Employment Specialist

The employment specialist will manage a caseload of c.25 people in drug and alcohol treatment services who wish to return to, or start, paid employment. The people you work with will be worked with for up to 9 months, plus up to 4 months of in-work support.

The employment specialist will be required to build effective working relationships with local employers, training providers and colleges to secure employment and education opportunities for people in community treatment for substance misuse, including ensuring the service is focused on accessing the 'hidden' labour market.

There is a requirement to provide job development and job search activities directed toward positions that are individualised to the interests and uniqueness of the people supported, whilst following the evidence-based principles and procedures of IPS supported employment.

Ongoing support will be required according to both the employee and employer's needs to enable people who have experienced dependency on drugs and/or alcohol retain employment once secured.

Work experience placements and those job seeking will require to be provided with help and advice to apply for posts in open employment.

An application form must be completed to apply for this role. Please head over to our website to download a form

Please note we do not accept CV's.

Line Management Responsibilities:

Under the supervision of the Senior Employment Specialist, manage a caseload of people currently in community-based treatment services for drug and/or alcohol dependence and who are unemployed, and who wish to secure paid employment.

Main Duties

• To prepare individuals for employment through assessing each person's individual employment needs through vocational profiling, and then actively support them to achieve their employment goals, in partnership with the clinical team.
• To promote the benefits of supporting clients to access employment within the clinical team and external employers, aiming to raise the profile of IPS services, and raise expectations around the ability of clients to access paid employment.
• To work with client key workers and clinical staff, including through case conferencing, to ensure that clients receive appropriate support from everyone involved in their care during the return-to-work process.
• To provide advice and support to employers, as agreed with the individual, which may include negotiating adjustments and on-going contact with supervisors to ensure job retention.
• To assess individual support needs related to work which might typically include help with welfare benefits, travel to work, managing health at work etc.
• To work flexibly on occasion as required by clients and employers, which may require some working out of normal office hours.
• Promote the profile of employment and working embedded within the team to raise expectations around the ability of clients to attain paid work.

Professional Development

• To participate in your own IPS and management supervision, objective setting/appraisal, and personal development plan and IPS fidelity reviews.

Policy and/or service development

• To work with the local IPS Senior Employment Specialist and service management to ensure that vocational support services offered continue to develop effectively.
• To ensure that effective referral procedures to the IPS provision from the clinical team are in place.
• To participate in effective monitoring and evaluation systems.

Research and Development

• To keep abreast of changing practice within IPS and vocational support more generally.

Other

• This is an outline of the postholder's duties and responsibilities. It is not intended as an exhaustive list and may change from time to time in order to meet the reasonable needs of your employer. The post holder may be required to undertake various other duties appropriate to the salary grade and nature of the job.

An application form must be completed to apply for this role. Please head over to our website to download a form

Please note we do not accept CV's.

Job Type: Full-time

Pay: £29,317.00 per year

Work Location: In person