Employment Specialist in Christchurch

Are you passionate about helping people into sustainable employment? Join us in delivering an IPS Fidelity assured supported employment programme. Through personalised support and strong partnerships with local employers, we aim to empower people to overcome barriers and thrive in meaningful employment, allowing individuals to secure and retain employment. If you’re enthusiastic about helping people into meaningful employment and think you have got the skills, experience, or potential to make a difference, we would love to hear from you.

Main Responsibilities

• Manage a caseload of participants with disabilities / health support needs and other barriers to employment, employing IPS (Individual Placement Support) methods to offer personalised guidance and support.
• Meet, assess and support participants to understand their key skills, aspirations, and goals through completing a vocational profile and production of an action plan to help them obtain and sustain competitive employment.
• Provide person-centred advice and guidance to participants.
• Maintain a community focus and work collaboratively with drug and alcohol services and community based teams.
• Build positive relationships with local employers to enable participants to move into and / or maintain suitable employment, including sourcing job opportunities and raising awareness of reasonable adjustments, return to work strategies and ongoing contact, reducing barriers in the workplace and supporting employers to become disability confident.
• Provide a quality service through conducting regular visits, effective monitoring and in-work training and support to participants and employers to help sustain employment.

About You

The ideal candidate will bring relevant experience or transferable skills and a willingness to learn and grow within the role. We are looking for someone who is motivated, adaptable and passionate about supporting others into meaningful employment.

You Will Ideally Have

• Experience in caseload management and delivering person-centred support, or transferable skills from roles involving mentoring, coaching, or advisory work.
• Experience in working with individuals who have had drug and alcohol related issues.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to engage effectively with a wide range of individuals and build positive working relationships.
• Whether through previous experience in employer engagement, stakeholder collaboration, community outreach, or sales, you’ll bring, or be keen to develop, the negotiation skills needed to create meaningful employment opportunities.
• Excellent IT skills, including confidence using Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Outlook) and online communication tools such as Microsoft Teams.
• A solution-focused and outcome-driven approach, with the ability to identify barriers and work collaboratively to overcome them.
• The ability to work independently and as part of a team, managing your time effectively and adapting to changing priorities.
• A flexible, proactive attitude, with a commitment to continuous learning and improvement.
• A strong commitment to equality, diversity, and inclusion, ensuring that all participants are treated with respect and supported according to their individual needs.

Applications are welcomed from people with lived experience. We are a flexible employer and provide a variety of working arrangements tailored to the needs of each role. Part time working would be considered for this role. For employees who currently work for BCP, a secondment opportunity would be considered. This is a fixed term post for 2 years.

Why Join Us?

As an Employment Specialist Practitioner, you’ll work closely with individuals who may face complex barriers to employment. You’ll support participants to overcome these barriers by providing tailored advice and guidance, and by working collaboratively with employers to identify and adapt suitable job opportunities. The programme is designed to help people to achieve lasting employment outcomes through person-centred support and strong partnerships with local employers. You will be part of a team that makes a real difference to people's lives, helping them to build confidence, develop skills and thrive in meaningful employment.

How To Apply

If you’re reading this and feel excited about the opportunity, we’d love to hear from you! If you have direct experience, transferable skills and a passion for helping others, please use your application to tell us why you would be a great addition to our team.

About BCP Council

BCP Council provides services to a diverse community of 400,000 residents and employs more than 5,000 people. Our area includes over 15 miles of beautiful world-renowned coastline. We can offer career defining roles to transform and improve services. By working with us, you can help deliver a vision of a thriving, world-class, prosperous and inclusive place for generations to come.

Our Benefits

A Place to Thrive – Join BCP Council. At BCP Council, we’re not just building a workforce— we’re transforming how we recognise and reward our people. From 1 December 2025, we’re proud to introduce a new Pay and Reward package, shaped through close collaboration with our trade union partners. This marks a significant step forward in how we recognise and reward our colleagues, reflecting our commitment to creating a modern, inclusive, and supportive workplace. Our enhanced offer includes fair and transparent pay, modernised terms and conditions, and a comprehensive benefits package designed to attract and retain talented individuals. Whether it’s flexible working, wellbeing support, or opportunities for career progression, our new approach puts people first- we’re excited to welcome new colleagues into a Council that’s evolving to meet the needs of both our workforce and our communities.