Job Description

ThinkForward Youth Engagement & Insights Officer

Location: London, Islington
Salary: £23,406 - £24,668
Hours: Full time, 37.5hours per week
Contract: Permanent

Press 'Apply Now' below to send word versions (not PDFs) of your CV and a cover letter of no more than one side by 9am on Monday 6th January, 2020. If a high volume of suitable applications is received the post may close prior to the specified closing date. We encourage early applications to ensure consideration. Interview dates: Thursday 16th January 2020

Overview of ThinkForward
ThinkForward is a breakthrough coaching programme that offers young people 1 to 1 support through trusted, long-term relationships to help overcome challenges in and out of school and linking them to ready for work activities provided by a community of businesses. By the end of the programme young people develop the aspirations, skills and mind-sets needed to thrive and sustain employment.

Purpose of the role

Since our inception, young people’s voice has been central to the design and improvement of our programme – and we’re now looking to grow this further, equipping the young people on the programme to become change-makers in their communities.

This role requires an enthusiastic and creative individual who is confident in building rapport with young people. You will have a passion for youth participation, with a track record of increasing young people’s ability to design and implement change that lasts. You will lead on opportunities for consultation and feedback on the design, delivery and evaluation of the ThinkForward programme to secure long-term employability outcomes for young people. Experienced in working with young people from diverse backgrounds, you will have a knowledge in research techniques to understand the lived experiences of young people on the programme.

This collaborative role will see you work closely with our Programme Adviser, Head of Impact, and Business Partnerships Managers. You will be responsible for providing participation training, developing resources and running the national ambassador and youth board programme, while continuing to build ThinkForward’s alumni network. In addition, this role will support a caseload of ThinkForward graduates who are still transitioning into education, employment and training opportunities post programme.

Responsibilities will include but are not limited to:

Youth Voice and Participation

• Build positive relationships with young people to support their engagement as peer leaders, ambassadors, youth board members and alumni
• Deliver a youth engagement programme with regional Business Partnership Managers, in line with ThinkForward’s youth voice and participation strategy
• Create external partnerships to widen young people‘s voice and participation in local communities
• Lead on induction and training of new staff on ThinkForward’s youth voice and participation strategy
• Develop guidance and resources to support the delivery of youth voice sessions in their region
• Facilitate the development of a youth board in partnership with the board, where young people feel safe, confident and valued to share their experiences and provide a high-quality feedback loop to the governance of ThinkForward
• Support an annual national residential for all ambassadors and youth board members

Impact

• Support ThinkForward’s impact and programme design function in the co-creations of evaluations and research projects
• Facilitate frontline research projects directly with young people which support the evaluation of lived experiences of those on the ThinkForward programme
• Support in driving awareness our evidence-base impact through communication activities online and in print (e.g. social media)
• Build relationships and collaborate with other impact researchers and youth voice networks operating in the youth sector
• Maintain young people’s records of participation and decisions they influence

Data and Administration

• Produce half-termly reports on the progress and engagement of young people on participation led interventions
• Record all interventions in an efficient and timely manner on our database system
• Collect and evaluate young people’s feedback to share with BPM’s to ensure the programme is continually striving to achieve outcomes for young people
• Manage mailing lists for alumni networks and volunteers and regular communication channels to keep the network engaged and informed
• Assist with general administrative duties as and when required

WorkForward – Post-programme support

• Provide personalised coaching to programme graduates who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) through referral and signposting across the regions
• Maintain engagement and communication with young people transitioning into work for their first 12 months in employment, to maximise their chances of sustained employment
• Collate and update the partnership directories with support from the Business Partnership Managers for each region

Person specification:
Qualifications

• Level 3 youth work qualification or willingness to work towards obtaining qualification
• 3 years’ relevant prior experience

Youth Work skills and experience

• Proven track record of working with young people in a youth work and educational settings and support young people in an inclusive way.
• Confident in facilitating one-to-one and group work with young people
• Demonstrates understating of the importance of safeguarding and health & safety in the workplace enabling young people to have a safe and enjoyable experience across all elements of our work.
• Experience in facilitating residential trips
• Experience in engaging with young people who have significant barriers to employment due to their home, school or community environment
• Skills to deliver solution focused outcomes which support young people to reach their full potential

Participation

• Understanding of research techniques using focus group, evaluations, surveys and questionnaires
• Knowledge and experience of youth work and employability principles and practices
• Managing and delivering project-based participation work

• Computer literate with intermediate skill levels in Word, Excel and PowerPoint

Personal qualities

• Professional and boundaried
• Excellent time management skills
• Good verbal and written communication skills
• Methodical, accurate and organised with a keen eye for detail
• Uses own initiative and can work well when unsupervised
• Available to travel and work across our regions in London, Nottingham and Kent
• Work evenings to facilitate project-based work

ThinkForward is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects staff and post holders to share this commitment.​

ThinkForward is committed to equality of opportunity for all staff.  Applications are encouraged regardless of age, disability, sex, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief and marriage and civil partnerships.​
 

This will role will be offered subject to the outcome of a DBS check and a 6 month probation period.​