Targeted Youth Advisor in Reading

Location: Basildon

Employment: Full time

Category: Youth Support Worker

Please note that visa sponsorship is not available for this role. Applicants must have a current, unrestricted right to work in the UK.

As a Targeted Youth Advisor, you will support young people who are at risk of disengaging from education, employment, or training. Through mentoring, guidance, and targeted interventions, you will help them build confidence, access opportunities, and achieve positive outcomes. If you are passionate about making a lasting difference to young people's lives, we would love to hear from you.

We would welcome applications from candidates with experience in:

• youth work
• careers guidance
• teaching (secondary school and higher education)
• employability support
• education welfare
• alternative provision
• SEND services
• early help
• mentoring
• social care
• youth justice
• other services supporting young people

Interview Date: Monday 30th November 2026

Why work with us?

• Enjoy flexible hybrid working, autonomy in managing your diary and an excellent work-life balance.
• Manage a meaningful caseload where you can see the difference your support makes while collaborating with schools, families, and partner agencies.
• Happy to consider public and private sector backgrounds.
• Work for a supportive, high performing team with wonderful team morale and friendly, helpful, and supportive colleagues.
• Paid Business Mileage for all journeys from your contractual location.
• Great training pathways.
• Encouragement to all staff for their continual professional development with full support and guidance.
• 26 days annual leave, plus bank holidays.
• 37 hour working week.
• Local Authority Defined Contribution Pension Scheme.

The Opportunity

Working as a Community Based Worker, this role will be filled on a hybrid basis. This means you can work remotely for part of the working week with an expectation to attend a work location 3 or 4 days per week. More specific details about this can be discussed at the interview stage should you be invited to interview.

The role is typically Monday to Friday, 9:00am to 5:00pm (with a 30-minute lunch break). However, there may occasionally be a requirement for evening work, depending on business needs.

While primarily supporting young people within South Essex, travel across the county may be required to meet service needs and support programmes.

The Targeted Youth Advisor will play a key role in developing the Youth Service offer by working with identified young people who are at risk of not engaging in employment, education, and training. Targeted Youth Advisors provide one to one intensive mentoring, bespoke groupwork packages, careers advice and guidance, and positive activities to empower young people to overcome barriers. You will be contributing to the development of a high-quality targeted service for young people, the role will work with colleagues across the Council and key partners such as Education, Health, Social Services and Youth Offending Service, to ensure the best possible outcomes for young people.

The Experience You Will Bring

Essential:

• Educated to a Level 6 CIAG qualification or willing to work towards.
• Flexible and creative, with excellent time management skills and substantial experience supporting young people in both one-to-one and group settings.
• A broad understanding of the issues affecting young people, barriers to education, opportunities for learning and the services provided by partner agencies.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to relate to young people in a purposeful but responsive manner and demonstrable knowledge and understanding of their needs.

Desirable:

• Proven experience of successfully progressing young people into employment, education, and training opportunities.
• Knowledge and understanding of Gatsby Benchmarks.
• Advocating on behalf of young people with services and partner organisations with an ability to negotiate with schools, colleges, employers, and other agencies.
• Evidence of continuing professional development and expert knowledge in relevant professional area.
• Deep knowledge and understanding of the current local offers of support to young people that may facilitate their reintegration.

Essex County Council is proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. We’re committed to interview all disabled applicants who choose to apply under our Job Interview Scheme if they meet the minimum requirements of the job. Please speak to our Recruiters if you require any reasonable adjustments during the process. We’re also committed to interview all veterans and care leavers, who meet the minimum requirements of the role for which they are applying.

Once you’ve secured your role within Essex County Council you will receive many great employee benefits, including support for unpaid carers and flexible working arrangements to accommodate their needs.

At Essex County Council, we value integrity and ethical behaviour. We kindly ask that you embrace our code of conduct and the Nolan principles, including throughout the recruitment process. Your commitment to these standards helps us maintain a positive and respectful workplace for everyone.

Please note that the job role requires you to be mobile throughout an operational area. Therefore, the post holder will need to have a driving licence and access to a vehicle, or the ability to meet the mobility requirements of the role through other means.

As part of employment with Essex County Council (ECC) should your role require a DBS check you will be required to register with the DBS update service. The DBS update service ensures all registered DBS certificates are kept up to date and allows authorised parties to view the status of your certificate. This is an annual subscription, and you will be responsible for ensuring this is maintained.

Essex County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults, and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.

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