I’m Beth, a 24-year-old, autistic communicator and content creator living in Bristol. I moved here two years ago from South East London and came to Babbasa last summer to develop my confidence and start my career.
I wanted to get into marketing and social media. I became a Youth Ambassador and helped to run the ‘Our Bristol, Our World’ conference and at the same time began blogging and pursuing my own personal brand called ‘ofbeth’, which you can find here.
Right now, the pandemic is affecting young people’s chances of finding a career in lots of different ways, depending on what stage of life they are at, and what they want to do career-wise.
The problems they may face at the moment include staying productive, knowing how to network, finding companies that are still recruiting and having the confidence and motivation to continue hunting for a job, internship, apprenticeship or higher education courses.
These are all things that Babbasa can help with and there is also plenty of advice available online – I’ve spent the last year listening to a lot of really helpful podcasts!
As lockdown began, I was just finishing being a part of Babbasa’s mentoring scheme. I was paired with a freelance professional marketer named Chris Turner, who has benefitted me greatly. From our first meeting back in January, I knew straight away that Babbasa had paired me with the right professional to help me with my career development.
Chris helped me to understand how to look at a job description better, what keywords I should be using, how often I should be blogging and how long each post should be, how to cold contact people, and how to keep my CV focused on the key skills and experience that will help me break into my desired industry.
Through the mentoring, I’ve now started working for my mentor; assisting him with one of his own clients, and this wouldn’t have happened without the support of Chris, and the Babbasa team.
The client is a company that hosts networking and training services for non-executive directors and board trustees, and I’m helping to recruit members through social media marketing on Twitter and LinkedIn. Though I’ve only been working for a few weeks now, I’m enjoying it a lot and the fact that it’s paid makes me feel very lucky during a time when I know others will be struggling financially.
Beth and fellow Youth Ambassadors at TedX Bristol in 2019
Due to lockdown, Chris and I been keeping in contact via Skype video calls. There haven’t been many technological difficulties and having the regular contact has been really beneficial. Being able to talk to someone even for just ten minutes is really key for keeping your mental health in check during this time.
I’m grateful that lockdown hasn’t affected the pursuit of my professional ambitions, even though I can’t work anywhere else bar my bedroom. I’m missing coffee shops and going out to meet people, but I’ve still been able to do paid and volunteer work, write blog posts, attend webinars, and network without needing to leave my home.
As lockdown begins to slowly ease and we start to think about what the future may look like both in terms of post-pandemic and inclusivity, my advice for young people who are trying to start their dream career now is three-fold:
- Firstly, if you haven’t yet, get a website set up as a way to showcase or begin a portfolio of your own work. There are plenty of free sites with templates out there that you can quickly design yourself. Link to it on your CV and put it on your socials.
- Secondly, take an online course to further develop your skills and learn about specific topics within your industry.
- Finally, phone, email or DM Babbasa and become a part of their organisation; whether you’re a young person or a professional, they’d love to hear from you particularly right now.