Experience project · Remote
Social content plan
Northstar Coaching
Coming soon · Register your interest
Kick-on
your business.
A content plan, a research brief, a website that needs a fresh pair of eyes. Connect with students and graduates ready to bring their skills to your next project.
Move a specific project forward with relevant student skillsExplore fresh ideas and perspectives for your businessBuild connections with potential future talent
Opportunity board
Illustrative examplesExperience project · Hybrid
Event promotion plan
Independent local business
Defined scope, learning goals and feedback.
For sole traders, startups & small SMEs
Kick-on your business.
Fresh skills. Practical support. Future talent.
Running a small business often means having more ideas and tasks than time. Kicksa is being built to help you meet emerging talent for defined projects, whether you’re an online coach, a local shop, an agency, an online business or a professional services firm.
Move a project off your to-do list
Give a focused piece of work a clear brief—from researching customers to planning an event or reviewing your website. Agree the outcome, timing and guidance you can offer.
Bring in fresh thinking and relevant skills
Connect with candidates across creative, technical and business disciplines. Find someone interested in your work who can offer a different perspective while learning from your experience.
Discover talent through working together
Get to know someone’s ideas, communication and approach through a project. Build a relationship that could develop into further collaboration or a future hire.
Different ways to get involved
What could your experience look like?
These are the formats we’re planning for Kicksa. They can overlap: a micro-internship might centre on a project, for example. Availability will depend on launch arrangements and the businesses taking part.
Work experience
Get a feel for a role or industry.
Spend time with a business, learn how it works and take part in agreed activities with guidance and feedback.
Example: a placement with a small marketing team, learning how a campaign is planned.
You gain: insight into a role, practical learning and feedback.
Work shadowing
Watch, ask questions and learn.
Follow someone through their working day to understand their role. Genuine shadowing is observation only, without doing work for the business.
Example: observe a designer’s planning session and discuss how they approach a client brief.
You gain: a clearer picture of the job and whether it suits you.
Micro-internships
A short placement with a clear focus.
Join a business for a short, agreed period, with a defined brief, a supervisor and feedback. The length and hours would be stated in the listing.
Example: a two-week placement helping research a new audience and present the findings.
You gain: hands-on experience and an example to discuss in interviews.
Projects
Work towards a specific outcome.
Take on one agreed brief with a clear output, deadline and point of contact. A project is organised around what you deliver, rather than a placement in a role.
Example: a content calendar, website review, design concept or customer research report.
You gain: practical skills and potential portfolio work, with permission to share it.
Before anything starts
The business sets out the format, activities or output, hours, location, supervision, feedback and pay or expenses. The candidate reviews the details, asks questions and agrees the arrangement before starting.
The format does not decide whether it can be unpaid. Work experience, micro-internships and projects must meet applicable pay rules. Observation-only shadowing may be unpaid; required placements of less than a year on a UK further or higher education course can qualify for a minimum-wage exemption. Read the pay guidance ↗
From first profile to finished project
How Kicksa will work.
Kicksa is currently taking registrations of interest. This is the planned journey from project brief to working with a candidate. Registering interest now is free and creates no purchase commitment.
Your journey as a business
Post a clearly defined project
Introduce your business and describe one piece of work: why it matters, the output you want, useful skills, likely time commitment and whether it’s remote or in person. Set out learning goals, supervision, feedback and pay arrangements appropriate to the actual work.
Review interested candidates
Look through applicants’ profiles, interests and examples of their work. Speak with the people who seem a good fit and discuss their ideas, availability and learning goals.
Agree the brief and work together
Set the scope, deliverables, pay arrangements and timeframe together. Choose a point of contact, provide the information they need and arrange check-ins so questions and feedback don’t wait until the end.
Review the outcome and recognise their contribution
Discuss the finished work and give useful feedback. Agree what can be shared in a portfolio and consider a reference. If you work well together, you can discuss future opportunities separately.
What could a project look like?
Specific work. A useful outcome.
Illustrative briefs, not live opportunities. Each would need clear supervision, learning goals and appropriate pay arrangements before being advertised.
An independent coach · Marketing
A four-week content plan
The brief: Explore the coach’s audience and suggest a month of social content.
The outcome: A content calendar and three sample posts.
The experience: Audience research, copywriting and feedback on creative ideas.
A local retailer · Data & research
A customer insights report
The brief: Review an anonymised customer survey to understand common themes.
The outcome: A short report with charts and practical recommendations.
The experience: Data analysis, presenting findings and understanding a business decision.
A self-employed consultant · Web & design
A clearer website journey
The brief: Review how visitors find services and make an enquiry.
The outcome: An annotated website review and a proposed page layout.
The experience: User research, design thinking and explaining recommendations.
Small businesses. A wide range of skills.
Find your area—from finance and events to fitness, design and technology. Students, postgraduates and graduates from different disciplines are welcome.
Marketing & social mediaWriting, editing & copywritingGraphic design & brandingPhotography, video & audioWeb design & developmentSoftware, apps & automationData analysis & reportingMarket research & insightsAdmin & business operationsFinance & bookkeepingSales & business developmentCustomer experienceHR & recruitmentEvents & community projectsE-commerce & retailSport, fitness & wellbeingEducation & learning resourcesSustainability & environmental projectsArchitecture, interiors & propertyEngineering & product designLanguages & translationOther / still exploring
Register interest before launch
Meet emerging talent early.
Tell us about your business and the work area you’re interested in. We’ll contact you when employer access opens, so you can prepare your first project brief.
We’re taking interest ahead of launch. Projects and matching aren’t live yet, and signing up doesn’t guarantee a placement or applicants.
- Move a specific project forward with relevant student skills
- Explore fresh ideas and perspectives for your business
- Build connections with potential future talent
Registering interest is free, with no payment or subscription today. Planned business pricing starts at £39.99 for one opportunity. Platform fees are separate from any pay due to the candidate.
Join as a business
Clear from the start
A few things worth knowing.
Each opportunity should explain its scope, learning goals, time commitment, supervision, feedback and pay arrangements. Calling something “work experience” or a “portfolio project” does not make it exempt from pay requirements.
Where someone is legally a worker, minimum-wage rules apply unless a specific exemption applies. Genuine observation-only shadowing and qualifying course placements are different arrangements. Terms and conditions do not override employment rights. Read the GOV.UK guidance ↗
Planned introductory platform pricing
- Single opportunity£39.99 one-off
- Monthly Unlimited£49.99/month
- 3-month commitment£39.99/month · £119.97 total
- 6-month commitment£37.50/month · £225 total
- 12-month commitment£34.99/month · £419.88 total
Indicative launch fees, excluding VAT where applicable. Final terms and any applicable VAT will be confirmed before purchase. There is nothing to pay now. Team plans, premium tools and recruitment services are later-stage possibilities, not part of today’s registration.