Employment advisor jobs

Job Title: Associate Careers Advisers (Schools Team)

Location: Kent and Medway

Salary: Day rate of £152 (inclusive of holiday pay)

Hours: Zero Hours

Contract: Zero Hours

Reports to: Senior Careers Adviser

About CXK

CXK empowers people to succeed in employment, education and training. The charity strives for a fairer society where everyone can grow and realise their potential. “The CXK Way” embodies the following core values:

Ethical – We work with professionalism, honesty and integrity

Passionate – We reach out enthusiastically to all who need out support

Innovative – We inspire, enhance and improve

Collaborative – We engage, support and share with others

Young Peoples’ Careers Service

CXK is the lead provider of Personal Careers Guidance to young people in schools and specialist centres across Kent & Medway, where we provide independent Personal Careers Guidance, via our CXK Young Peoples’ Careers Service.

We provide this through a variety of creative and innovative approaches

The Team

We are a diverse and welcoming team of advisers, who use a wide variety of creative methods to deliver personalised, client centred, personal careers guidance, ranging from one-to-one sessions through to group guidance, parents and options evenings, as well as focused talks and assemblies. We have minimal admin and keep our clients’ experience central to what we do, providing an inclusive service with individualised action plans, including the use of visual career maps, career cards and white boards, alongside more traditional approaches where appropriate.

We follow the CDI code of ethics and best practice for Action Planning (which names and recognises CXKs innovative work in this area):

The team is led by Chris Targett RCDP, who alongside his work at CXK, is the current Chair of the Careers Writers Association and co-author of the recently released Career Development and Inclusive Practice book, published by Trotman Publishing in partnership with the CDI.

The team is small but impactful. Feedback from our young people, that tell us about what our students valued regards our services:

• Helping young people understand their next steps
• Helping young people understand the options and careers choices they have
• Helping young people to know where to access further help, information, or support

The Role

The Careers Advisers will cover one or more of the following regions: Medway, West Kent and Mid Kent to a broad range of school and college settings, delivering creative and inclusive Personal Careers Guidance, as well as assemblies and drop-in sessions as required. 

Each student and each learning environment will be unique, so the opportunity lends itself well to candidates who enjoy traveling and working in varied locations, meeting people from diverse backgrounds, and educating people of all abilities.

You will routinely liaise with Careers Leaders and senior school/ college staff to arrange and deliver activities for students during the school day. Whilst most delivery will take place between 8:30am and 4pm, travel before and after these times will be required and occasional attendance at parents’ and options evenings will also be required, but you will be given time off in lieu where this is applicable.

Skills and Knowledge

At CXK we are proud to be a disability confident and equal opportunities employer. We actively promote diversity within our workforce and welcome applications from all sections of the community.

Minimum Criteria

• Level 6 qualification (or above) in Careers Guidance Qualification (or equivalent
• Knowledge of Post 16 and Post 18 education and training routes for young people with and without additional needs and disabilities
• In possession of a full, clean UK Drivers Licence with access to your own vehicle

Core Competencies

• Experience of delivering careers, education, information, advice and guidance (CEIAG) in schools / colleges and face-to-face with young people
• Events rebalanced via “time off in lieu”
• A willingness to deliver activities during school timetables; occasional evening
• Adept at juggling activities, travel and routine project admin; balancing school site work with homebased preparation
• Experience of Microsoft products and ability to use them effectively, including Outlook, Excel, Word and PowerPoint
• A commitment to undertake all necessary training for the role

Employee Experience

A career with CXK is rewarding work enabling you to fulfil your potential. This eclectic and exciting role within the CXK Young Peoples’ Careers team, provides the opportunity for you to travel from home to various education settings, networking with teachers and careers educators across the Kent and Medway area. You will hone specialised skills and knowledge relating to Post 16 and 18 career pathways, including 6th Forms, colleges, study programmes, gap-years, entrepreneurship, university and apprenticeship routes whilst being a positive influence on young people’s lives.

CXK employee benefits include:

• CDI and professional register membership (RCDP) paid for by CXK
• Defined contribution pension scheme (matched by CXK up to 10% depending on length of service criteria)
• Flexible working
• Enhanced maternity and paternity leave
• Training and development programmes and opportunities
• Mental and physical healthcare initiatives and more

Recruitment Timeline

Vacancy closing date: Ongoing

Application review date: Ongoing

Interviews dates: Ongoing

Useful Information

Should you wish to have an informal conversation before submitting your application, please contact recruitment @ cxk. org

Please note: Applicants will need to complete an enhanced DBS check and provide employment references before any offer of employment can be made.

All applications must be submitted online via our online portal.

Can you make a real impact guiding individuals through their employment journey?

Employment Advisor
Contract type: Permanent
Working hours: Full Time - 37 hours per week
Salary: Circa £26,049 per annum
Location: Carlisle/Workington

About Us

Groundwork NE & Cumbria is a long established environmental and community charity with over 30 years of experience creating greener, healthier and more resilient places across the region. Our mission centres on Creating Better Places, Improving People’s Prospects, and Promoting Greener Living, helping communities thrive no matter the challenges they face.

We deliver hundreds of locally led projects each year, including initiatives that support young people and adults into education, training and employment, helping them overcome barriers, build life skills, and reach their full potential.

About You and The Role

Join our dynamic Employment Team as a dedicated Employment Advisor, supporting individuals 1:1 on their journey into work, developing action plans, building skills, and driving positive outcomes in a fast-paced, community-focused environment.

Working as a member of the Employment Team you will engage on a 1:1 basis with our employment programme participants, establishing and maintaining excellent relationships to understand and meet their individual needs. You will develop personal action plans which enable movement of these people towards and into further sustainable employment. You will work in a friendly, busy employment team environment to ensure programme performance targets are consistently achieved to meet requirements of the allocated contract.

We want someone like you with the confidence to positively engage and motivate people from a wide range of backgrounds. In your role you will work closely with the local community and employers, supporting referrals onto the programme and identifying employment opportunities. You will enable participants to develop valuable work based skills and gain knowledge. Your role will require you to be supportive and understanding, be able to deal with any issues that may arise confidently. You will have strong interpersonal skills and be able to adapt them pending on what you are dealing with, communicating at different levels as key in this role.

Closing Date: Thursday 30th April 2026
Please note, should we receive a high volume of applications, we may look to close the role early, therefore we recommend an early application.

This role is subject to an Enhanced Disclosure endorsed by the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Interested?

If you would like to find out more, please click the Apply button. You will be directed to our website to complete your application for this position.

Make yourself at home

We want you to be yourself at Groundwork and we value everything that makes you unique. We recognise and celebrate your difference and together we make Groundwork a special and great place to work. As a Disability Confident employer we offer a guaranteed interview to applicants with a disability who meet the essential criteria for the role.

At Groundwork we ensure that we provide a safe environment for adults, children and young people to take part in any activity or service that we organise. We are committed to creating a culture that promotes safeguarding and the welfare of all children, young people and adults at risk. Our safer recruitment practices support this by ensuring that there is a consistent and comprehensive process of obtaining, collating, analysing and evaluating information from and about candidates to ensure that all the people we appoint are suitable to work with our children, young people and adults

This role is not eligible for UK Visa Sponsorship – the successful applicant will need to have a pre-existing Right to Work in the UK in order to be offered an employment contract.

No agencies please.

Employment Advisor

Programme Overview

The Restart programme offers enhanced support to Universal Credit claimants who have been out of work for at least 6 months to find jobs in their local area. Starting at the end of June 2021, it will benefit more than 1 million Universal Credit claimants who are expected to look for and be available for work but have no sustained learnings. The scheme will provide up to 12 months of tailored support for each participant. Palladium will work with employers, local government, and other partners to deliver tailored support for individuals.

There role is based in our busy Southampton office with travel to Ringwood or Winchester.

The Employment Advisor will play a vital role in the success of the programme. They will be in charge of managing a case load of customers, working with them to create and follow an individualised workplan towards sustained employment. They have the ability to be a catalyst for change and really empower people to progress.

Primary Duties and responsibilities:

• Take responsibility and accountability for customers as assigned and working with them through to employment. This will include:
•  Assessing the customer’s starting position to decide how to best meet their needs. 
• Building rapport and a positive working relationship with each customer.
• Creating and following through with individualised action plans ensuring appropriate and effective activity is undertaken by each customer.
•  Address customer’s personal constraints to employment, providing challenge, advice, and guidance where appropriate to develop customers capability in the recruitment process ensuring they have the necessary skills and confidence to secure employment.
•  Identify, structure, and recommend vacancy and training solutions, working in close consultation with the team to meet the specific needs of customers and employers.
•  Maintain customer records to a required quality standard to ensure the customer journey is documented in accordance with our quality standards and contractual requirements.
•  Develop an understanding of specialist signposting services in the local area/region, building knowledge in areas such as specific disabilities, housing, benefits etc
• Meet personal performance targets, Key Performance Indicators and all Quality and Compliance measures by delivering high quality employability provision to customers, both remotely and face to face
• Develop relationships and networks with key stakeholders including employers, Job Centre teams and provisions and funding providers to ensure smooth operation of all processes.

Skills and experience:

Required

A passion for working with people and have a solution focused approach

Experience of working in a customer focused, target driven environment.

Experience of providing one to one support and coaching to individuals with the ability to constructively challenge where needed.

A level of independence and professionalism to work independently and in a small team;

Detail-oriented with strong organisational skills;

Interest in welfare to work

Desirable

Educated at university degree or alternatively have a demonstrated track record of performance and success in target driven sales, customer service or case-management roles

Knowledge of the employment market in their area.

Key Competencies:

Creative intelligence; 

Ability to motivate, challenge and inspire; 

Proactive and solution focused;

Excellent communication skills; 

Performance and target focused; 

Excellent organisation and prioritisation skills; 

The determination and drive to want to make a positive difference.

**Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis so please apply early if you would like to discuss this role with us.

Company Overview:

You would be joining Palladium, a global impact organisation, with 3,000 employees in over 90 countries. We are a mission-driven business, for whom the impact of our work is as important as the commercial return; the common feature of all our work, regardless of contract size, is the requirement that it contributes to positive social and economic impact. We simply call this ‘Positive Impact’. For the past 50 years, we have been helping our clients to see the world as interconnected in over 90 countries- by formulating strategies, building partnerships, and implementing programs that deliver lasting positive impact. We are experienced in implementing large, complex programmes supporting refugees in different elements of their integration journey and are currently delivering 30 programmes for the UK Government.

Equity, Diversity & Inclusion - Palladium is committed to embedding equity, diversity, and inclusion into everything we do. As a Disability Confident employer, we will ensure that a fair and proportionate number of disabled applicants that meet the minimum criteria for this position will be offered an interview. We positively welcome and seek to ensure we achieve diversity in our workforce; and that all job applicants and employees receive equal and fair treatment regardless of their background or personal characteristics. These include: (but are not limited to) socio-economic background, age, race, gender identity and expression, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, nationality, veteran, marital or Indigenous status.

As a Disability Confident employer, we will ensure that a fair and proportionate number of disabled applicants that meet the minimum criteria for this position will be offered an interview. Should you require any reasonable adjustments or accommodations to be made due to a disability or any other circumstance, please let us know.

Safeguarding - We define Safeguarding as “the preventative action taken by Palladium to protect our people, clients and the communities we work with from harm”. We are committed to ensuring that all children and adults who come into contact with Palladium are treated with respect and are free from abuse. All successful candidates will be subject to an enhanced selection process including safeguarding-focused interviews and a rigorous due diligence process.

Palladium International Ltd. participates in the Inter-Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. In line with this Scheme, we will request information from job applicants’ previous employers about any findings of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and/or sexual harassment during employment, or incidents under investigation when the applicant left employment. By submitting an application, the job applicant confirms his/her understanding of these recruitment procedures.

Palladium is a Real Living Wage Employer.