‘My team made me feel very welcome and supported me’
Twenty-year-old Samuel Nuttall from Rochdale has found his career got off to a flying start when Jobcentre Plus teamed him up with JD Sports
“When I left college in January 2020 I didn’t finish my A levels because I wanted a change, but then obviously the pandemic happened. I didn’t particularly know what I wanted to do, but I knew I would be good in a computerbased job because it’s something that I’ve gravitated towards.
“Then I saw JD Sports was advertising opportunities and I thought I’d go for it because it was an administration role in a big company. It was actually the first that I applied for and everything went through really quickly – and I got the job.
“My team at JD were great from day one. They made me feel very welcome and supported me. Day to day I’d look after anything from HR queries and issuing contracts to payroll and pension questions. It gave me pretty much a whole picture of what it’s like to work in HR and I’ve been doing it ever since.
“I’d always had an interest in HR, but after what I wanted to do.
“There was the option to stay on and I’m now doing an apprenticeship with JD and CIPD Level 3 in HR support. It was another perfect step for me and I’ve now been there for a year and I’m really enjoying it. Starting work was quite tough, but I’ve got so much support from my team. It’s a lot more friendly than I expected it to be.
“Now I’m learning about different parts of HR, building on what I was doing before. I was struggling to find any job with no experience, but now I’ll just keep going.”