Job Coach

About the role

About Us

Mission EmployAble is an educational charity supporting young people with learning disabilities into paid employment. We deliver a supported internship programme for 18–25-year-olds, combining real workplace experience with classroom learning. Over 70% of the programme is employer-based, helping young people build skills, confidence and independence.

We are fortunate to be able to provide live business settings through both our own Café on the Common and our other curriculum partners where total immersion in the workplace facilitates the teaching and learning process through continuous feedback and acquisition of employability and competitive work skills. Our mission is simple: to help people with learning disabilities move into meaningful, paid work and fuller participation in community life.

The Role

You will support with the training and job coaching of interns, in both the employer workplace and Mission EmployAble’s training centres, inspiring them to achieve their potential and progress into sustained paid employment.

The goal of this job is to deliver high-quality individual training in the work placements including skills training; building natural support, identifying reasonable adjustments and ultimately deliver the charity’s mission in securing paid employment for our interns following completion of the programme. 

 Key Responsibilities

·       Working as part of a dedicated job coach and training team, as well as collaboratively working with the rest of the Mission EmployAble team members and volunteers in the Café and Kitchen

·       Engaging with the individual learning needs of each new cohort of interns, helping them to discover their full potential, to live happy fulfilled lives, and to feel included within the local community

·       Using systematic instruction techniques to ensure highly effective levels of support are given to young people in their work settings

·       Understand the concerns and needs of employers, facilitating understanding and communication with both internal and external stakeholders

·       Managing issues that may arise within work placements and implementing workable solutions

·       Travel training individual interns to work placements or transporting them where required

·       Proactively seek out and engage new work experience settings

·       Taking full responsibility of administrative tasks, providing evidence of learning and reporting back to the training team

 What We’re Looking For

Essential:

·       GCSE level of Maths and English

·       Proven experience working as a job coach and assisting people to gain employment

·       Experience of encouraging and facilitating learning with a track record of successful outcomes

·       Demonstrative knowledge of Equality and Diversity including SEND legislation and Safeguarding vulnerable adults

·       Knowledge and experience of working with young people with a range of special educational needs and learning disabilities

·       An enhanced DBS on the update service or be willing to apply for one

·       Hold a clean UK driving license and willing to cover travel to various destinations as part of your working week

Desirable:

·       Hold a certificate in training in systematic instruction

·       Knowledge and experience of supported internships

·       Working knowledge of Microsoft 365 and MS Teams in particular

·       Willing to learn to drive a minibus

 What Success Looks Like

·       To ensure each of our supported interns are making evident and measurable progress and increasing their confidence, employability, social and independence skills

·       To contribute to the delivery of greater than 90% of interns successfully completing our internship programme

·       To deliver a collaborative target of greater than 80% of our interns are still in paid employment after 5 years of completing the programme

·       Ensure our interns have every chance to fulfil their career aspirations with the opportunity of a paid job to match their field of interest and skill set

·       Ensure each intern has a professional CV by the end of the intern year

·       Feeding into our portfolio of employment partners, building strong and positive relationships

 Personal Fit

 The most important quality for this role is to have an empathy for people with learning disabilities and a passion to help them succeed. Specifically, the successful candidate must have the following personal skills:

·       Be kind, patient and treat all people with respect and inclusivity

·       Be enthusiastic and inspiring to learners

·       Excellent listening, communication and interpersonal skills

·       Be resilient and solutions focused

·       Have a flexible approach to working and excellent time management

·       Be an effective team player with the ability to motivate and encourage others