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The Employment team at The Growth Company has a new and exciting vacancy for an Individual Placement and Support (IPS) Employment Specialist who will actively engage with participants and support them to gain employment. Individual Placement and Support is internationally recognised as as the most effective way to support people with mental health problems to gain and keep paid employment. If you are motivated to make a difference to people’s lives by helping them to find good work, then this could be the job for you. Full support, supervision and training is available to help successful candidates to develop their IPS practice.

We are continuing to expand our services that support people with health and mental health conditions. We are therefore particularly keen to hear from you if you have experience of working in either employability, employer engagement, the health or mental health sectors.

Key Responsibilities

* To manage a caseload of clients who are motivated to start/return to work. Working with participants to progress them on their journey towards employment by delivering the Individual Placement and Support (IPS) approach and overcoming their work, skills and health barriers to ultimately support participants into sustainable work.

* To provide IPS services to customers that are employed but are struggling to retain their employment due to their mental health condition.

* Build relationships with colleagues in clinical teams to engage and generate referrals and create collaborative working partnerships with clinical staff (promoting employment as a positive intervention).

* Assess client support needs relating to work which may include benefits/welfare advice, disclosure of mental health symptoms, etc., and provide support & guidance.

* Engage with local employers.

* Source job opportunities for clients through tailored job searches and regular contact with local employers to explore hidden as well as advertised employment opportunities.

* Provide support to employers, as agreed with the individual, which may include negotiating adjustments, return to work strategy, and ongoing contact with the employer to ensure job retention.

About you

* Knowledge in relation to the issues affecting individuals with multiple barriers to progressing to employment and sustained employment.

* Good knowledge in relation to the support agencies that can assist individuals with complex needs (e.g., debt, substance misuse, housing, etc).

* Knowledge of a broad range of occupations and jobs in the local area.

* A warm, approachable empathetic style and the ability to establish a rapport and build relationships with customers that support their progression to sustained employment.

Skills Required

* Strong interpersonal, communication, and negotiating skills.

* Ability to work in a target-driven environment, with a focus on the successful achievement of job outcomes and sustained outcomes.

* Employer engagement skills.

* Trained in IPS approach is desirable.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of everyone including vulnerable adults and young people, we expect all staff to share this commitment. All Education and Skills appointments will be subject to Safer Recruitment Procedures which include a DBS check and a professional social media check. These checks will be conducted by Due Diligence Limited (DDC Ltd) on behalf of GC. Please note that the successful candidate will not be required to pay for this.

If you are on the Barred List, it is against the law to apply and to be hired for a role that includes regulated activity with the concerned group.

We are committed to increasing the diversity of our workforce, we provide a guaranteed interview to applicants who meet the essential requirements for a role. This commitment applies to candidates who have a disability or are from a diverse ethnic community.

As part of our application process, you can ask to be considered under this scheme if you are from an ethnic community or have a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term negative effect on your ability to do normal daily activities. Providing that you meet the essential criteria for the role, you will then be invited for an interview. Your guaranteed interview application will only be shared with the Hiring Manager and our Internal Recruitment Team.

We are a member of the national campaign Ban the Box; this campaign aims to open opportunities for people with convictions to compete for jobs. We’re supporting the campaign by removing conviction questions at the applications stage.

GC aims to promote a culture of flexibility and agile working. Going forward we will be transitioning to a culture where full agile working will be a feature of many of our roles. We also recognise that there may be a need for more permanent flexibility in your working arrangements and in such cases, we encourage you to have these discussions at the interview stage, to enable your flexible working request to be considered as early as possible.

All GC colleagues will work inline with the Health & Safety at work act and the GC Health & Safety Policy