It was during the lockdown of 2020, a moment in history in which everyone was forced to pause and reflect to some degree, that Julia Beaumont decided to change her life. And, in the process, help change the lives of others.
After working for nearly 20 years as a successful management consultant in the technology sector, Julia made the break last year to become the Chief Technology Officer at The Princes Trust. This was a newly created role at the organisation, giving her full responsibility for overhauling its technology strategy and structure. “I loved my old job,” Julia explained, “which I’d done ever since I left university, but in the back of my mind there was an itch I needed to scratch. Being a consultant could often feel quite detached, projects were usually ‘someone else’s baby’, but I knew I wanted to be able to lead meaningful change and do something I deeply cared about.”
During last year’s lockdowns the ‘now or never’ moment finally came, and Julia’s search for her dream job came up trumps. She’s now doing work that’s not only fulfilling and engaging for herself, but also meaningful for others too as she can positively influence the lives of young people by enhancing the Trust’s digital services.
“Our mission is to help young people transform their lives by developing the confidence and skills to live, learn and earn. Our employability programme is designed to help young people into stable and fulfilling work, but we have a gap in our current digital toolkit when it comes to the end of our programme. Nominet is funding a piece of work to bridge the gap between a young person and an employment opportunity. We will start with a piece of Discovery work to better understand our user needs and the technology landscape before moving into Design and Development ready to launch a pilot in Spring 2022 with a small group of young people in the Digital sector.”
The tool will need to create connections to meaningful entry-level jobs within the Trust’s partner networks, lowering the barriers to finding a role whilst building employer confidence in the skills of its young people. “We have lots of ideas about what this tool could look like but are trying to keep our minds open!” says Julia.
Nominet is also supporting the Trust with its broader data transformation agenda investing in the development of digital platforms to collect and visualise appropriate, high-quality data from young people to help them understand more about the people they are supporting and the outcomes it is achieving.
From day one there was a lot for Julia to get on with. “This is an amazing job,” she confirms with a broad smile, “I was given the remit to shake things up and take more of a direction-setting role, and that’s exactly what I am doing. It’s all about improving the experience of young people who seek online support from us. This is the purpose of what we are all here to achieve, it is ingrained in everything we do in the Trust, and I am proud to be a part of it.”
Find out how you can support the work of the The Prince’s Trust here: The Prince’s Trust