ABOUT
Purposeful and never corporate.
Trailstones connects young people with charities through genuine contributions that build a real career portfolio, one stone at a time.
THE IDEA
Experience should not depend on who you know.
Too many young people leave education with qualifications but nothing to show for themselves in practice. Work experience is either hard to find, generic, or so informal it counts for little when it matters.
Trailstones exists to close that gap. Not by simulating work, but by connecting young people to organisations that have real things to get done — and letting them get on with it.
Start from a genuine need
Every project on the platform starts with an organisation that has actual work to do. Students are not filling time — they are contributing.
Leave with something you can prove
Each piece of work produces evidence — a reference from the organisation, a timestamped record, and a portfolio entry that stands up to scrutiny.
Accessible by design
Remote, structured, and matched to ability. Students do not need connections, a car, or a parent who can email the right person.
WHO IT IS FOR
Three groups, one platform.
Young people
16–21 year olds who want real experience on their CV — not work shadowing, not a day answering phones. Projects that require actual effort and produce actual output.
Charities & organisations
Local organisations with genuine projects and limited capacity. Trailstones gives them access to motivated contributors without the overhead of running a full placement scheme.
Schools & colleges
Careers leads who need evidenced work experience that maps to Gatsby Benchmarks 5 and 6 — without building and managing employer relationships from scratch.
WHAT WE BELIEVE
"Work experience should leave a mark — something you did, not something that happened to you."
The name comes from cairns — the stacked stone markers that guide walkers across open ground. Each stone placed by someone before you, making the path a little clearer for whoever comes next.
That is what we are building. A system where every piece of genuine work a young person contributes becomes part of their path forward — visible, verifiable, and theirs.
Want to know more?
We are currently building out the platform and talking to schools, charities, and employers across Yorkshire. Get in touch if you would like to be involved.