Education and Employability Mentor

The Harlequins Foundation wish to appoint an Education and Employability Mentor to oversee the development, planning and delivery of our employability provision. The successful candidate will be able to demonstrate the skills required to organise and deliver programmes that support participants to develop the essential skills and progress them demonstrably closer to the employment market.

The Harlequins Foundation is the charitable arm of the Club, delivering programmes in our communities that primarily support young people to develop the essential skills, enabling success on and off the pitch. Our purpose is to harness sport and the spirit of Harlequins, empowering young people to acquire the skills they need to succeed.

The Foundation has an educational pathway to provide learning opportunities from Level 1 through to degree level, however qualifications are only part of a learners development. We recognise that academic achievement alone does not equate to readiness for work, and we develop and deliver programmes that provide young people with the opportunity to hone their skills and are better equip them for meaningful employment.

As the Education and Employability Mentor, you will have oversight of a variety of different programmes, playing a vital role in the development and delivery of these. It is essential that you have exceptional knowledge of societal issues that affect the groups that you will be working with, and understanding the importance of the impact of the work that you will deliver.
The successful candidate will be confident serving in a pastoral role and as a mentor to the participants they engage with, challenging them to develop their skills while nurturing the confidence needed to demonstrate them. Experience of stakeholder management and an ability to build relationships with external delivery partners will be crucial to the role holder.

What you'll be doing:

• Deliver our current mentoring provision and look to expand into different stakeholders in our focus boroughs
• Lead the delivery of our Try Time programme, developing the Harlequins Foundation alternative provision offering
• Drive partnership opportunities to provide alternative provision within schools across Hounslow and our other focus boroughs
• Maintain and develop relationships with local schools and local authorities to refer suitable programme participants
• Lead on recruitment of programme participants from relevant referral sources and delivery partners, researching and establishing new relationships as required
• Support Education and Employability Mentor (EEM) with delivery of Employability Academy
• Support delivery of our NEET (not in Education, Employment or Training) projects and programmes
• Liaise with local employers and participants to ensure the efficient running of our programmes
• Take responsibility for the reporting and monitoring of employability programmes, ensuring accurate collection of data required to report against funding

Your skills and experience:

• Educated to degree level or demonstrable equivalent experience
• Have or willing to work towards gaining qualifications required to deliver and assess vocational qualifications
• Experience of working with children and young people, preferably in a classroom environment
• Experienced in engaging young people from a range of backgrounds, including hard to reach and disadvantaged young people
• Experience of managing essential stakeholder relationships while maintaining and developing new referral channels and programmes
• Experience using monitoring & evaluation tools, for example, Signal Stoplight, Upshot and Sport Value Bank
• RFU ERCA (or equivalent NGB coaching award)
• A commitment to safeguarding children, young people, and vulnerable adults
• Highly organised with excellent planning and coordination skills and a meticulous attention to detail
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including ability to confidently present to stakeholders in person or online
• Ability to build excellent relationships and a confidence in networking

Applying for the role

To apply for the role, you must fill out an application form and send it along with a cover letter outlining your suitability for the role.

Applicants are strongly advised to read the person specification closely and ensure their cover letter demonstrates how they meet the criteria for the role. CV’s or emails expressing an interest in the position without completing the online application form will be disregarded, although you are welcome to include one with your application.

All applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, so we encourage all applicants to apply as soon as possible.