Breakthrough Traineeship – Administrative Assistant, Farnham, Surrey
About Breakthrough
Breakthrough is a 6‑month employability programme designed as a stepping stone to get you workplace experience and all-important employment skills. This short placement gives you insight into a future career in the Creative Industry, supporting your confidence and professionalism in the workplace, and helping you to break through into a career that matters to you!
Read more about Breakthrough here:
The role
The administrative assistant will work alongside our Admin Manager, supporting regular administrative tasks including:
- Preparing and submitting Access to Work claims
- Researching and booking travel and accommodation and creating info sheets for national and international trips
- Inputting and submitting required data on various platforms including Illuminate and Julie’s Bicycle
- Booking accessible rehearsal and meeting spaces for the company
- Supporting any other administrative systems, and logistics including preparation for internal events such as our Community Platform Performance, Staff End of Year Celebration and Community Social events or VIP receptions
- Fielding external enquiries through our company email
- General office management
The administrative assistant will also support as an access worker at our youth company dance classes for Disabled young people.
Stopgap’s office is based at the Farnham Maltings, Surrey, with regular use of studio spaces in Farnham/Guildford. Some remote working may be available.
Who we are:
Stopgap Dance Company is driven by a diverse creative team who use dance as a movement for change.
The company’s vision is to create an inclusive world where diversity is not just accepted but pursued, a world where no one is limited by prejudice against Deaf, Disabled, or neurodivergent people.
Working with an artform shaped by human touch and energised by the spark of connectivity, the company’s work demonstrates the compelling power of diversity and inclusivity. Stopgap move together to create a remarkable experience that transforms society’s perceptions of difference and dismantle the inequity of privilege, in dance and in all aspects of living, collaborating, and creating together as humans.
Stopgap’s work is both focused on and born out of the company’s rigorous investment in equity and inclusive culture. We are committed to removing barriers to dance, nurturing the talents of dancers with any body and any mind. Stopgap is in coalition with a wave of organisations moving towards a better representation of diversity on our stages and in society.
Stopgap is a global leader of disability access in dance; continuously examine best practice and actively advocate for the industry to become more inclusive.
www.stopgapdance.com/about
Deadline for applications
The deadline is 11:45pm, on 27 July 2026
You will need to download the job description below and read it carefully, and review the eligibility criteria below to ensure you are able to apply.
You then need to fill out the form below to submit your application.
All of the job descriptions include an “Employers advice” section and we strongly recommend that you tailor your answers to ensure they cover that advice given for the specific role you are applying for.
You can apply for more than one role if you wish to, but you will need to submit separate applications using the same process.
We strongly suggest that you research travel options for the role before applying to ensure travel is feasible.
To be eligible to apply for a Breakthrough traineeship, applicants must:
- Be aged 18-25 on the 28 September 2026
- Have the right to work in the UK
- Available to start work on the 28 September 2026 and available for the duration of the placement (until 28th March 2027)
- Have no or little (less than one month) previous experience of working in an arts, creative or voluntary sector organisation
In addition to the above, applicants should also meet one or more of the following criteria:
- Currently not in employment, education or training (NEET)
- Be disabled and/or Neurodivergent
- Have current or prior mental health issues
- Have experienced racism, homophobic or transgender discrimination
- Be a recent school or college leaver (A level or equivalent)
- Are struggling to find work due to lack of employment or training experience
Please note that this programme is not suitable for those on a degree placement year or an MA programme.
Download the full job description
This contains more information about the role, including advice from the employer.
Breakthrough 2026 Application Form
Contact us
If you are unsure if you are eligible, have any other questions, or need information in a different format, please email our Careers team:
FAQs
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If you have applied for a Breakthrough placement in a previous year and been unsuccessful, then yes you are very welcome to apply again if you meet this years eligibility criteria!
If you have already successfully undertaken a Breakthrough placement before, you won't be eligible to apply again.
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Please do. You will need to submit an application for each role you are interested in and should check that the travel to the workplace is realistic for you before applying.