Employer Liaison Officer

Location of Post – Highland and Moray. This role is based within our office at Fairways House, Inverness, IV2 6AA however you will be expected to work in the community engaging employers and supporting young people into opportunities.

Working Hours – 3 days per week 9am -5pm (days and hours to be agreed across Mon-Fri)

We are looking for an enthusiastic individual to join our team who can work with local employers to create sustainable job opportunities for young people across Highland and Moray.  This post will be responsible for Employer Engagement at Barnardo's Works Highland service, part of Barnardo's Employment, Training and Skills (ETS) Scotland.  We currently have an operational base in Inverness, the role may extend into the Moray region.

A core element of the role is to focus specifically on securing work experience placement opportunities across a range of industries and to support young people to engage meaningfully in these opportunities.  Our contracts focus on job outcomes, therefor you will be required to negotiate job outcomes and support young people into sustainable opportunities across our current and future contracts.

This is a part time post, 3 days per week, and will overlap with our existing Employer Liaison Officer role which is also part time. We are open to discussions around flexibility and working days.  When completing your application form, please refer to your skills, knowledge and experience in relation to this Additional Information Sheet, rather than the generic job description and person specification which is used for a wide variety of roles in our organisation.  This should be done with an understand of the context of the service described, including a focus on the following areas:

• Experience of developing key relationships with a range of external employers to generate opportunities.
• Knowledge of the local area and employment landscape.
• Knowledge of issues affecting young people in our communities.
• Ability to network, excellent organisational and interpersonal skills.
• Experience OR knowledge of sourcing and matching young people to work placement, job opportunities or apprenticeships.
• Knowledge of Health and Safety to conduct work placement checks.
• Skills and knowledge to be able to assist in the delivery of workshops in areas such as CV building, job applications, interview skills and employer expectations.
• Knowledge of UNCRC, The Promise and Safeguarding children and young people.

You can find more information about the Barnardo's Works Highland service on our website www.barnardos-ets.org.uk , we also have a social media page which will provide you with an insight into some of our current work, find it on Facebook www.facebook.com/Barnardosworkshighland

Objectives of our service:

Barnardo's Works Highland offers employability services to young people ages 14-24, supporting them towards a positive destination. Our work is diverse and demanding, working with young people who experience multiple and complex barriers to participation, engagement or have poor educational outcomes, low skilled and lacking in confidence to achieve their full potential.

We work with our Local Authorities (Highland and Moray Council) to address specific employability barriers, the support we offer through tailored interventions contributes to the local authorities No One Left Behind and Child Poverty Agenda.  Adopting a needs-led, person-centred approach, we aim to ensure the ‘Right Support at the Right Time' to help improve the life chances of people living in Highland and Moray.

Objectives of the role:

Your priority will be to work alongside a small team of project workers to identify the career aspirations of service users, and actively engage with local employers to negotiate suitable work experience and job opportunities.  This will require excellent interpersonal skills and a knowledge of the local employment landscape. You will run job clubs to support participants to progress, engage in school events related to industry or to provide representation of the service at open/information days.  It will be a requirement that you attend networking events and engage with existing, and new employers to develop sustainable job opportunities/outcomes.

Initial Specific Responsibilities

• Work with the existing Employer Liaison Officer to plan employer engagement activity and engage with employers across Rural and Urban areas of Highland and Moray.
• Source a range of work experience opportunities/jobs/apprenticeships for young people across Highland and Moray.
• Promote the service at networking events, job fairs and other opportunities.
• Support young people to attend pre-placement visits, transport service users to meet with employers, set up placements and undertake Health and Safety checks and conduct placement reviews.
• Arrange and co-ordinate site visits and employer talks.
• Provide mentoring support to young people in work.
• Compliance with Barnardo's Policies and Procedures.
• Maintain accurate records on our Content Management System.
• Comply with funders rules and procedures.
• Support local employers in accessing local employment incentives.
• Travel – this role requires the ability and willingness to undertake independent travel, access to a car and a Full UK driving licence is essential. (Where appropriate adjustments will be considered for candidates covered by the Equality Act who are unable to obtain a driving licence).

When completing your application please refer to your skills knowledge and experience in relation to the Person Specification, Job Description and Additional Information document. This should be done with an understanding of the context of the service described.

For further information, please contact Anne Walker, Service Manager, on 07738 262843 or email anne.walker@barnardos.org.uk  

Please note due to the high volume of applications for some posts, this advert might close before the displayed closing date. We recommend that you apply for this role as soon as possible.  

We know that our colleagues go above and beyond in delivering our vital work, driven by their passion and commitment to Barnardo's values.  We also know that we can only realise our ambitions and achieve better outcomes for more children, thanks to the talent, hard work and creativity of our people. 

For all these reasons, we are committed to a new approach to pay and reward, to ensure it is fair, attractive and progressive, which was rolled out in April 2023. This is a positive change for the charity, and a part of our People & Culture Strategy. It will assist us in supporting colleagues to belong, thrive and grow in their colleague journey at Barnardo's and in time will offer clear routes of progression for colleagues in both their career and their pay. 

Whilst the full pay band and salary range is advertised, our approach to starting salaries is to appoint between the minimum to mid-point of the pay band – this ensures that pay steps are available to reward our colleagues annually based on their contribution to excellence and alignment to our values and behaviours.  More details on Barnardo's pay framework can be found upon application. 

Workplace Offer: What it means for you

The world of work has changed. We are understanding of what works best for our colleagues both current and future as we look to embrace this new way of working. Our hybrid working initiative is based on trust, flexibility and empowerment. We understand our workplace offer means different things to different people, and we encourage those conversations. This may mean working at one of our stores, services, working at home, at one of our Collaboration Hubs or any combination of these.

• Barnardo's believe in creating equality of opportunity in the workplace and supporting people to manage their work-life balance; we are therefore open to offering flexible working arrangements.
• Annual Leave entitlement for full-time colleagues is 26 days per annum, increasing to 27 days per annum, after 3 years Barnardo's service, 29 days per annum, after 5 years Barnardo's service and 30 days per annum, after 7 years Barnardo's service. Those working less than full time are entitled to the same level of holiday pro rata
• The ability to buy up to another 5 days annual leave via our HolidayPlus scheme
• A host of family friendly leave options including company Maternity Paternity and Adoption pay; together with all family additional leave options
• Service related sick pay from day 1
• Access to a Group Personal Pension with a matched 4% or 6% contribution from Barnardo's. Ability to pay via salary sacrifice to garner both tax and NI savings on your own contribution
• Death in service cover of 4x annual earnings for all staff contributing to our Group Personal Pension
• Cycle2work scheme
• Interest free season ticket loans
• Discounts and cashback from at high street shops including major supermarkets, cinemas, gyms, leisure/theme parks, holidays and much more via our Benefit Portal
• 20% discount at Barnardo's stores
• Opportunity to purchase a health cash plan to claim towards dental, glasses, therapy etc
• Free access to round the clock employee assistance program for advice and support
• Access to Barnardo's Learning and Development offer

*T&C's apply based on contract

We are committed to being an inclusive employer and cultivating a culture where everyone can belong and thrive through inclusion and connectivity. We want our workforce to be reflective of the communities we work with, and for equality, diversity and inclusion to be embedded in everything we do. We are a Disability Confident Leader, are progressing our ambition to be an anti-racist organisation with Anti-Racism Commitments and actions in place and have networks for colleagues who are disabled, LGBT+, Black and Minoritised Ethnic and Women. We particularly encourage applications from Black and Minoritised Ethnic and/or disabled candidates who are currently underrepresented in our workforce. For disabled applicants, we offer reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process.  

Our basis and values