Job Title: Work and Learning Coach Department: Client Services
JOB DESCRIPTION
August 2015
Job title: Work and Learning Coach Department: Client Services
Team: Crisis & Shekinah Employment Partnership Job holder: New post
Reporting to: Matrix management arrangements will be in place. The post holder will report to Head of Employability (Shekinah) and Employment Services Manager (Crisis)
Aim
· Direct service delivery
o Develop and deliver a high quality coaching and IAG service for homeless and vulnerable adults experiencing unemployment.
o Deliver services on an outreach/in reach basis, working with hostels and other local agencies and providers.
o Using a coaching methodology, work with an agreed caseload of up to 20 clients at any one time.
· Partnership and best practice development
o Develop and maintain partnership working with the Shekinah Employment Team to foster mutual learning
o Identify and disseminate best practice to improve employment outcomes for homeless people
Dimensions
· Support and manage volunteers as required.
Circumstances
· 35 hours per week.
· Post initially funded to 30th June 2018
· Some evening and weekend work will be required and time off in lieu will be given in accordance with Crisis TOIL policy.
· Based in Plymouth with services delivered on an outreach basis across Plymouth, Torbay and the surrounding areas. The post holder will also need to travel to and liaise with Crisis’ Employment Services nationally.
· The role involves working with vulnerable adults and young people and so a satisfactory enhanced disclosure from the Disclosure and Barring Service is required.
Salary
· £29,872 per annum
Background
Crisis is the national charity for single homeless people. We are dedicated to ending homelessness by delivering life-changing services and campaigning for change.
This post will be co-located with our partner Shekinah’s employment service in Plymouth and Torbay, but will develop and maintain strong links with Crisis’ national Skylight services (currently provided in Edinburgh; Newcastle; Merseyside; South Yorkshire; West Midlands; Oxford; central London and Croydon).
The post holder will deliver direct services to homeless people seeking to transform their lives and build stable futures through vocational training/learning and paid work.
In addition, the post holder will operate as a conduit to share best practice and innovation between Shekinah and Crisis to help mutual learning and service development, for the benefit of the homeless people with whom we work.
Services will be delivered from Shekinah’s existing premises and on an outreach/in reach basis in existing homeless and community facilities provide by other partners.
The role
Working within the Crisis/Shekinah Employment Partnership, the Work and Learning Coach (WALC) will support unemployed clients to develop skills, increase employability and gain/sustain employment through coaching, accessing vocational training, providing one-to-one information, advice, guidance, ongoing jobsearch and other support. The WALC will deliver flexible customer driven services in liaison with employers, partners and other key stakeholders. The WALC has particular responsibility for:
· Providing information, advice and guidance (IAG) on learning, employment and training and coaching clients to help them access these activities.
· Co-ordinating support for vulnerable adults to successfully follow sustainable education, employment or training routes
· Working closely with Shekinah’s training team and employment brokers to identify and prepare people for work placements and interviews.
Organisational chart
The post holder will benefit from local support and supervision from Shekinah’s Head of Employment Services, but will also meet regularly with Crisis’ Employment/Work and Learning Lead to ensure close links are maintained with Crisis Skylight services nationally.
Principal accountabilities
Coaching and IAG
· Provide information, advice and guidance on personal development, training, learning and employment opportunities, including referral to suitable provision outside Shekinah and Crisis.
· Agreeing individual action/learning plans with clients, reviewing progress against these and maintaining an ongoing caseload of clients being supported to achieve these plans.
· Use appropriate assessment tools to identify attributes, circumstances and barriers in order to inform the client’s guidance and support needs.
· Manage a caseload of clients, which includes recording information on progress and monitoring outcomes to ensure progression.
· Organise and deliver programmes, in partnership with Shekinah’s training and employment teams, to motivate clients to engage with and progress into learning or sustainable work.
· Support clients in pro-active job search. This may involve training in jobsearch skills as well as provision of jobsearch workshops and one-to-one support in making applications.
· Meet performance targets as agreed with line manager and reporting against targets in agreed format in a timely and accurate fashion. This will include adherence to quality standards.
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· Development, upkeep and accurate maintenance of all administrative and monitoring systems required for effective delivery of the project. These will be agreed with management and reflect the requirements of both Crisis and/or our funders.
Partnership Working
· Work as part of the Crisis/Shekinah Employment Partnership – identifying and sharing best practice and innovation, and promoting the ethos of joint working and learning in all internal and external relationships.
· Visit and liaise with opportunity providers and other agencies to collect information appropriate to support the work with learners.
· Work with voluntary, statutory and community agencies to ensure a coherent approach to overcoming barriers to learning and employment faced by homeless learners.
· Attend meetings with other professionals.
· Establish and maintain effective relationships and communication channels with relevant employers, stakeholders and partners in order to support project and organisational objectives.
· Outreach work at hostels or other locations as necessary.
Best practice development
· Identify best practice across Shekinah and Crisis and disseminate insights and new ways of working through formal reports, internal training sessions and contribution to Connect (Crisis’ intranet)
· Develop recommendations for practice development to improve outcomes for homeless people
· Ensure that any safeguarding concerns are identified and reported in line with Crisis’ procedures
General accountabilities
· Actively encourage and support member involvement within Crisis
· Develop and maintain an understanding of Crisis’s work and the needs and circumstances of homeless people.
· Comply with Crisis and Shekinah policies and procedures, including Health and Safety policies, for which all employees owe a duty of care both to themselves and others, in accordance with the Health and Safety at Work Act.
· Carry out duties that may reasonably be required in the light of the main purpose of the job.
Person Specification
Essential
1. The applicant must hold the equivalent of NVQ3 in IAG or above
2. Experience of delivering one-to-one IAG; supporting people to improve their employability and managing a caseload of clients.
3. Understanding the barriers homeless people face in accessing training and employment, with the ability to coach people to develop their resilience.
4. Understanding of homeless people and the causes and impacts of homelessness.
5. Excellent communication, including verbal, written (ability to produce formal reports, best practice guidance, and informal “internal blogs”) and presentation skills.
6. Ability to be an ambassador for Crisis and work in partnership with Shekinah to identify and disseminate best practice; promote opportunities to share learning; and develop practice improvement recommendations.
7. Good interpersonal skills, able to develop and maintain working relationships with a diverse range of providers and individuals.
8. Proven organisational skills including an ability to prioritise, manage competing demands, be self motivated and have good time-management skills.
9. Ability to deliver effective training on subjects such as CV skills, application skills etc to unemployed people.
10. A capacity both to work on your own, in teams and a willingness to reflect upon and develop own practice.
11. Able to travel within the Plymouth/Torbay areas and able and willing to travel to other Crisis services, including overnight stays.
12. Knowledge of and ability to comply with safeguarding procedures.
13. Commitment to Crisis’s purpose and values including equality and social inclusion.
We encourage applications from all sections of the community particularly those with personal or previous experience of homelessness