Daniel P.
About me
| Daniel P. | |
| Psychology | |
| Cognitive Neuroscience | |
| Taught Postgraduate | |
| Wentworth | |
| 2016 | |
| United Kingdom |
My employment
| Research and Evaluation Officer | |
| The Charity Spark | |
| United Kingdom | |
| Charity and voluntary sector | |
| Small business (0-49 employees) | |
| 2023 |
More about Daniel
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A day in the life of a Research and Evaluation Officer in the United Kingdom
There are lots of opportunities out there but it is still competitive. Be prepared to tailor your application for each job you apply for and do some research on the company beforehand.
Briefly describe the organisation you work for
The Charity Spark is a purpose-led business established in 2019 that specialises in transformative evaluation and strategic income generation. We help charities and nonprofits do more good through supporting clients with fundraising, impact measurement and strategy. In turn, this enables our clients to support more of their beneficiaries and contributes towards positive societal change.
We are a small team of five, including three specialist evaluators, a dedicated fundraised and a business operations coordinator. We presently work with clients across multiple sectors, including education, housing and homelessness, healthcare, and more
What do you do?
I act as Quant Lead for all our clients when we undertake impact, process and economic evaluations. I also carry out qualitative research and facilitate workshops with clients. My role is extremely varied and I also spend a lot of time responding to briefs from prospective new clients
Reflecting upon your past employment and education, what led you to your current career choice?
I completed my undergraduate (BSc Psychology) degree in 2011 from the University of Leeds. I was able to save up and study for a Masters at the University of York, starting in 2015. Once I left this I worked in education until I was made redundant and effectively fell into evaluation. I worked for four and a half years for STEM Learning, the largest provider of STEM support to schools in the UK, moving on in 2023. It is very important to me that my work is purposeful and I see myself remaining in roles in and around the not-for-profit sector
Is your current job sector different from what you thought you would enter when you graduated?
Yes and no. I always wanted to work in research which I am doing, however the day to day role is very different.
Describe your most memorable day at work
No 2 days are the same and all are memorable in one way or another. In this role, my most memorable day was probably delivering a workshop to clients at my former employer. The pressure was on slightly as these people knew me well and I had worked with many of them for several years. The workshop went better than I could've possibly planned and led to positive changes being made to the programme we were evaluating
Are there any challenges associated with your job?
The hardest part of the job for me is balancing client needs. There are a lot of peaks and troughs, and I sometimes struggle with option paralysis. I am fortunate though as I truly love what I do
What’s your work environment and culture like?
My role is fully remote with travel to clients as needed. once every quarter we meet together as a team and cowork. we also often cowork over MS Teams. In terms of clothing, we tend to mirror the clients we work with when undertaking visits. presently we have no overseas clients but this could happen in the future. I find it easy to balance work and general life but we are a small team and often go the extra mile for one another. I consider my employer to be the best I have ever worked for
Our core organisational values are:
collaboration
accessibility
integrity
disruption for good
What extracurricular activities did you undertake at university and what transferable skills did you develop through these?
During my masters I took up a lot of opportunities but these were often closely linked to my course, including analysis of MRI data. As a result, the main skill which is worth sharing here would be I became a better independent learner.
What would you like to do next with your career?
I've been in my role for 18 months. I would like my role to change and for us to expand, leading to me taking on formal people management responsibilities. I thoroughly enjoy mentoring young people so this would suit me well. It would take a truly incredible opportunity to persuade me to leave
What top tips do you have for York students preparing for today’s job market and life after graduation?
As I write this, it's February 2025 and the job market is hard. Be prepared to tailor your application for each job you apply for and do some research on the company beforehand. Don't use AI! It's incredibly obvious and really lazy. I want to see YOUR personality
What topics from students are you happy to answer questions on?
Feel free to ask me any questions and if I can help I will, if not I'll be honest and help as best I can. I've listed a few things below which I would definitely be able to help with:
General:
Working in evaluation, and how this differs from academia
impact evaluation
process evaluation
In terms of fields:
Education, homelessness, sport for good, mental health, social mobility
Skills
report writing
interview prep/cv writing
quantitative data analysis and visualisation
Next steps...
If you like the look of Daniel’s profile, the next steps are down to you! You can send Daniel a message to find out more about their career journey. If you feel you would benefit from more in-depth conversations, ask Daniel to be your mentor.