Employment Specialist

80 Reed in Partnership Ltd; East Midlands; Remote; GBP 31,000 - 35,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

25 days annual leave

Reed Pension Scheme

Leadership training

Development funds

Bi-annual pay reviews

Job summary

Reed in Partnership in Derbyshire is hiring an Employment Specialist to support jobseekers, identify barriers, and create tailored action plans to progress into employment.

You will deliver one-to-one guidance, including CV writing, interview preparation, and skills development, and you will work with local employers to identify opportunities.

The role requires travel within Derby and surrounding areas and offers a generous salary, flexible working options, and ongoing training.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 2 A-Levels or Level 3 Diploma.
• GCSE English Language at a minimum of a Grade B (or equivalent Level 2 qualification).
• Willingness to travel locally (e.g. to meet customers/employers).

Responsibilities

• Meet with and support a caseload of jobseekers in the community.
• Deliver personalised, one-to-one guidance to participants including CV writing and interview preparation.
• Meeting and exceeding performance targets and KPIs.
• Collaborating with participants to shift their mindset and build confidence to find and sustain work.
• Engaging with local employers to identify job opportunities.
• Signposting participants to internal and external stakeholders to address barriers such as health, housing, or financial challenges.
• Promoting the Connect to Work programme to generate referrals and raise awareness of its benefits.

Skills

Coaching

Customer service

Persuasion

Communication

Education

Two A-Levels or Level 3 Diploma

Job description

Reed in Partnership has been delivering public services since 1998. We are a British, family-owned company, whose mission has always been to positively transform people and their communities. This is reflected in our services, which we deliver to help people from all backgrounds and circumstances to change their lives for the better. Pay Range £31,000 to £35,000 Job Description Are you passionate about making a difference and helping others to fulfil their potential? Would you like to work in a role that puts the customer at the heart of everything we do, making a genuine positive impact? Then consider the role of Employment Specialist at Reed in Partnership! Please note, internal applications for this role close on 15/10/2026.

Who we are

Reed in Partnership's Employability Division aims to positively transform lives by helping individuals who are unemployed, economically inactive, or facing challenges such as health conditions, disabilities, or caring responsibilities to find sustainable employment. Through a wide range of tailored support services including one-to-one careers guidance, CV writing, interview preparation, and skills training, we have supported over 250,000 people on their journey into work. Our Connect to Work programme, funded by East Midlands Combined Authority, focuses specifically on supporting unemployed participants with complex barriers to employment, including those with a disability or health condition. We provide them with up to 12 months of personalised support to enter or re-enter the workforce.

What is the role about? Employment Specialists are the front line of Reed in Partnership, directly contributing to our mission by supporting jobseekers (our participants), engaging with individuals within communities across Derbyshire to generate referrals onto the programme, as well as promoting the benefits of the Connect to Work programme. Our participants are the lifeblood of our business and providing them with an excellent service is at the very core of the Employment Specialist role. Please note this role will require you to work and travel within Derby and the surrounding areas.

Taking Ownership

• Meeting with and supporting a caseload of jobseekers in the community, identifying their barriers and creating tailored action plans to progress them into employment.
• Delivering personalised, one-to-one guidance to our participants including CV writing, interview preparation, and skills development.
• Meeting and exceeding performance targets and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

Working Together

• Collaborating with participants to shift their mindset and build the confidence they need to find and sustain work.
• Engaging with local employers to identify job opportunities.
• Signposting participants to internal and external stakeholders to address specific barriers such as health, housing, or financial challenges.
• Promoting the Connect to Work programme within the community to generate referrals, raising awareness of its benefits and impact.
• Attending events within the local community to promote the Connect to Work programme to generate referrals, raising awareness of its benefits and impact.

Being Fair, Open, and Honest

• Providing inclusive support and advice to people from all backgrounds.

What’s in it for you?

A generous base salary (pro-rata for part time), and great flexibility with your working schedule, we offer training, development and progression opportunities.

• 25 days annual leave (pro-rata for part time) plus statutory bank holidays
• Reed Pension Scheme
• Award Winning Management & Leadership training
• Professional & Personal Development Funds
• Bi-annual pay reviews
• Plus much more that can be found on our website

At Reed in Partnership, our values - Fair, Open & Honest, Take Ownership, and Work Together, guide everything we do. Join us in delivering services that make a real difference.

To be successful in this role, we are looking for someone with:

• Ability to demonstrate coaching/mentoring experience and persuasion/influencing skills through previous work or social activities.
• Experience of working in a customer facing environment (i.e. Customer Services, Hospitality, Social Care, Customer Services, Sales).
• Experience of working in a fast paced, performance target driven environment.
• Willingness to travel locally (e.g. to meet customers/employers).
• A minimum of 2 A-Levels or an equivalent Level 3 Diploma.
• GCSE English Language at a minimum of a Grade B (or equivalent Level 2 qualification).
• OR achievement of a Level 2 in Literacy Assessment at interview stage OR International Equivalents.
• A minimum of 2 A-Levels or an equivalent Level 3 Diploma.
• GCSE English Language at a minimum of a Grade B (or equivalent Level 2 qualification).
• OR achievement of a Level 2 in Literacy Assessment at interview stage OR International Equivalents.
• A minimum of 2 A-Levels or an equivalent Level 3 Diploma.
• GCSE English Language at a minimum of a Grade B (or equivalent Level 2 qualification).
• OR achievement of a Level 2 in Literacy Assessment at interview stage OR International Equivalents.

Desirable Criteria:

• Experience working within a Community Engagement role (i.e. Business Development, Outreach)
• Fluency in more than one language

We aim to ensure that no candidate or employee receives less favourable treatment on the grounds of gender, race, disability, sexual orientation, religion or belief, age, gender reassignment, marital or civil partnership status, pregnancy or maternity. We offer a guaranteed interview scheme for disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria. Whilst some roles are advertised as Full-Time, we may be able to consider applicants who are looking to work on a Part-Time basis. If you would like to explore this further please discuss this with the talent partner for the role. Please note our ability to accommodate flexible working arrangements will vary from role to role, dependent on business requirements.

We have an on-going strategic priority to make this a great place to work. We are a family-owned company. We think this makes us unique compared to a lot of other companies. It is fundamental to the way our workplaces operate, the decisions we make and how we treat each other. Our workplaces have been recognised for multiple awards. Most recently we were really proud to be presented with three UK Employee Experience Awards in 2022: Gold for Best Talent Management Programme, Silver for Diversity and Inclusion and Bronze for Best Large Company to Work For. Our Work Experience is the combination of everything that's unique about us: our culture, our core values, our company meetings, our commitment to sustainability, our recognition programs, but most importantly, it's our people. Our employees are self-disciplined, hard working, curious, trustworthy, humble, and truthful. They make choices according to what is best for the team, they live for opportunities to collaborate and make a difference, and they make us the #1 Top Workplace in the area.

Phone: [phone] Email: [e-mail]