Employment Skills Support Officer

Employment Skills Support Officer

Location: Walsall, West Midlands

Salary: £25,675 - £27,203 per annum plus excellent benefits

The Vacancy

Contract: Full Time, Permanent, 37 hours per week

Closing Date: 3rd May 2024

Interview Date: TBC

We have an exciting opportunity for an Employment & Training Support Officer to join our Employment and Skills team. In this role, you will engage whg customers who are unemployed, economically inactive or currently employed in low-paid, insecure jobs and move them into work, education and training, work experience or volunteering.

Main job responsibilities:

• You will work via outreach within pre-agreed whg communities supported by whg Community Champions, where unemployment is highest, and health is poorest in order to engage whg customers who are unemployed, economically inactive or employed within insecure, low-paid work.

• Day to day you will work within varied community environments and provide customers with advice and support in order to improve their confidence and capacity, thus leading to improved employment opportunities.

• Using events, initiatives, incentives and hooks you will motivate and encourage customers to engage in confidence building pre-employment activities which will begin the behaviour change process and move them into the contemplative stage of change.

• Using an agreed case management approach, you will work with customers in small groups or on a one-to-one basis, assessing their strengths and support needs to underpin their individual five-step 'Work 4’ action plan.

We're looking for someone who has:

• An ability to motivate, enthuse and encourage 'hard to reach’ whg customers to take part in the 'Work 4’ programme and other complementary programmes and activities.

• Have extensive experience of using an evidence-based assessment framework to measure an individual’s strengths and support needs with the ability to use this insight to design a Work 4 plan.

• A proven ability to use assessment findings to create an agreed programme of interventions and SMART Actions which when completed will move customers nearer to employment.

• To have a proven track record of successful case management, with the ability to record accurate information which is then stored in line with data protection requirements.

• An understanding and experience of working in a strengths-based way ensuring that whg customers are supported to develop new skills and increased confidence which will result in the required behavioural change and ultimately move them into employment.

• Have the ability to plan and organise events which will interest and engage customers to begin their 'Work 4’ journey.

What’s in it for you?

In return, you will receive a competitive salary, 27 days annual leave (plus Christmas shut down), a defined benefit pension scheme, health cash plan, a range of shopping and leisure discounts.

We are output focused and flexible and believe in giving colleagues the right balance of autonomy and support to enable them to work to their full potential. Despite the high expectation for performance and delivery, we are committed to ensuring colleagues have a healthy work-life balance and able to work in agile ways which support them.

About us

Our People Strategy presents a clear picture of how we will achieve our Corporate Plan aim, 'Be an exceptional place to work that attracts, develops and retains talent’. The Strategy focuses on three key themes that help us support our colleagues to make a difference to our customers, the communities we serve and to themselves.

It is important to us that we have a diverse workforce, representative of the communities we serve. Equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) to us means colleagues living our values, dedicated to doing the right thing and exercising good judgement. This will encourage a culture where all can thrive, acknowledging that everyone is different; what matters to us is that everyone can come to work and feel comfortable to be themselves.

We are proud to be accredited as a Disability Confident Employer and ensure that disabled people and those with long term health conditions have the opportunity to fulfil their potential and realise their aspirations while working with us. We want to make it clear that we welcome disabled applicants for all our roles. If in doubt look out for the Disability Confident logo.

We will ensure that our recruitment process is inclusive and accessible, and we will interview applicants with a disability if they meet the essential criteria for a role. We will also support existing colleagues with a disability or long-term health condition enabling them to stay in work, making reasonable adjustments if necessary.