Senior Employment Specialist / Team Leader - Thanet

Senior Employment Specialist / Team Leader - Thanet

Permanent30000 - 34000 DOE

About the Role

Are you an experienced employment professional with a passion for helping people overcome barriers and achieve their goals in work?

We are looking for an enthusiastic and experienced Senior Employment Specialist / Team Leader to join our Connect to Work service and lead a team of IPS Employment Specialists delivering high-quality, person-centred employment support across Thanet, Dover, Folkestone and Hythe.

This is an exciting opportunity for someone who combines strong leadership skills with practical experience of supporting people into sustainable employment. You will lead, supervise and develop a team of Employment Specialists, while also managing a small caseload of participants yourself.

You will be responsible for modelling excellent employment support practice, providing coaching and guidance to your team, and helping to ensure participants receive consistent, personalised and effective support throughout their employment journey.

Working within the Connect to Work framework and in line with relevant Individual Placement and Support (IPS) principles and fidelity standards, you will champion best practice and help create a service that puts participants at the heart of everything it does.

What You'll Be Doing

As Senior Employment Specialist / Team Leader, you will:

• Lead, supervise, support and develop a team of IPS Employment Specialists.
• Provide regular coaching, guidance and constructive feedback to support high-quality service delivery.
• Manage a small caseload, providing direct employment support and modelling excellent practice.
• Support participants to identify their skills, strengths, interests and career aspirations.
• Provide high-quality support with CVs, job searching, applications, interviews and preparation for employment.
• Build participants' confidence, self-esteem and motivation to help them achieve their employment and career goals.
• Support people who may experience a range of barriers to employment, including people with health conditions, disabilities and those in recovery.
• Develop strong relationships with employers and proactively identify suitable employment opportunities.
• Liaise with employers to arrange interviews, secure opportunities and obtain constructive feedback on candidates.
• Match participants' skills, qualities and aspirations to appropriate vacancies.
• Support participants to move into employment and, where required, provide ongoing support to help them sustain their employment.
• Develop effective partnerships with employers, community organisations, health and support services and other stakeholders.
• Maintain effective operational oversight and ensure the service meets Connect to Work requirements.
• Promote and embed IPS principles, fidelity and best practice across the team.
• Contribute to continuous improvement and help identify solutions to challenges faced by participants and the wider service.
• Maintain accurate records and ensure activity and outcomes are recorded appropriately.

About You

We are looking for an experienced and motivated employment professional who can combine strong people-management skills with excellent frontline employment support practice.

You will have:

• At least 3 years' management experience, ideally within an employment, skills, health, community or related service.
• Experience of providing high-quality CV, job-search and interview support, particularly to people who may be in recovery or facing barriers to employment.
• Experience of providing effective coaching and support that enables clients to progress towards and access employment.
• A proven ability to build people's confidence, self-esteem and motivation, helping them achieve their goals in the workplace and develop sustainable careers.
• Experience of working with employers to arrange interviews, secure opportunities and obtain feedback on candidates.
• The ability to identify individuals' skills, strengths and qualities and match these appropriately to vacancies.
• Experience of supporting learners and jobseekers into employment and helping them sustain employment.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to build positive relationships with participants, colleagues, employers and external partners.
• The ability to lead, motivate and develop others while maintaining high standards of service delivery.
• Experience of working within the social enterprise sector would be desirable.
• Knowledge and understanding of substance misuse and recovery services, or previous experience of delivering employment support using the IPS model, would also be highly desirable.

Essential Requirement

Due to the nature of this role and the regular travel required across Thanet, Dover, Folkestone and Hythe, you must have:

• A full, valid driving licence ; and Access to your own vehicle for work-related travel.

About Us

We are The Forward Trust, the social enterprise with charitable status that empowers people to break the often interlinked cycles of crime and addiction to move forward with their lives. For more than 25 years we have been working with people to build positive and productive lives, whatever their past. We believe that anyone is capable of lasting change. Our services have supported thousands of people to make positive changes and build productive lives with a job, family, friends and a sense of community.
We are committed to our cause and the work we carry out as a charity. Equally the wellbeing and the employees who work for us are also important. Joining us an employee, we will offer you the following benefits -

• Flexible working
• Support for Families We support our employees through every stage of family life by offering enhanced maternity and paternity pay for eligible employees who have completed 26 weeks' continuous service, alongside family-friendly policies and a supportive, inclusive workplace. If you'd like more information about our family-friendly benefits, please contact our Recruitment Team at
• Training and development opportunities
• Simply Health Cashback Scheme (optional)
  
• Season Ticket Loan Scheme
• Cycle to work scheme
• Crisis Loan Scheme
• Electric Car Scheme
• 3 x Wellbeing Days (pro rata'd for part time employees)
• Access to Blue Light Card
• 25 days (rising to 30 with length of service) Annual Leave plus Bank Holidays
• Contributory Pension Scheme Employer matched contributions of up to 6% in the first two years service and up to 9% thereafter
• Death in Service Payment (2x annual salary)
• Critical Illness Insurance (subject to qualifying criteria)

Please note that we may close this vacancy early if we receive a high volume of suitable applications.

Please note that remote roles may require occasional travel for site visits, training and meetings.

Diversity at Forward Trust

The Forward Trust commits to providing opportunities to everyone. We want to ensure we have a diverse team with a range of lived and professional experiences. This includes those with Lived Experience of addiction, offending, or homelessness.Some of our roles may require a minimum period of sustained recovery (normally around 3 years). This is assessed on a case-by-case basis, and exceptions may be considered depending on the role and individual circumstances.

When we recruit, we welcome applications from everyone. This is inclusive of age, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion and/or belief, marriage and civil partnerships, pregnancy and maternity and socio-economic background. Where operationally possible, we will consider flexible working requests and make reasonable adjustments for all roles.

To find out more about Forwards commitment to being an inclusive employer and our current EDI strategy click here .

We want our recruitment process to be accessible to everyone. If you require any reasonable adjustments at any stage, please let us know.

Employee Screening and Eligibility to Work

Dependent on role you may be required to undertake a Disclosure and Barring Service Check, details of which will be shared with you at interview.

If successful in your application, you will be required to provide eligibility to work evidence in line with the Eligibility to Work in the UK requirements.

Our Commitment to Safeguarding
We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people, and adults at risk. Forward Trust follow safer recruitment practices and support a culture of openness and accountability.