Employment Specialist - NHS
We believe that everyone has the right to be treated with dignity and respect.
We take positive action to support disadvantaged groups and also particularly encourage applications from ethnic minorities, disabled and LGBTQIA+ people that are under-represented in our workforce. Furthermore we welcome applications from reservists and ex-armed forces personnel as we recognise the benefits of the values, skills, training and experience that they bring to their work with us.We encourage all applicants to share their equality information with us.
Job overview
Are you passionate about supporting individuals to achieve their employment goals? Do you believe in the transformative power of work and its impact on health and wellbeing? If so, we want to hear from you!
We are looking for dedicated Employment Specialists to join our team and deliver the Individual Placement Support (IPS) model, helping people with mental health conditions find and sustain meaningful employment.
What we’re looking for:
- A commitment to empowering individuals to reach their full potential.
- Strong interpersonal and communication skills.
- Experience in employment support (preferred but not essential).
- Knowledge of the local job market and the ability to build relationships with employers.
- A positive, proactive, and compassionate attitude.
- A strengths-based perspective, focusing on clients’ abilities.
If you’re ready to make a lasting impact and help change lives through employment, we’d love to hear from you!
Please note, the role requires travel for meetings with colleagues, service users and local employers.
Interviews planned for 19-20 March 2025
Main duties of the job
The Employment Specialist will join an Individual Placement and Support Team (IPS) working under the direction of the IPS Employment Services Manager to deliver IPS as part of the holistic recovery plan for mental health service users.
The post holder will work directly with employers to secure employment opportunities for people who have experienced mental health problems, and subsequently provide ongoing support depending on employee’s and employer’s needs. The aim will be to enable people who have experienced mental health problems to gain and retain paid employment.
The Employment Specialists will be responsible for:
- Work closely with individuals to identify their skills, aspirations, and career goals.
- Build strong partnerships with local employers to promote the service and secure employment opportunities.
- Collaborate with healthcare professionals and community organisations to provide integrated support.
- Offer coaching, advice, and guidance to help individuals navigate recruitment processes and thrive in their new roles.
- Champion the IPS model, demonstrating a person-centred, strengths-based approach to employment support.
Working for our organisation
Mersey Care is one of the largest trusts providing physical health and mental health services in the North West, serving more than 1.4 million people across our region and are also commissioned for services that cover the North West, North Wales and the Midlands.
We offer specialist inpatient and community services that support physical and mental health and specialist inpatient mental health, learning disability, addiction and brain injury services. Mersey Care is one of only three trusts in the UK that offer high secure mental health facilities.
At the heart of all we do is our commitment to ‘perfect care’ – care that is safe, effective, positively experienced, timely, equitable and efficient. We support our staff to do the best job they can and work alongside service users, their families, and carers to design and develop future services together.We’re currently delivering a programme of organisational and service transformation to significantly improve the quality of the services we provide and safely reduce cost as we do so.
Flexible working requests will be considered for all roles.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
The Employment Specialist will be expected to deliver the IPS approach, working directly with all relevant stakeholders.
The Employment Specialist will maintain a professional relationship with the service users of the IPS service, key internal and external stakeholders, with particular attention to confidentiality and the maintenance of professional boundaries.
To adhere to mandatory administrative and data capture protocols when recording the progress of individuals. To keep accurate and complete records of casework, using the appropriate electronic clinical notes systems.
To act independently, using own judgement, knowledge and initiative to develop and understanding of the needs and potential career aspirations of job seekers.
To sensitively gather information, to develop a shared vocational profile and an agreed Job Notion or Curriculum Vitae, for each individual job seeker. On occasion complex, sensitive and contentious information will need to be provided and/or received.To deal with sometimes emotional and distressing behaviour and difficult situations and circumstances.
To commence rapid job search within 30 days of receiving a referral for a service user, whilst utilising local support networks to help them overcome their barriers to employment.
To research the labour market and spend time getting to know local employers in order to negotiate job opportunities that meet everyone’s strengths, needs, abilities and preferences. Meeting KPI target of 6-8 quality employer contacts each week.
It is the responsibility of the Employment Specialist to source meaningful paid job opportunities for service users through tailored job search and regular contact with employers. Spend time getting to know local employers, in order to negotiate job opportunities in the hidden labour market that meet each individual’s strengths, needs, abilities and preferences.
It is the responsibility of the Employment Specialists to undertake job analyses and workplace assessments, when placing service users with employers, ensure that the quality of work environments is explored, including potential for workplace adjustments that will accommodate individual strengths, skills, symptoms and coping skills.
To provide specialised advice to employers concerning employment to job seekers with a range of different clinical needs.
To provide specialist education and support to employers, as agreed with the individual, which may include negotiating adjustments, return to work strategy and on-going contact with the employer to ensure job retention.
To develop workplace introduction strategies together with a comprehensive package of individualised support to service users once they have returned to work.
To provide individualised support to service users once they have returned to work to assist them in sustaining employment.
To appropriately monitor the longer-term career development of individuals supported into employment offering ongoing input as required.
Build relationships with clinical teams to generate referrals and create collaborative working partnerships with clinicians where employment support is integrated into mental health treatment.
Build a multi-disciplinary approach to the return to work. For example, involve clinical staff (where relevant) in managing symptoms at work, medication reviews and supporting rehabilitation needs e.g., social skill development, budgeting, travel training etc.
With appropriate consent, to communicate and liaise with carers, families, employers and other professionals on behalf of the service user as required.
Employment Specialist will ensure all mandatory training is completed and up to date. Additional training will be offered and with the expectation that all staff will complete all role specific training provided by external organisations.
The post holder will make themselves familiar with their obligations under the Health and Safety at Work Act, always ensuring their safety and the safety of others.
To ensure that all relevant policies are implemented such as information governance, safeguarding etc.
To regularly collect and promote service user employment recovery stories.
The post holder will be involved in highly innovative positive approaches designed to challenge assumptions and discriminative recruitment practices.
To provide cover/support to localities with high levels of referrals, complex cases, or where there is a disruption to service due to illness or vacancies.
Person specification
Qualificatios
Essential criteria- Educated to degree level or equivalent or demonstrable experience
- Level 3 Diploma in Employability Services Sector
- Trained in IPS Delivery Model
- Mental Health First Aid qualification
- NVQ level 3 in Care or Learning Disability related
- Knowledge and understanding of teaching principles., Training in: Training in Systematic Instruction, Counselling, Person Centred Planning, Adult education/training, Sales & marketing
Knowledge and Experience
Essential criteria- Experience of working with people with complex mental health needs or a similar service user group
- Knowledge and experience of recovery and social inclusion principals
- Experience of utilising IT systems
- Experience of working within diverse communities
- Ability to engage with employers across all industries using a variety of methods
- Understanding and experience of working across a range of recruitment/ employment sectors
- Understanding of employment and challenges/barriers for people with complex mental health needs
- Knowledge of disability and special needs issues, policies and legislation in relation to employment
- Knowledge of the labour market and a demonstrated understanding of ‘market positioning
- Understanding of financial implications between benefits/pay structure and advising service user’s accordingly
- Experience of working in supported employment services
- Understanding of principals and practices of the Individual Placement and Support model (IPS)
- Experience of caring for someone experiencing mental ill health
- Personal experience of using mental health services
- An understanding of self employment or business start up
Values
Essential criteria- Continuous Improvement
- Accountability
- Respectfulness
- Enthusiasm
- Support
- High professional standards
- Responsive to service users
- Engaging leadership style
- Strong customer service belief
- Transparency and honesty
- Discreet
- Change oriented
Skills
Essential criteria- Naturally interested in and energised by working with and talking to people
- Non -judgemental and trustworthy
- Passion and drive to make a positive difference to people's lives
- Belief that people with mental illness can gain and sustain meaningful work
- Responds positively to failure and is able to translate it into a valuable learning experience
- Patient and empathetic to others' situations without imposing own experiences or beliefs onto others
- Ability to work unsupervised
- Ability to listen and make grounded judgements
- Ability to use tact and diplomacy and negotiation skills when dealing with and seeking to new employers
- Reaching shared agreement, effective group/meeting skills
- Ability to learn and assimilate quickly into a variety of situations
- Ability to keep effective records both verbal and written in a timely and accurate fashion
- Ability to translate employer need into job seeker opportunity
Please ensure you check the email account from which you apply for all correspondence. All information regarding your application will come from apps.trac.jobs not NHS Jobs.
Only those applicants who demonstrate clearly how they meet our person specification will be shortlisted for interview.
As a Disability Confident Employer, we offer a guaranteed interview scheme for applicants who consider themselves to be disabled who meet the minimum (essential) criteria for the role in the person specification. If you would like your application to be considered under the Trust’s guaranteed interview scheme you can indicate this in the personal information section of your online application form.
Should you require a reasonable adjustment to our recruitment process please email [email protected] to ensure that measures can be put in place to support you.
We reserve the right to close any vacancy earlier than advertised in exceptional circumstances once we have received a high volume of applications.
The Trust expects all post holders who require an enhanced DBS for their role subscribe to the DBS Update Service. You will be required to enrol for this service for a fee of £16 per year and maintain registration. Trans applicants who require a DBS check and do not want to reveal details of their previous identity can contact the DBS Sensitive Applications Team (01516761452 or email [email protected]) with their application number once they have completed their DBS application form.The team can prevent any previous identity showing on the DBS Certificate, unless the applicant has a conviction under their previous details in which case this will need to be disclosed.
Flexible working requests will be considered for all roles.
Please be advised that the use of Artificial Intelligence on applications is monitored and if you choose to use this, you must declare this on your application form.