Recruitment Consultant

Recruitment Consultant

Location

Preston

Length of contract

Full time and permanent

Hours

37.5 hours per week, Monday to Friday

To be worked between 8am and 6pm (inc 30-minute unpaid lunchbreak)

Pay Scale

£28,000 - £34,000 per annum plus on target bonus

Responsible to     

Director

Holiday entitlement

Paid holiday entitlement of 28 days, plus 8 bank holidays (both calculated pro rata for part time employees)

Plus a day’s leave on your birthday, plus a wellbeing day’s leave (not calculated pro rata)

The role                     

To place ex-offender candidates into sustainable paid employment with local employers

Purpose                    

We place people with convictions into paid work, so they can build purposeful lives and see their families thrive

Mission                     

We do this by providing practical employment support, linking them to companies with good jobs

Vision                        

A  society  where  people’s  past  convictions  don’t  define  their  employment future

Duties and Tasks

There are three main areas of work, all of which are vital to achieving the key positive outcome for the individuals we support: sustained meaningful employment.

1. Job Finder Support

Interviewing ex-offenders, offering one-to-one job coaching to help them into work, and providing ongoing mentoring for the first 12 months in employment.

Ours is a face-to-face, holistic and wraparound service that culminates in our candidates finding good jobs that last, with a wide array of socially inclusive employers on our books. Our job finder support can begin in custody and continue through the gate into the community, or start in the community. Typically, we will work with a person for between one and three months to establish work readiness and will continue to support them for up to a year once they find employment. Many people stay in touch and return to us for their second or third job over a period of years, and we consider our door to be open for as long as support is needed.

You will:

• Conduct one-to-one assessments with job-seeking candidates and, using your professional judgement, accept them directly into our paid-work search services or refer them to partner organisations for pre-employability support where issues such as substance misuse or homelessness remain significant barriers.
• Work with candidates over several weeks and months as a job mentor, meeting regularly to assist in all aspects of their job search.
• Help craft strong CVs and disclosure letters, ensuring candidates understand the facts and disclosure obligations relating to spent and unspent convictions.
• Check that candidates have the correct Right to Work documentation and arrange replacement birth certificates and National Insurance letters where required.
• Book candidates onto relevant training courses with third-party providers, including CSCS cards, HGV driver training and renewable energy qualifications.
• Encourage and support candidates in their own job search activity, including teaching them how to use online job boards and complete application forms.
• Submit candidates for vacancies with our inclusive employer partners and proactively identify additional opportunities on their behalf.
• Organise interviews, ensuring candidates have suitable interview clothing and the financial means to travel to interviews where required.
• Follow up immediately after interviews, helping candidates process outcomes, manage expectations and rebuild confidence if unsuccessful.
• Confirm job starts with both candidate and employer, ensuring candidates have access to any required workwear and travel-to-work support.
• Offer practical assistance as needed, including food parcels, hygiene packs, pre-loaded SIM cards, clothing and utility top-ups.

2. New Employer Engagement

Expanding our network of employers to generate a regular flow of job opportunities and enable more candidates to move into work.

This requires new business development and excellent relationship management. You will identify the roles most sought after by our candidates and focus on employers who demonstrate agility and responsiveness in their hiring processes. Contacts are likely to include business owners, divisional managers and site supervisors rather than social value or EDI teams.

You will:

• Proactively approach local employers advertising roles that match the skills and experience of current candidates, with the aim of securing interviews and recruitment instructions.
• Approach organisations that are not currently recruiting but are likely to offer suitable opportunities in the future.
• Maintain and develop a database of active and prospective employers.
• Take ownership of specific sectors or geographical areas in consultation with colleagues to maximise reach and avoid duplication.
• Visit employers to explain our services, answer questions about employing people with convictions and gain a thorough understanding of the workplace environment.
• Select and submit suitable candidates, advocating for each individual based on your knowledge of their strengths, achievements and progress.
• Positively challenge employer concerns where appropriate and advocate for fair consideration of candidates.
• Disclose offending history and risk profiles appropriately, highlighting personal attributes and workplace strengths while guiding employers through the recruitment process in partnership with the candidate.

3. In-Work Support

Supporting candidates to sustain employment for up to one year after starting work.

Maintaining employment is a key part of the journey. Newly employed candidates, particularly recent prison leavers, can face a range of practical, emotional and lifestyle challenges. The strongest chance of successfully supporting both candidate and employer comes from strong relationships built on trust, honesty and confidence.

You will:

• Advise employers on successfully onboarding new employees during their first weeks and months in work.
• Help employers understand and accommodate any additional support needs, such as housing transitions, medical appointments or probation requirements.
• Be aware of and proactively manage issues relating to media attention around previous convictions, including advising on measures to protect privacy and reputation where appropriate.
• Maintain regular contact with candidates during their first 12 months in employment through phone calls, meetings and ongoing mentoring support.
• Record all candidate and employer interactions, progress and outcomes on the Itris recruitment CRM database.

This is a non-exhaustive list of tasks and may be amended from time to time in line with the needs of the charity.

Our Interview Process

This vacancy will close on 6th September, with applications being shortlisted on 7th September.

If you are successful at the shortlisting stage, you will be invited to attend the first stage of our interview process on Tuesday 8th September, between 4:30pm and 7pm, at our new offices in Preston.

We want our recruitment process to give you the opportunity to get to know The Recruitment Junction (TRJ) just as much as it allows us to get to know you.

Rather than a traditional first interview, we will be holding a relaxed group recruitment evening with a ‘speed-dating’ style interview format. This is for applicants for all THREE DIFFERENT VACANCIES we’re hiring for, for the new Preston team.

The evening will begin with an introduction to TRJ from our CEO and Senior Leadership Team, giving you the opportunity to hear more about who we are, our values. the work we do and what it is like to be part of our team. You will also have the opportunity to ask questions in an open audience environment, allowing you to find out more about TRJ, our work and our organisation. Refreshments will also be provided.

You will then have a short, informal, face-to-face conversation with one of our hiring managers. This is designed to be a relaxed opportunity for us to learn a little more about you, while also giving you the chance to ask questions and decide whether TRJ is somewhere you would like to continue pursuing a career.

Following the first-stage event, we will invite successful candidates for a formal final interview.

Key dates:

• Applications close: 6th September
• Shortlisting: 7th September
• Stage One – Recruitment Evening: Tuesday 8th September, 4:30-7pm
• Stage Two – Formal Final Interview: Wednesday 16th September – time to be confirmed

We hope this approach creates a welcoming and informal first stage, giving you a genuine opportunity to learn more about TRJ, meet members of our team and decide whether we are a fit for each other.