Employment Officer

Human Resources & Development - Form 35 Version 15- Issued October 2022 JOB DESCRIPTION AND PARTICULARS OF APPOINTMENT ▪ Job Title: Employment Officer ▪ Post Number: P24334 ▪ Grade and SCP: Grade 7 ▪ Directorate: Adult Services Where your role fits at Shropshire Council As Shropshire Council we are rightly proud of our achievements and we have proven to be a resilient local authority in our response to the many challenges we overcome, particularly over recent years. We will be continuing this momentum with ambition and a focus on delivering our four key priorities outlined within the Shropshire Plan: Healthy People, Healthy Environment, Health Economy and Healthy Organisation. We are committed to achieving this by aligning everything we do to our vision 'Shropshire - living the best life'; to tell everyone that Shropshire Council is a great place to be. We will enable a skilled, happy, healthy, diverse, inclusive, empowered, and proud workforce that influences and leads change, addressing any inequalities. As a member of the Enable Team within Adult Social Care, you will support the achievement of these key priorities, making a real difference to the lives of people in Shropshire. Enable is Shropshire Council's employment service for long term unemployed, people with health conditions or disabilities. Enable has teams specialising in mental health employment, learning disability and autism employment and employment of young people with SEND. Overview of your role ▪ The post holder will support participants to progress in their life, find work and progress in work by providing in depth employment advice and coaching within a case management approach. ▪ The post holder must have a good grasp of local labour market intelligence and an ability to engage with employers to broker job opportunities and providing the support necessary to sustain the job. ▪ The post holder will be working with a range of participants who may have complex and challenging barriers preventing them from achieving sustainable employment. ▪ The post holder must be able to work under pressure, meet targets and deadlines whilst maintaining the highest standard of quality and customer service. ▪ A key part of the role will involve marketing customers to employers and facilitate "Search for Work" activities and supporting customers into employment. What will you be doing? Carry out in depth vocational profiling of customers taking an account of skills, employment history, health, life circumstances and preferences. Coordinate the development of personal action plans, planning and accessing training requirements, meeting support needs and other practical requirements for employment. Support job seekers to use appropriate IT based systems for job seeking and encourage the wider use of social media within job search. Provide ongoing and in-depth information, advice and guidance regarding skills development, local job opportunities, and ensure wider support needs are met through effective referral and signposting. Actively case manage individuals, proactively seeking out opportunities, making connections, maintaining contact and levels of motivation and generally driving the journey to employment within a timely framework. Encourage customers to recognise their work ethic; take personal responsibility and develop appropriate habits and attitudes conducive to securing and maintaining employment. Ensure all contractual evidence is collected and accurately maintain all computerised systems detailing employment support provided and progress to ensure compliance with contractual obligations and ensuring funding flow. To provide regular case studies. Develop group employment support functions within Job Clubs, sector specific overviews, health and wellbeing sessions, peer to peer mentoring. Develop mutually beneficial relationships with local employers, organise work trials, promote available incentives, carry out job brokerage and customer advocacy. Provide support to employers with any adjustments required to successfully move someone into work. Undertake a range of tracking initiatives to capture all outcome and contract evidence requirements. Be responsible for quality systems in their areas of responsibility, and to ensure that all duties are carried out in accordance with the appropriate Quality and/or Contractual Procedures, and that appropriate records are kept to auditable standards. Ensure compliance with Shropshire Council's Health and Safety policies, and organisational arrangements. Observe and practice the Directorate policy on Data Protection and Information Security Attend meetings and training workshops, to ensure that compliance with all our contractual obligations. Carry out any other reasonable duties as requested by the Line Manager. The above duties are an illustrative outline and are not an exhaustive list. You will be expected to become involved in a range of work to enable the service to respond effectively to the changing requirements of the Council and changes affecting the workforce. What we expect of you You will: ▪ Adopt a customer focused approach when delivering your service, ensuring engagement with service users and maintenance of an appropriate personal profile, ▪ Act as an advocate for your service and work collaboratively with colleagues across the whole Council to meet the needs of the people of Shropshire, ▪ Meet individual, service and personal development targets agreed through the Personal Development Review Process, learn from experience and are committed to continuous improvement individually and as an employee of the Council, ▪ Work with colleagues to meet your team's key performance indicators, support a culture of team working and ensure the team functions successfully in support of the Council's corporate and service objectives. ▪ Meet the behaviours and competencies adopted by the Council in the way in which they achieve their objectives and carry out their work. What are your conditions of Service The conditions of service are those laid down by Shropshire Council, which have been adopted and amended as necessary from those laid down by the National Joint Council for Local Government Services. Your primary work base will be at our Unit 4 Hollinswood Court, Stafford Park 1, Telford, Shropshire TF3 3DE. Your post is subject to the following: ▪ The post is Temporary Maternity Cover for 37 hours per week, ▪ Normal office hours are 08:45 - 17:00 Monday - Thursday and 08:45 - 16:00 Friday with a minimum lunch break of 30 minutes. Occasional evening work may be required, ▪ The post is subject to the Council's annualised hours scheme as implemented within the specific work area. This post carries eligibility to join the Local Government Pension Scheme. Information about this will be sent with any formal offer of appointment. Annual leave entitlement is a pro rata flat rate scheme of 207 hours (28 days) annual leave plus bank holidays, with five days extra awarded to those staff with five years local government service giving an entitlement of 244 hours (33 days). Two days of an employee's allowance (pro rota for part time staff) must be taken at Christmas for any potential Christmas closures. Employees who work in a building/service which is required to open over the Christmas period, the two days leave (pro rota) can be carried over into your next leave year but must be used by the end of March The appointment is subject to two months' notice in writing on either side. The appointment is subject to six months' satisfactory probationary service during which time the notice period will be one week on either side. Smoking is not allowed in Council buildings, in Council vehicles or in any Council place of work. It is a condition of your appointment that you provide a suitable vehicle for the performance of your duties and that this is readily available for use during normal working hours. You are entitled to claim for reimbursement of the costs of travel on council business at the rate of 45 pence per mile. What pre-employment checks will we undertake? The appointment is subject to receipt of the following pre-employment checks; 1. Satisfactory employment references, 2. Medical report, 3. Evidence of the qualifications required for the post/listed on your application form, This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and as such all applicants who are appointed to this post will be subject to an Enhanced Disclosure from the Disclosure and Barring Service before the appointment is confirmed. This check will include details of cautions, reprimands or warnings as well as convictions and non-conviction information. Once appointed, the successful applicant(s) will also be required to apply for an Enhanced Disclosure at pre-determined intervals during the course of their employment whilst in this post. Supplying false information or failing to disclose relevant information could be grounds for refusal and could amount to a criminal offence.