Social Enterprise Kent (SEK) is a dynamic and innovative social enterprise. We are currently looking for an Employment Development Worker to join our busy Employment Support team.

Working as part of a team, you will manage a caseload of people who experience mental health issues and who wish to gain/retain employment, mainstream education or voluntary work.

You must be excellent at managing your own time, excellent at IT, and have access to a car as travel in and around Canterbury is required.

In the past, you may have worked in recruitment or employment placement. You must have an empathy for our client group, and an understanding of the barriers facing people with mental health issues in the workplace.

Duties include (but not limited to):
• Developing vocational and social opportunities for service users, using facilities and resources in the community
• Working with a caseload of people who have been referred from a variety of services (G.P, community mental health teams, IAPT) or by your team leader, assessing their specific employment needs through vocational profiling
• Developing employment action plans with individuals and undertake on-going reviews of these action plans with the individual
• Developing knowledge of local employment providers and engage with new employers to open up and secure employment opportunities for people who experience mental health issues
• Working with individuals already in work (job retention) by providing education and support to employers as agreed with the individual. This may include attending occupational health appointments an disciplinary meetings, negotiating reasonable adjustments and maintaining ongoing contact with the employer to ensure job retention
• Maintaining and developing good working relationships with partner organisations that can also assist individuals to achieve their employment goals, such as colleges/training providers; benefit advisors; business/career advisors; voluntary organisations.
• Maintaining a professional relationship with the service users of the programme and other staff, paying particular attention to confidentiality and boundaries
• Engaging in the supervision, training and personal development activities consistent with the requirements of the post and with the service user’s career goals whilst working in accordance with health and safety regulations and maintaining safe practice at all times
• Supporting administrative systems that record the progress of individuals and keep accurate and complete records of their attendance and casework
• Respecting the rights and dignity of our service users and treat them as individuals and fully participating members of the community irrespective of their mental health issues
• Having a working knowledge of the local labour market, Job Centre Plus provision, and available community resources

Closing date - Sunday 18th January 2015
No agencies please.