Innovation Heights Academy Career Navigator (Social Services Professional)

Summary

This position will be co-located at Innovation Heights Academy and will partner with the Innovation Heights Academy team to provide education and employment services to the young people attending school at Innovation Heights. This position will provide comprehensive education and employment services to young people referred from the Innovation Heights team. This position will assess education and employment needs, provide job readiness training, job search assistance, job placement, internship placement, employment retention and support services to youth/young adults. Youth/young adults will have various barriers to success including low-income, lack of work experience, homelessness/unstable housing, low-basic skills, legal system involvement, etc. The goal of this position is to provide services that lead to success in education and employment such as high school completion, job retention, and/or enrollment into post-secondary. This is a Term Limited Temporary (TLT) or Special Duty Assignment (SDA) opportunity that will end on December 31, 2025. This could be extended based on operational needs.

Job Duties

• Work with the Innovation Heights team to identify youth/young adults that would benefit from education and employment services/support.
• Assess young adults to determine services needed to attain their education and employment goals.
• Develop individual service plan with short-term and long-term goals related to education and employment. Monitor plan with the young person.
• Develop and maintain effective relationships with youth/young adults ages 16-21 years who have multiple barriers to success, including housing instability/homelessness.
• Counsel young adults in career, vocational/technical goals, employment, and personal issues. Mediate, problem-solve and coordinate individual services for young people.
• Establish strong working relationships with the Innovation Heights Team and other Highline School District staff, and community partners that will support young people in an effort to meet their goals e.g., community and technical colleges, community-based organizations, State agencies such as DSHS, and ESD, and become familiar with services and referral procedures of these providers.
• Meet performance-based outcomes related to activity program completion, competency attainment, GED attainment, job readiness training completion, internship placements and completions, and job placement, post-secondary placement, and persistence in post-secondary.
• Develop and maintain relationships with employers, coordinate and monitor work experience training sites, provide job search and job retention training, job development and job search assistance services.
• Complete required paperwork for the program that may be related to activities, demographics, and outcome attainment. This includes monthly case summaries.
• Perform other related duties as assigned.

Experience, Qualifications, Knowledge, Skills

• Bachelor’s degree in social work, education, or related field. Relevant experience can be substituted for education as long as it is clearly demonstrated that experience will allow the candidate to meet the above requirements/job duties.
• At least three years of experience providing direct multi-level social services to youth/young adults who have experienced challenges engaging successfully in education and/or employment. Experience must be recent (three years in the last eight years), and specific to youth/young adults ages 16-21 years. Relevant lived experience may be taken into consideration.
• Demonstrated ability to perform job duties within the context of understanding and applying complex regulations and definitions; and experience providing complete extensive technical documentation.
• Demonstrated experience developing and maintaining effective working relations with a diverse population of youth, school district staff, County and State agencies, employers, other staff, community and technical colleges, and community-based organizations.
• Ability to maintain professional boundaries with young people while building trust and respect.
• Ability to assume responsibilities or duties within the partner agency site (Innovation Heights Academy) not specifically delineated in this job description for short periods of time or on an infrequent basis in order to best serve young people and help them meet their goals.
• Demonstrated commitment to anti-racism and equity. Acceptance of a variety of lifestyles, behaviors, and cultural and spiritual practices.
• Ability to effectively manage time to work on multiple tasks in high pressure/short deadline environment, and to adapt to changes in workload demand and priorities.
• Knowledge of juvenile legal system and court systems and the ability to navigate resources for youth involved with these systems.
• Strong interpersonal and human relations skills, including conflict resolution techniques.
• Ability to work in stressful situations involving youth with barriers to success in education and employment.
• Effective oral communication and interpersonal skills and the ability to work both independently and as part of a team.
• Ability to communicate clearly and effectively with youth and employees from diverse cultural and socio-economic backgrounds.
• Knowledge of developmental and motivation psychology.
• Proficiency in the use of personal computers including proficiency with MS Word, Excel, Access, Outlook and the Internet.
• Ability to pass a Washington State Patrol Background Check on a post offer/pre hire basis.

Desired Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in social work or similar field
• Experience with alternative education and/or working at an alternative high school
• Experience working in a multi-agency team

Supplemental Information

Forbes named King County as one of Washington State's best employers.

Together, with leadership and our employees, we're changing the way government delivers service and winning national recognition as a model of excellence. Are you ready to make a difference? Come join the team dedicated to serving one of the nation's best places to live, work and play.

Guided by our "True North", we are making King County a welcoming community where every person can thrive. We value diversity, inclusion and belonging in our workplace and workforce. To reach this goal we are committed to workforce equity. Equitable recruiting, support, and retention is how we will obtain the highest quality workforce in our region; a workforce that shares and will help advance our guiding principles - we are one team; we solve problems; we focus on the customer; we drive for results; we are racially just; we respect all people; we lead the way; and we are responsible stewards. We encourage people of all backgrounds and identities to apply, including Native American and people of color, immigrants, refugees, women, LGBTQ , people living with disabilities, and veterans.

King County is an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Employer

No person is unlawfully excluded from employment opportunities based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex (including gender identity, sexual orientation and pregnancy), age, genetic information, disability, veteran status, or other protected class. Our EEO policy applies to all employment actions, including but not limited to recruitment, hiring, selection for training, promotion, transfer, demotion, layoff, termination, rates of pay or other forms of compensation.

To Apply

If you are interested in pursuing this position, please follow the application instructions carefully. If you need this announcement in an alternate language or format, would like to request accommodation or assistance in the application or assessment process or if you have questions please contact the recruiter listed on this job announcement.