Employment Coach in Boston

As an Employment Coach, you will be supporting individuals to progress into their chosen career paths by providing advice, support and guidance through assessments and implementing tailored support plans, which need to be smart and tailored to individual needs.

Key Responsibilities

• Work with participants face to face, coaching and supporting their journey to employment by providing employability sessions, interview skills advice, job search methods, rebuilding participant confidence following a period of unemployment, and identifying correct interventions that will remove barriers and enable them to regain employment.
• Utilise diagnostic screening, assessments, and skills analysis to guide participants in considering all options available to them to gain employment.
• Familiarise yourself with the local area labour market, training opportunities, and relevant support agencies to ensure success in the role.
• Build relationships with local employers, understanding what they are looking for in an employee and encouraging them to interview your participants.
• Meet and support clients to understand their key skills, aspirations, and goals through completing a Vocational Profile and producing an Action Plan to help them obtain and sustain competitive employment.
• Provide support with job searches, CV production, application forms, interview techniques, and career development.
• Assess client’s support needs related to work, which may include benefits/welfare advice and disclosure of mental health symptoms, and provide support and guidance.
• Attend weekly clinical team meetings as an embedded IPS practitioner.
• Source job opportunities for clients through tailored job searches and regular contact with local employers to explore hidden as well as advertised employment opportunities.
• Provide education and support to employers, as agreed with the individual, which may include negotiating adjustments, return to work strategies, and ongoing contact with the employer to ensure job retention.
• Build relationships with colleagues in clinical teams to engage and generate referrals and create collaborative working partnerships with clinical staff.
• Once employment has been secured, continue to provide quality service through conducting regular visits, effective monitoring, and in-work support to clients and employers to help sustain employment.
• Spend time getting to know local employers to negotiate job opportunities that meet each individual’s strengths, needs, abilities, and preferences.
• Challenge inequalities experienced by clients and address existing discrimination while ensuring a process of learning for the organisation.
• Work with employers to promote the service, identify job opportunities, and ensure appropriate strategies are in place to reduce barriers in the workplace.

Skills/Knowledge and Experience

• Experience in providing one-to-one support or coaching and positively influencing other people’s professional or personal development.
• Experience of working in the employment and skills sector and delivering to specified targets, quality standards, and compliance measures is essential.
• Experience of using motivational and action planning techniques to manage the progression of participants into sustainable work opportunities.
• The empathy to engage with all sorts of people and the confidence to challenge them when necessary.
• The ability to handle complex cases simultaneously in an environment with targets to achieve.
• Strong organisational skills and the ability to manage time effectively to ensure monthly targets are achieved.
• Excellent communication skills, including the ability to motivate and inspire others.
• An influencing approach, especially when it comes to bringing others around to your way of thinking.
• A good understanding of the local and regional labour market.
• A practical understanding of recruitment and selection processes.
• Comfortable with local travel and using a range of digital channels including phone, video conferencing, and email.
• Good administration, IT skills, and experience of using MS Office software.