Skills Coach

The Growth Company’s Business Growth Hub team are looking for three Skills Coaches who will deliver high-quality individual skills development assessments, broker skills development and training for a portfolio of employed individuals in the majority of cases aligning assessments to their employers’ skills needs and growth aspirations. The role will focus on essential skills and wider vocational training and development opportunities, brokering relationships with providers including apprenticeships for workforces to improve skills and productivity.

**GM Business Growth Hub** is a community of specialists with a passion to help businesses across Greater Manchester to realise their ambitions. Since 2011, the Hub has supported more than 15,000 businesses including start-ups, scale-ups and established businesses, providing finance guidance, creating international links, and paving the way for innovation and people development across the region. We work with the best of public and private partners, offering expert one-to-one and peer-to-peer business support, events, specialist programmes, funding and much more.

**Key Responsibilities**:

- Working closely with colleagues to understand the growth aspirations and skills requirements of business clients being supported
- Establishing strong working relationship with business clients in order to facilitate skills assessments across their workforce / employees
- Establish relationships with individuals / employees of businesses within Greater Manchester
- Arranging and conducting work-based skills assessment with individual / employees identifying areas for development across essential and vocational skill areas developing clear and aligned action plans
- Supporting individuals / employees to broker relationships with providers who can deliver identified development opportunities, liaising with employer where appropriate to approve work-based training. Monitor the delivery of these services to support the client’s strategy, ensure apprenticeship opportunities are taken up, and impact is captured.
- Use understanding of the portfolio of apprenticeships and wider training opportunities available to ensure that employers/employees are fully aware and can make informed decisions for employees.
- Work with a range of FE/HE/Apprenticeship/Training providers to design and run programmes to support business leaders to grow their businesses through the attraction, retention and development of their staff.
- Ensure client enquiries and partner referrals are correctly recorded on GC’s CRM and associated service-specific data capturing systems, updating progress against agreed actions as plans progress. Ensure all administration is completed in timely manner against deadlines and is checked for accuracy.
- Work proactively in collaboration with the Marketing Team to carry out sales activity including cold calling, tele sales and structured e-marketing and digital campaigns to employees.
- Attend networking events (which at times will involve working outside of standard business hours)
- Continually update professional knowledge on GM Apprenticeship / Skills and Employment Strategies and central government policy, strategy and funding changes, including the Apprenticeship Levy. Develop relationships with a diverse range of Apprenticeship providers and other recruitment and training providers in GM, both commercial and publicly funded.

**Experience**:

- At least degree level business education, or degree level qualification with a management body or significant training, IAG, business support or employer engagement experience.
- Producing proposals which are attractive and meet business / individual need.
- Experience in working in a target/results-driven environment.
- Proven negotiation/presentation and account management skills with businesses of all sizes.
- In-depth understanding of the skills arena including funded/non funded provision, the Apprenticeship Levy and national and local priorities / policy / funding in relation to Apprenticeships and wider training and development.

**About you**:

- Sound knowledge of the work-based learning routes including wider training opportunities, apprenticeship frameworks, standards and their processes.
- Knowledge of business support services across Greater Manchester.
- Proven critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
- Highly organised, able to prioritse own work and activities to effectively meet client needs, operational and contractual requirements.
- Ability to identify opportunities and to be innovative.

GC aims to promote a culture of flexibility and agile working. Going forward we will be transitioning to a culture where full agile working will be a feature of many of our roles. We also recognise that there may be a need for more permanent flexibility in your working arrangements and in such cases, we encourage you to have these discussions at the interview stage, to enable your flexible working request to be