Employment Counselor Bilingual

Description

Organization Description

Hmong American Partnership (HAP) is a social service and community development organization whose mission is to empower the community to embrace the strengths of our cultures while achieving our potential. HAP accomplishes its mission by:

• Improving the lives of individuals and families in our diverse communities by providing culturally sensitive social services.
• Strengthening neighborhoods by providing housing, community, and economic development opportunities.
• Promoting the rich heritage of our ethnic communities.

HAP's vision is to reach out to the world with profound social, economic, and educational transformation.

Primary Function of the Position

Under the Employment Services Manager's direction, the Employment Counselor Bilingual will help and assist the Minnesota Family Investment Program (MFIP) participants in Ramsey County achieve self-sufficiency by providing job search assistance, career counseling, and employment case management. As an Employment Counselor Bilingual, you will work closely with English, Hmong, Karen, and or Somali speaking participants (whereas English is a second language) to identify barriers in employment, and develop individualized employment plans, document and collect participant activities and hours, respond to client questions and needs, and enter all information relevant to each participant into the Workforce One (WF1) data system. To achieve the Employment Counselor Bilingual's impact areas goals, the Employment Counselor Bilingual must establish cooperative relationships with the participants, Employment Counselors, and employer partners.

The candidate must demonstrate a strong work ethic, integrity, accountability, and high performance in previous work experiences. The best candidate for this position is someone who can align themselves with our outcomes-driven culture and understands the unique challenges of an immigrant and refugee workforce population. We are looking for a high performer and achiever who is innovative, has a pulse on employment service trends, and has the ability to drive programs and services toward results and outcomes.

Position Responsibilities

• Conduct a comprehensive intake assessment of participants that identifies strengths and barriers to employment.
• Develop, review, and update participant employment plans based upon assessment information.
• Collect and verify participant documentation according to activities in the employment plan; track, monitor, case note, and report participant activities and progress in Workforce One system.
• Effectively track and manage cases through reports, personal databases, and the Workforce One data system to meet performance goals and meet deadlines.
• Maintain organized, accurate, and up-to-date case files on each participant, including personal information, all employment plans, activity verification, case notes, correspondence, client support requests, and all other supporting documents covering the participant's time in the program.
• Ensure quality, accuracy, and timeliness of data entered into the Workforce One (WF1) data system.
• Inform participants of relevant job leads and encourage work-eligible participants to apply for jobs.
• Provide support services, including family assistance, transportation, childcare referral, problem-solving, and encouragement, and make appropriate referrals internally and to community organizations.
• Work collaboratively with County Financial Assistance and the Child Care Teams.
• Stay current on MFIP-related policies, including federal, state, and county; be knowledgeable of labor market and employment trends, current employment and training providers and programs, and other relevant resources.
• Keep management informed of critical issues or factors that may impact our participants, program, and organization.
• Share best practices, resources, and suggestions for improvement to increase program and organizational effectiveness.
• Collect and write participants' success stories to share with current and potential funders.
• Other duties as needed to accomplish program goals and outcomes and to support other Workforce Development programs.

Skills, Knowledge, and Abilities

• Bilingual is highly desired in Hmong, Karen, and/or Somali.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills. 
• Experience and desire to work with persons of diverse cultural, economic, and educational backgrounds; working with Southeast Asian, immigrant, and refugee communities preferred; focusing on employment issues. 
• Ability to analyze information, draw conclusions, and implement appropriate plan of action.
• Knowledge of available community resources providing services to low-income families.
• Excellent computer skills including Microsoft Office365, spreadsheets, and database programs. 
• Demonstrated ability to be analytical, detail-oriented, and problem-solve.
• High level of competency in completing paperwork accurately and in a timely manner.
• Ability to work independently with minimal supervision while also being a strong team player. 
• Willingness and ability to travel to multiple service locations, if needed.
• Flexibility to work occasional evenings and weekends as needed.

Essential Functions

The following position requirements are representative of those that will be encountered while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions.

• While performing the duty of this job, the employee is regularly required to stand, sit, talk, hear, and use hands and fingers to operate a computer, phone, and keyboard.
• Must be able to remain in a stationary position for sustained periods of time in an indoor setting.
• Ability to tolerate moderate noise levels (i.e., shared open office space with computers, phones, printers, and light traffic).
• Must have the ability to move about the office to access files and office equipment.
• Must have access to reliable transportation for occasional travel needs for meetings at other HAP office locations, events, and offsite meetings.
• Occasional moving or lifting of boxes or files up to 20 pounds.
• Frequent interaction with coworkers and participants requiring the ability to communicate effectively.
• Frequent communication via email requires reading and writing in English fluently.
• Frequent data preparation and analysis of figures.

HAP is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer. Our organization will not discriminate against or harass any employee or applicant for employment because of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, disability, age, marital status, familial status, membership, or activity in a local human rights commission, or status with regard to public assistance.

Qualifications

Education and Experience

• A high school diploma or GED is required.
• An AA/AS in Human Services or related field; BA/BS is preferred.
• Minimum of one (1) year of relevant work experience in social work, human services, or a related field, focusing on BIPOC communities, particularly Hmong or Southeast Asians.     
• Participant recruitment and outreach experience are preferred. 

Salary : $23 - $25