‘Never give up,’ says teenager who landed BBC job after dozens of rejections

Despite straight A’s in his A-level, Tyreek Kasim wound up jobless and dejected. He tells David Cohen how our campaign partner City Gateway helped him upgrade his skills and experience to land a position he loves

Tyreek Kasim, pictured at the west London offices of the BBC where he is an apprentice (Daniel Hambury/Stella Pictures Ltd)

When Tyreek Kasim graduated from sixth form in the summer of 2020 with straight A’s and decided to turn down a place at university to apply for an apprenticeship, the last thing he expected was to wind up jobless and ground down by the system.

But this is exactly what the 19-year-old from Hounslow endured before his luck changed dramatically after doing a course at City Gateway, one of the charities we are funding to make jobless young people work ready as part of our £1m Skill Up Step Up campaign in partnership with Barclays LifeSkills.

Tyreek said: “I began my job hunt last summer feeling buoyant and that because of my grades, it would be a breeze. I searched on Ucas and the GetMyFirstJob website and started applying for five apprenticeships a week, focusing on business, finance and digital marketing. I couldn’t wait to start earning and learning.”

But it was the first summer of Covid and, as the rejections piled up, Tyreek began to worry. “I made around 60 applications over three months and scored just two five-minute phone interviews - one with an accounting firm, who said my Maths C for GCSE was too low, another with Lloyds Bank who also turned me down. For months I was in my bedroom burrowing away making applications getting more and more discouraged. Many of my peers had gone to uni and I felt left behind.

“I started to realise that my lack of work experience in a professional environment put me at a real disadvantage. I come from a working class background and although I was taught to be self-reliant and make my own luck, it was impacting my chances. You start to feel pressure. You never see or speak to another human, so you have no real sense of why you’re not succeeding. It’s soul-destroying.”

One day, Tyreek’s mother came across a social media post that caught her attention. She had found an eight-week employability course by a charity in east London called City Gateway. It would mean Tyreek commuting across London, but the City Gateway course included work experience, so he decided to give it a go.

It was the moment things shifted. Tyreek said: “I was put on a course with 11 young people who had been repeatedly rejected, just like me, and it gave me strength because I felt I was part of a cohort that was resilient. I was learning useful presentation skills and how to make my emails look more professional. Suddenly, instead of constant failure, I was seeing chinks of light – and then came a breakthrough when I landed a digital marketing traineeship.”

But after the traineeship ended, Tyreek again found himself at a loose end. “City Gateway kept calling to encourage me to keep applying and I felt seen and cared for,” he said. “One of their coaches told me they were putting me forward for a social media position that had come up at the BBC. I was excited but didn’t dare hope. I had a Zoom interview where the BBC asked me to talk about my journey so far and I spoke about all the rejections I’d had and how I’d been able to overcome them by upgrading myself at City Gateway.”

That got Tyreek into the final round which involved a full day of interviews and tasks for the eight short-listed candidates, including devising a series of social media posts.

“A few days later, I got a text from my City Gateway coach who said, “Congrats, you’re the new face of the BBC”. I was ecstatic. I called my mum, I called my dad, then I called my mates and said, “we’re going out for a slap up meal – it’s on me”, and we went to a little takeaway spot and had the usual fries and burger.”

Tyreek started as a BBC social media assistant in September and will be paid, he said, over £20,000 a year. It’s a six-month contract with BBC Global News located at located at Television Centre in Shepherd’s Bush and he hopes it will lead to more work at the BBC. “I am loving the job,” he said.

Charlotte Moore, business co-ordinator for BBC Global News, said: “Tyreek is a fantastic colleague and I’m delighted with the significant contribution he is making to the team. He has shown real enthusiasm and City Gateway have been superb partners throughout.”

Ms Moore added that they would be taking on more City Gateway apprentices in 2022. “Our Springboard programme has now welcomed many people into the business who might otherwise not have got the opportunity to work in the media. Being able to work with people with different perspectives and experiences is a huge benefit for businesses, and we’re delighted to expand this programme and we are committed to hiring more apprentices in the future.”

Asked what advice he would give to jobless young Londoners, Tyreek said: “Don’t sit at home alone like I did because there are great organisations out there like City Gateway that can help you. And never give up. There will be one opportunity out there with your name on it.”

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Our campaign in a nutshell

What are we doing? We have launched Skill Up Step Up, a £1m initiative in partnership with Barclays LifeSkills to upskill unemployed and disadvantaged young Londoners so they can be “work ready” and step up into sustainable jobs or apprenticeships.

Why are we doing this? Youth unemployment in London has soared by 55 per cent to 105,000 since the start of the pandemic, meaning that 21 per cent of 16- to 24-year-olds are jobless at a time of record job vacancies of 1.17 million countrywide. This mismatch, caused largely by an employability skills and experience gap, is leading to wasted lives and billions of pounds of lost productivity for our economy.

How will it work? The £1m from Barclays will provide grant funding over two years for up to five outstanding, handpicked charities that provide disadvantaged jobless young Londoners with employability skills and wrap-around care to get them into the labour market and transform their lives. The charity partners we have announced so far are:

1. Springboard: they will support young people into jobs in the hospitality industry (hotels, restaurants, bars, leisure and tourism) via a three- to six-week programme that includes one-to-one mentoring, soft skills and employability development (confidence, work attitude, CV building, interview practice and time management), practical industry and hard skills training, including food safety and customer service, as well as access to work experience placements.

2. City Gateway: they will get young people work ready with a 12-week employability programme, including digital skills, a work placement, CV and interview skills and a dedicated one-to-one coach, extending to up to 20 weeks if they need English and/or maths qualifications, enabling them to gain entry level positions including apprenticeships in a wide range of sectors, including finance, digital media, marketing, retail, property and IT.

More partner charities will be announced in due course.

How can the young and jobless skill up? If you are aged 16-24 and want to upskill towards a job in hospitality, contact Springboard here.

If you want to upskill towards a job in any other sector, contact City Gateway here.

For tools, tips and learning resources visit barclayslifeskills.com

How can employers step up? We want companies – large, medium and small – to step up to the plate with a pledge to employ one or more trainees in a job or apprenticeship. They could work in your IT, customer service, human resources, marketing or sales departments, or any department with entry level positions. You will be provided with a shortlist of suitable candidates to interview. To get the ball rolling, contact the London Community Foundation, who are managing the process on: skillup@londoncf.org.uk

How can readers help? The more money we raise, the more young people we can skill up. To donate, click here