Kickstart Success at Lineal

Lineal’s Tom Williamson Cary has become one of North Devon’s first successful ‘Kickstart scheme graduates’.

During his six month Kickstart placement at Lineal, Tom has worked on numerous new business opportunities, helped promote Lineal, and even mentored younger students as part of Lineal’s work with the PETROC ‘Techknowledgy Transfer’ Project – funded by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy working with Innovate UK under the Business Basics programme.

Having completed the Kickstart programme, Tom will now join Lineal’s Marketing Team as a full-time staff member, to work on business development, and is believed to be among only a handful of such ‘Kickstart graduates’ in North Devon.

Lineal’s Managing Director Mike Matthews explained: “Tom is one of the first wave of Kickstart placements – one of around sixteen thousand young people across the UK – who’ve already benefitted from this scheme. He shows real promise and enthusiasm, and we’re delighted he’ll now be joining our team longer-term.”

lineal's tom

Tom said: “I’ve learnt a lot over six months, and it’s been great to be welcomed to the team and get started on some exciting projects.”

The Kickstart scheme is a £2 billion Government programme dedicated to short-term work placements for those aged 16-24 who are eligible to claim Universal Credit – and aims to help bridge the gap between education and work, when many young people are at risk of longer-term unemployment.

Businesses can learn more about the Kickstart Scheme here.

Welcome Tom!