Employment Specialist

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Description

Description

Location: Cleveland, OH

Position Schedule: Full-time; Monday-Friday 8:00-4:30pm

Salary Range & FLSA Status: Nonexempt, $48,000 – $51,000

About Towards Employment

Founded in 1976, Towards Employment (TE) is a non-profit leader in providing innovative solutions to move people out of poverty, into quality jobs and along a career pathway. Towards Employment has gained local and national recognition for achieving excellent outcomes through the hard work of its dedicated staff of 74 and an $8 million annual budget. Towards Employment offers a continuum of support to low-income individuals preparing to enter the workforce or looking to advance from low-wage employment while also fulfilling the staffing needs of local employers.

Towards Employment offers a robust and competitive benefits package designed to support our team’s health, financial well-being, and work-life balance. Benefits include employer-subsidized medical and prescription; Traditional and Roth 401(k) plans with an employer match and profit sharing; and company-provided life and short-term disability insurance. We also offer voluntary benefits such as, vision, dental insurance, HSA/FSA savings accounts and dependent life insurance. Additional perks include paid parental leave, generous paid time off (including vacation, 10 sick days, 13 paid holidays, and time off between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve), flexible schedules, salary advances, cell phone reimbursement and an Employee Assistance Program offering free mental health support services. Join a team that invests in you!

General Summary

The Employment Specialist works with the Employer Engagement team responsible for generating job opportunities from local employers that match the skills of TE program graduates. This position is responsible for providing employment support and will work with Community & Reentry staff to provide retention and follow-up support to participants as they navigate through the programming. The Employment Specialist will work with graduates throughout their job search to ensure they are prepared for the opportunities available, successfully navigate the application process and achieve strong retention at their place of employment. S/he also works with program alumni looking to advance in their current job or through gaining a new position. Annually, TE connects approximately 500 program graduates to quality jobs based on their career goals and fulfills the talent needs of over 300 employers.

Job Placement and Retention

• Based on Personal Career Map developed in workshop, work with participants to understand career goals, strengths, work preferences, skillsets and personal/family requirements to appropriately assist them in securing internships and employment.
• Working closely with employer engagement staff, develop a clear understanding of employer partner needs and expectations; understand requirements of job opportunities and match participants to current job openings.
• Manage Job Club and associated activities. This includes creating and implementing motivational and career-focused speaker schedules, tracking participant attendance, assisting with job search activities including resume updates or modifications, online research, completion of applications and interview preparation.
• Coordinate scheduling of interviews. Debrief with participants and employers after interviews completed
• Conduct follow up and re-engagement efforts to keep participants active until they secure employment
• Work with career coaches to keep them abreast of job search progress, attendance or engagement challenges of participants on their caseload.
• Follow up with employer within one week of placement, and again at 30 days to ensure new employee success
• Record all required employment information in Commence data system.
  
  

Employer Engagement Support

• Work with employer engagement staff to ensure they have information on the pool of program graduates seeking employment so they can continually update employer prospects and conduct target marketing to place graduates including those with specific skills, challenges, or narrowly focused goals.
• Work with employer engagement staff to develop deep knowledge of employer/business needs to refine matching & placement processes.
• Serve as the account manager for a limited number of employers
• Communicate effectively with employers and participants to support their success.
• Work closely with TE program staff and career coaches to identify and close any gaps identified by employers.
• Contribute feedback regarding recruitment, intake, orientation, and workshops to ensure employer needs are reflected in organizational programming.
• Work with the employer engagement staff to identify new and deepen existing employer relationships; hand-off program development opportunities as needed to appropriate staff.
• Ensure timely response to employer requests.
  
  

Tracking & Reporting

• Work with the employer engagement staff to track and report all employer interactions including feedback, hiring decisions and identify trends of employer needs and expectations to assist with service quality improvements
• Maintain database of all placements.
• Run monthly reports to review all placement, retention, and advancement metrics.
• Develop streamlined communication channels (formal and informal) with internal peers & leadership to ensure clarity of process and opportunity cultivation.
  
  

Requirements

Minimum Requirement

• We seek an innovative, results-driven, service focused, and kind individual who shares our passion and commitment for TE’s mission to fill this role.
• Minimum?of five years’ relevant staffing and employment and/or operational experience.
• Experience working directly with employers and candidates to successfully meet the needs of both. Staffing agency, HR and/or sales experience strongly preferred.
• Experience working with adults with barriers to employment coming from low-income households and those who may have been involved with the criminal justice system.
• Superior communication skills, including active listening to meet participant and employer needs simultaneously.
• Proactive, responsive team player with a collaborative focus.
• Demonstrated experience managing data, creating and modifying schedules, and strong attention to detail.
• Strong aptitude in Microsoft Office, including Excel and Word. Willingness to learn new software packages and utilize database tools.
  
  

Success In This Position Also Requires

• Continuous Improvement – Committed to learning, development, assessment, and measurement to continuously improve.
• Coaching Capacity – Ability to provide guidance and to support the advancement of others.
• Team Builder – Leads others through collaboration, influence, and managerial strength.
• Social Justice Advocate – Passionate about promoting racial equity and inclusion at personal, organizational and systems level.
• Detail Orientation – Understands importance of managing details and tracking information; is thorough and careful regarding managing information and providing clear instructions; takes ownership of quality of information.
• Interpersonal Skills – Relates well to all kinds of people, inside and outside the organization; builds appropriate rapport; builds constructive and effective relationships; uses diplomacy and tact; actively listens to needs of others.
• Customer/Employer Focused - Dedicated to meeting the expectations and requirements of internal and external customers & employers; acts with customers in mind; establishes and maintains effective relationships with customers and gains their trust and respect.
  
  

Salary Description

$48,000 – $51,000