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

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 young people -Essential
Experience supporting NEET 16-25 year olds into positive - Destinations - Essential
Experience of monitoring and evaluation processes - Desirable
Experience managing externally funded projects - Desirable
Experience of supporting young people who are disaffected, underachieving and / or have social / emotional barriers to participation - Desirable
Experience of working in a team and alongside volunteers - Desirable
Experience providing information, advice, guidance and support to young people -
Desirable
Experience of dealing with safeguarding issues within a multi-agency setting - Essential
Experience of working with challenging young people - Essential

SKILLS

Excellent written and verbal communication - Essential
Ability to coach, encourage, motivate and provide reliable support to children and young people - Essential
Strong commitment to children and young people and an ability to engage and build positive relationships with all young people, including disengaged and disadvantaged young people - Essential
Ability to develop good professional relationships with children, young people and adults -Essential
Ability to work with young people to develop their social education by providing programmes of activities, services and facilities that are fun and enable young people to develop - Essential
Knowledge or recruitment and selection process - Desirable
Knowledge of Health and Safety, Diversity Awareness and Safeguarding best practice and how these are related to children and young people - Desirable
Ability to deliver high quality activity programmes with children and young people who face social exclusion, disadvantage and disaffection - Desirable
Ability to identify and challenge discrimination and discriminatory behaviour, taking appropriate action as necessary - Essential

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS

DBS clearance and committed to Safeguarding children
A willingness to work evenings and weekends when required
The ability and willingness to travel to meetings and events both in the region and beyond
The job holder will be required to adhere to the Youth Zone’s policies at all times, with particular emphasis on Equal Opportunities and Safeguarding. Attendance at events and conferences will sometimes be required.
In accordance with our Child Protection and Safeguarding procedures, this position requires an enhanced DBS check and business satisfactory references.
Please note that in line with our Safeguarding Policy, you must be age 21 or over to work in our Senior Sessions and 19+ to work on our Junior Sessions and Holiday Clubs. All applicants must also be inactive as members for at least 12 months.

WHAT YOU WILL BE DOING

·Working within the WYZ Employability Skills team to achieve the contracted SLA targets for :
o Recruitment
o Delivery
o Retention
o Positive Outcomes
· Facilitating power point presentations and training workshops on Life and Employability Skills to small groups of Learners in an informal setting.
· Providing 1 to 1 Life Skills+ and Employability support to Learners not ready to attend Group sessions.
· Developing meaningful relationships with Learners to provide them with the right support and high quality advice and guidance in order to help them realise their own potential and achieve positive outcomes - whilst maintaining professional boundaries at all times.
· Motivating, encouraging and engaging Learners to build up their confidence to feel able to fully participate and have a voice in sessions and workshops.
· Administration – completing sign-up paperwork, mid review and end paperwork as required by the GMCA as well as internal WYZ forms and Salesforce registers to maintain project and funding compliance and monitoring requirements. Scanning, downloading and transferring documents to the funders within strict guidelines.
· Creating Individual Learning Plans based on identifying Learners needs. Then working through each area to overcome personal and practical barriers to upskill the learner.
· Capturing the positive impacts the learners achieve by documenting all outcomes on Salesforce, writing case studies and
· Celebrating the achievements of young people at end of programme celebration events.
· To develop effective joint working practices with job centers, supported housing groups, young carers, training providers and other agencies to ensure a holistic approach in service delivery to young people, including representing WYZ at meetings with partner agencies.
· Job Brokering for students, working with local employers and patrons to secure live opportunities for our young people.
· To achieve KPI’s set by the Board, Chief Executive, Head of Operations and external funders, including for example, progression into Volunteering, Employment and training or the development of employability skills.
· To manage the budget and other resources effectively to maximise the benefits to young people.
· To work with the Youth Zone staff to identify opportunities and funding for additional experiences and openings for young people relating to enterprise and employability
· As an Enterprise YW you will be working a Seniors and a Juniors session each week empowering our members to develop their entrepreneurial skills through the £10 challenge and showcasing their products on stalls at WYZ and local Community events.
· You will recruiting a team of young people to take part in the YECP representing WYZ in the Northwest competition.
· Developing members Hospitality and Customer Service skills through working on Mocktails and Dreams.
· To collaborate with the offer at Leigh and be available at Community Events and special occasions to support the WYZ team.
· Carry out any other reasonable duties as requested by management.

WHAT DO YOU NEED TO DO NEXT

Please email HR@wiganyouthzone.org to receive an application form, once received and completed please return to the HR email address.