. So, I started my job search…

Trawling job boards, registering with recruiters and applying to 50 plus roles; the demoralisation was hitting. Graduate roles advertised at minimum wage, asking for years of experience for entry level roles and stonewalling on application and interview feedback.

So many companies seem to have very poor recruitment processes that feel impersonal and fail to appreciate the time and effort that goes into the application.

The repeated: ‘Unfortunately, we are unable to give feedback at this time’ emails were starting to grind. I felt like I was getting nowhere fast.

My internship with Jack & Grace has given me the feeling of making progress towards my goals. It’s given me such a boost in confidence. Over my internship, I got involved in a wide range of activities across several clients and got amazing and supportive feedback from the team.

This internship has been more than I could have hoped for. It’s been brilliant working only for clients that do good in the world. The generosity from the team: their patience, encouragement, and willingness to get me involved on the stuff that matters, so I could have a real impact, is so refreshing. I had no idea of the variety that PR could have and certainly didn’t expect it to be so fun and rewarding.

Having tangible results of your work; being able to point at a social media post, a bit of copy or secured coverage and say I wrote that, or I was involved really seems a world away from the stonewalling and knocked confidence of the job application slog.

Not only have I gained a breadth of experience in the field, but the J&G team has given me confidence in my abilities and trust in the world of work.