Life Skills and Employability Advisor

**Life Skills and Employability Advisor**

OVERVIEW

**COMPANY**:Wigan Youth Zone

**LOCATION**:Wigan Youth Zone and Outreach

**SALARY**:£25,000 per annum (pro rata)

**BENEFITS**:

- 33 days annual leave (including bank holidays) pro rata. Plus additional leave for length of service.
- Hybrid work,
- Birthdays off,
- Gym access,
- Training and CPD including first aid, safeguarding and health and safety,
- Career development opportunities,
- Employee Assistance Programme,
- Cycle to work scheme,
- Strong team culture,
- Workplace pension,
- Free eye tests,
- Discounted to £2 access to holiday club for WYZ staff.
- Access to Virtual Medical care
- Access to Work Well programme

**POSTED**:27th July 2025

**CLOSING**: 11th July 2025

**First interviews**:TBA

**Second interviews**:TBA

**SPECIALISM**:Employability/Life Skills/Community/Youth Work

**REPORTS TO**:Enterprise and Employability Coordinator

**CONTRACT TYPE**:Fixed term - 7 months JULY 2025 - January 2026

**HOURS**:Full time 40 hours per week

**WORK PATTERN**:
Tuesday - 10:00 - 18:00

Wednesday
- 10:00 - 19:00

Thursday - 10:00 - 19:00

Friday - 11:00 - 20:00

Saturday - 10:00 - 15:00

**ORGANISATION TYPE**:Charity

**Who we are looking for**:
Wigan Youth Zone is proud to continue its partnership with GMCA, the UK Government and WEA to deliver Life Skills and Employability initiatives across the Wigan Borough.

As a Life Skills Advisor you will support the delivery of this targeted programme working with young people aged 16 to 25 who are NEET (not currently in education, employment or training) focusing on developing their key life skills and empowering them to move towards a positive destination.

We are looking for someone who would be confident delivering weekly 1 to 1 sessions and small group workshops. Our sessions inspire young people to take the first steps on their journey towards achieving their personal goals such as Volunteering, gaining work experience, going into Further Training or Education or going into Employment.

You will be responsible for completing initial assessments, creating personalised learning plans and supporting each learner in breaking down whatever barriers have been preventing them from achieving their goals alongside building on their confidence, self-esteem and wellbeing**.**

As this role involves a mix of solo and collaborative working we are seeking a self-motivated, structured and organised individual who can plan their time effectively to ensure all databases and records are completed daily and in a timely manner in line with contract compliance requirements.

As part of the Team you’ll play a key role in supporting your line manager, recruiting and retaining Cohorts of young people, delivering engaging sessions that maintain motivation throughout the programme, and carrying out community outreach to identify new recruitment opportunities.

You will be someone who is passionate about making a difference to young people’s lives and can build strong relationships with local employers, training providers, and colleges to ensure the young people we support have access to meaningful and relevant next steps.

As an Enterprise Youth Worker you will be supporting our members to develop valuable entrepreneurial and business skills. Through the £10 challenge they will learn about the different stages of setting up a small business including the original designs/ideas, creating a bespoke Company logo, researching costs, buying products and creating the products ready to sell as part of our Fundraising initiative within the department.

The YECP is a 6 to 9 month competition and you will be responsible for recruiting and retaining a team to create a business or social action project that will be registered at Companies House. Each member of the team will have a formal Role on the Board and will take part in competition stages to win awards for Sales, Marketing, Teamwork, Product idea and design, Customer Service and presentation pitch.

**Knowledge and Understanding**

Knowledge of the issues affecting young people and an ability to work with challenging behaviour

Understanding of the principles of working with children and young people

Knowledge of health and safety, diversity awareness and safeguarding best practice and how these relate to children and young people

Delivery of activities within an equality framework

**Qualifications**:
GCSE or equivalent Literacy and Numeracy - Essential

A professional Youth Work or teaching qualification at Level 3 or above (or equivalent) - Essential

**What will you need to succeed**:
**EXPERIENCE**

Proven experience of working with young people aged 8 to 19 (25 with disabilities) in a range of settings both in groups and individually - Essential

Proven experience of engaging vulnerable, disengaged or hard to reach young people -Essential

Experience working in a team and with volunteers - Essential

Experience of delivering employability programmes and workshops to with