Student stories: work experience to kick start careers

Family Fund is a great place to work for great people. We are proud to be an inclusive employer and our student internships and placements are a great way for us to support young people to gain skills and work experience to kick start their careers. Meet Amirhossein in the first of our Student Stories.

When Amirhossein Shekooh, a Cyber Security student at York St John University, joined Family Fund as a Data Analysis Intern, he didn’t just learn about data – he learned how to use it to deliver change.

“My time at Family Fund was one of the most formative experiences in my early career,” he reflects. “It shaped how I see the link between data and real-world impact.”

Amirhossein joined Family Fund’s Performance Insights Team, working with Paula Schirrmacher, on a project titled “Mapping Regional Need: A Data-Driven Analysis of Grant Equity.”

The project explored how Family Fund’s grant distribution varies across UK regions, comparing this data with local demographics. The goal? To ensure families across the UK have fair access to support.

Why Family Fund?

For Amirhossein, the decision to intern with Family Fund was driven by purpose.

“I was drawn to Family Fund because I wanted to use data for something more meaningful than numbers – to create insights that genuinely help people,” he explains. “Every dataset represented real families and real lives.”

Autonomy and collaboration

Amirhossein highlights the balance between autonomy and collaboration as one of the best parts of his experience.

“Paula encouraged me to take ownership of my project and experiment with ideas,” he recalls. “At the same time, everyone at Family Fund was incredibly supportive and open to discussion.”

The hybrid work setup also gave him the best of both worlds; quiet focus time for technical analysis and in-person collaboration that helped him feel part of the wider mission.

Building skills for the future

During his internship, Amirhossein improved both technical and professional skills that continue to shape his work.

“Equally valuable were the professional skills – presenting findings to non-technical audiences, documenting workflows clearly, and working in a structured, real-world analytics environment,” he adds.

A proud achievement

Amirhossein’s greatest achievement was delivering a fully interactive dashboard that visualised regional grant equity across the UK.

Clarity beats complexity

One key takeaway from the internship has stayed with Amirhossein:

“I learned that clarity beats complexity,” he says. “Meaningful analysis is about communicating data in a way that drives real action.”

He’s excited about the potential for his project to grow into a long-term decision-support tool, integrating new data and insights to further strengthen Family Fund’s work.

“It would be incredible to see that framework developed further – and if there’s ever a chance to contribute again, I’d be eager to be involved.”

Looking ahead

Reflecting on his experience, Amirhossein says the internship showed him the kind of environment he thrives in – one where technical skill meets social purpose.

“Family Fund gave me my first experience of how data can make a real difference,” he says. “I still follow the organisation’s work closely, and if future opportunities ever opened up to collaborate again, I’d be genuinely excited to contribute once more.”

Paula and the team at Family Fund were incredibly impressed by Amirhossein, “Amirhossein brought real drive to the team during his time with us, developing an interactive dashboard in Python. He’s left a strong impression and some excellent work behind.”