Sandwell/West Midlands
Circa £17,200 - Pro rata

34 Hours -Fixed Term Contract until 28th Feb 2021- Part-Time (Mon - Fri)

Giving children and young people the foundations they need to thrive.

The role

Based in the Sandwell area of West Midlands working as part of a busy Community Development Team. The role is focused on working across 4 towns Wednesbury, West Bromwich, Smethwick and Oldbury and involves partnership work with other agencies such as health visitors, jobcentres, libraries and local schools and colleges to support children and young people aged 0-19 years old.

As a Community engagement officer, you will be setting up information hubs in community venues, engaging service users and recruiting/supporting volunteers to run a range of sessions aimed at disadvantaged families, children and young adults.

You will make a difference by:

- Being alert to child protection and safeguarding issues and inform appropriate line managers of concerns in line with safeguarding policies and procedures.

- Attending multi agency meetings.

- Identifying and recruiting volunteers and being responsible for supporting them with community sessions such as "Stay and Play".

- Supporting service users with a range of issues such as employability, personal development, baby clinics as well as accessing information and resources available in the wider community.

- Building and maintaining rapport with Service Users and other care professionals to improve the quality of services we offer.

You will need:

- Level 3 NVQ in Early years, Children and Young People or Social Care.

- Previous experience working with Families with Children.

- Previous advocacy experience would be desirable.

- A positive and approachable manner.

- Flexibility and willingness to go the extra mile in providing support to Service Users in all 5 bases.

- Excellent communication skills.

- Good IT skills.

- Competent and focused in delivering a range of group sessions.

The way we work

We work to make sure every child and young person has the love, support and opportunity they need to reach their potential. If you share the same vision, we want you to join our team. Have a look at our behaviours and values to understand more about the way we work here.

Rewards

We want our employees to feel valued and rewarded for the vital work they do. When you work with us, we'll recognise your efforts with generous annual leave, a comprehensive employer-matched pension scheme and a range of deals and discounts on our dedicated benefits portal. Find out more about our exclusive Action for Children benefits here.

For safe and happy childhoods

At Action for Children, we protect and support children and young people, providing practical and emotional care and support, ensuring their voices are heard, and campaigning to bring lasting improvements to their lives. Last year, we helped more than 387,000 children and families across the UK.

For more information, please contact Machaela Huggins on 07776 659 803 or email recruitmentservice@actionforchildren.org.uk

Interviews to be held via MS Teams on the 13th and 14th August 2020.

We are committed to safer recruitment practices to protect our service users; therefore, all applicants are expected to have an understanding of and commitment to safeguarding best-practice.

Action for Children is passionate about promoting equality, valuing diversity and working inclusively. We welcome applications from all suitably qualified persons particularly people with Disabilities and Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic applicants, as these groups are currently under-represented in our workforce.

Guidant is acting as an Employment Business in relation to this vacancy.