Employability Officer

Charlton Athletic Community Trust (CACT) is a pioneering charity aiming to improve the health, wellbeing, educational attainment and employability skills of the local community. CACT are seeking two enthusiastic, knowledgeable and experienced individuals to deliver a Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Flexible Support Fund employability programme, focusing on 16–24-year-olds living in Greenwich and Bexley who are Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET). In collaboration with the DWP, CACT Employability Officer/s will design and deliver a ‘Youth Hub’ offer to support and guide young people into Education, Employment or Training opportunities.

Job Purpose

• To work as a member of the ‘DWP Youth Hub’ project team to engage and enable young people to reach their full potential with education, training and employment opportunities.
• The project will provide one-to-one mentoring sessions with wraparound support.
• The postholder will identify and recruit a caseload of young people to support into and sustain their engagement in Education, Employment and Training.
• The programme will provide an opportunity for young people not in education, training or employment in Greater London area to access training and work experience to enable them to attain the skills and confidence to gain employment.
• The post holder will have a broad range of experience in building relationships with individuals from a range of backgrounds, alongside an ability to build and maintain relationships with employers.
• The post holder will co-ordinate and deliver one to one and group coaching sessions. Sessions will address essential skills for employment and provide practical support, interview coaching, careers information and guidance.
• The post holder will facilitate and/or signpost to wellbeing workshops and physical activity sessions to develop improved mindset, healthy lifestyles, mental health and self‐care.
• Working with multi-agency partners the post holder will seek to identify the barriers that have prevented young people from engaging in education and employment and help them to develop strategies to overcome these challenges.

Key Responsibilities (but not limited to):

• To provide one to one and group employability coaching sessions; in the community and online, enabling participants to identify, assess, and address barriers to engaging with education, employment, and training, as well as sourcing the most appropriate support.
• Work with young people to understand their strengths and develop person centred, targeted plans to help them achieve positive outcomes. Create individualised progress plans, which include identification of the wraparound support that needs to be provided (e.g., support to access housing or mental health services).
• Work closely with community groups and agencies such as Skills Academies Hubs, Local Integration Hubs, Job Centre Plus, to identify and recruit young people that would benefit most from the programme.
• Support a caseload and develop, contribute to, and deliver interventions to engage young people in education training and employment.
• To develop relationships with a broad range of internal and external stakeholders to ensure that a suitably diverse life skills and employability offer that meets young people’s needs and abilities.
• To work with local key worker support service to address any barriers to inclusion for young people they are working with.
• As required contribute to multi-agency planning and assessments of young people.
• To identify meaningful work placement opportunities for young people internally and externally through partnerships with local businesses, and to manage and support work placements through work placement visits.
• To maintain oversight of young people participating in work placements to help them settle in, meet the expectations of their employer or training/education provider, perform at their best, and achieve their action plan goals.
• Regularly review and monitor the progress of young people on the programme and guide interventions/wraparound support.
• Maintain a record of distance travelled which demonstrates how far the participant has travelled since joining the project, for example, in terms of personal development, increased confidence, and greater levels of motivation.
• To maintain a working knowledge of education, safeguarding and effective practice in supporting young people into education, training and employment.
• To hold knowledge of the regions in which we work to maintain an up to date working knowledge of education and training providers and employers locally and ensure that young people are referred and supported into appropriate EET provision.
• Compile and submit all required monitoring to colleagues and the DWP on progress of those young people they are working with. Maintain full and accurate case records within appropriate timescales using the case management system.
• Attend training events, supervision meetings and other team, formal and informal meetings as required to contribute to professional, service and self-development.
• Support young person feedback mechanisms in the design of activities and in the continuous improvement of the project.
• To ensure good quality case studies and stories are shared with colleagues to support the promotion of the programmes.
• Fulfil other duties such as are required from time to time.