/ Bristol Office
Unit 20, Easton Business Centre, Felix Road Easton, Bristol, BS5 0HE
T. 0117 954 0433
Birmingham/SandwellMain Office
93 Cape Hill, Smethwick, Birmingham, B66 4SA
T. 0121565 3384
Birmingham/Sandwell Training Centre
c/o Victoria Park Skills Centre, Corbett Street, Smethwick, B66 3PU
T. 0330 113 6608
Wolverhampton Office
42 - 46 Waterloo Road,
Wolverhampton, West Midlands, WV1 4XB
T. 01902429163 / Himilo Training is a wholly owned subsidiary limited company. Registered in England & Wales No. 9027750
RSL No.9714
NOCN Reg No. 30000531
NCFE Approved Centre
UKPRN 10038201
HABC Approved Centre
Social Media
@AshleyCHousing

Job description

Job title:Community Learning & Volunteering Officer

Programme:Exclusively working on Community Matters Programme

Salary:£20,000 per annum – this role is fully funded through the Building Better Opportunities project by the European Social Fund and the Big Lottery Fund

Hours/week:Full-time, 37.5 hrs per week

Contract:Funded to December 2019, further employment subject to funding

About Ashley Community Housing

The mission of Ashley Community Housing (ACH) is to support the settlement and resettlement needs of refugees, vulnerable homeless and other displaced people, to develop their independence, promote their positive contribution to the community and ease their integration into the UK life.

About our Training Services

We provide advice and guidance, qualifications and training to assist unemployed or economically inactive adults to access employment and education. In addition, we support people to develop soft skills, build confidence, and improve their career prospects. We are a small, diverse team that is motivated to help people experiencing disadvantage to overcome barriers.

Circumstances

  • The post is based atour Victoria Park Training Centre office in Smethwick, although the team often operate remotely, and you will undertake significant community outreach work
  • There will be occasional travel to other areas across the Black Country, particularly to our Wolverhampton office where you will contribute to the enrolment of learners and lead on the recruitment and support of volunteers
  • Occasional travel to our Bristol Headquarters might be required

Principal Accountabilities:

Learner support:

  • To assist in the development and distribution of a range of promotional materials designed to publicise our training and employment support services
  • To support learners in the completion of essential registration and monitoring paperwork
  • To support learners in remaining engaged with the programme and in maximising the benefits of their attendance
  • To promote, prepare, administer and conduct learner enrolment and registration sessions within a range of public, private and third sector venues

Monitoring, evaluation and learning:

  • To assist in maintaining individual learner information, track outcomes and maintain monitoring and evaluation data within the Management Information Systems
  • To support the Projects and Performance Manager and compliance team in preparing reports and presentations for funders and other stakeholders, when required

Volunteer co-ordination:

  • To lead on the recruitment of volunteers via a range of promotional and outreach activities
  • To design and deliver individual and group training and mentoring activities for volunteers, to prepare and support them in their role/s
  • To research and engage with a wide range of organisations, to encourage referral of volunteers who may wish to support learners participating within our training programmes
  • To coordinate and lead (and support volunteers to lead) a range of social/leisure/arts based activities for learners to help promote their confidence and personal development

Other responsibilities:

  • To carry out all administrative tasks quickly, effectively and accurately in keeping with the requirements of the organisation and programme funders
  • To follow the organisation’s policies and procedures. This includes undertaking all duties in a way that values others, does not discriminate and promotes equality
  • To undertake any other duties as may be required from time to time
Person specification

Knowledge (acquired in paid or unpaid work)

Essential

  • Knowledge and understanding of minority ethnic groups living in the West Midlands and the main barriers they may face to progressing in their lives
  • Knowledge of the principles and practices of training design and associated delivery methods
  • Knowledge of volunteer recruitment, training and support processes, including the requirements of Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)

Desirable

  • Knowledge of the use of social media, such as YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, in promoting services, programmes and associated results
  • Knowledge of how to develop or adapt the delivery of a programme for culturally specific settings

Skills (acquired in paid or unpaid work)

Essential

  • Good general proficiency in ICT, including Microsoft Office or equivalent, specifically word-processing, databases and spreadsheets
  • Highly-organised with a keen eye for detail, with an in depth understanding of external funding regulations
  • Able to learn from experience, use initiative to identify opportunities to develop services, take responsibility to make necessary changes and monitor results
  • Able to develop outreach strategies and action plans to reach and recruit volunteers and learners who may be considered ‘hard to reach’
  • Able to manage time effectively, including prioritising tasks, working flexibly, alone and in a team, and meeting deadlines
  • Able to identify and agree individual volunteer development needs and implement high quality support
  • Ability to understand others and to help them in their personal development

Desirable

  • Able to speak a second community language (ideally one of the following: Tigrinya, Kurdish, Arabic, Spanish, French, Farsi)
  • Skills in use of Office 365 and Cloud based document storage and sharing

Experience (acquired in paid or unpaid work)

Essential

  • Experience in engaging/ working with people from disadvantaged communities
  • Experience of providing one to one support, mentoring or coaching
  • Experience of providing group training and other support, particularly related to personal development (informal/formal)
  • Experience in organising small group events, leisure and social activities, sports, arts and crafts activities
  • Experience of working on and meeting performance targets

Desirable

  • Experience in promoting services and programmes to ensure so called ‘hard to reach’ individuals are attracted to opportunities available
  • Familiarity with the following training topics: English language, such as ESOL or pre-ESOL, personal development, confidence building and motivation, generic career development, sufficient to support colleagues when required
  • Experience of working collaboratively with the third, public and private sectors
  • Experience of working with people who do not speak English

Qualities

Essential

  • Non-judgemental
  • Empathetic to learners experiencing barriers to employment
  • Ability to work well within a small team
  • Enthusiastic and people-orientated

V3, 21.02.2018