Employment & Training Spec III - Anticipated Vacancy

State of Maine; Michigan; On-site; USD 47,000 - 66,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Retirement plan

Paid holidays

Vacation leave

Job summary

The State of Maine is seeking an Employment & Training Specialist III to direct and coordinate testing, counseling, recruitment, and referral services across multiple locations in Maine. This role also manages budgets, contracts, and grants to meet program goals.

The incumbent designs and reports on employment programs, communicates effectively in writing, and may handle eligibility determinations, assessments, and career placement as part of the responsibilities.

Qualifications

• Interpersonal skills: shows understanding, friendliness, courtesy, tact, empathy, concern, and politeness to others.
• Customer/Quality skills: anticipates, monitors, and meets the needs of customers and responds effectively.
• Accountability: holds self to high-quality, timely, cost-effective results and takes responsibility for actions.
• Planning/organization: organizes work, sets priorities, and determines resource requirements.
• Teaching others: coaches and mentors others, provides feedback on tasks.

Responsibilities

• Directs and coordinates testing, counseling, recruitment, and referral services to meet program goals.
• Prepares, negotiates, and monitors program budgets, contracts, and grants.
• Develops, designs, oversees, evaluates, and reports on employment and training programs and performance data.
• Writes reports and responds to inquiries to document services and activities.
• Coordinates program services with other support services to meet client needs.
• Confers with special interest groups to provide information on program goals and objectives.
• Makes presentations to groups to convey information.
• May determine eligibility, conduct assessments, case management, career counseling, and job placement.

Skills

Interpersonal skills

Customer quality skills

Accountability

Planning/organization

Teaching others

Job description

Department of Labor - Bureau of Employment Services Employment & Training Specialist IIIClass Code: 0703 (Professional/Technical)Opening Date: 09/11/2026Closing Date: 09/25/2026Location: Portland, Lewiston, Augusta, Bangor, or RocklandPosition Type: Full TimeGrade/Salary: 22 - $47,174.40 to $65,832.00/AnnuallyCurrently, this position is not eligible for visa sponsorship or STEM OPT extensions.

DESCRIPTION:

• Directs and coordinates, work activities including testing, counseling, recruitment, and referral services in order to ensure program goals and objectives are met.
• Prepares, negotiates, and monitors program budget, contracts, and grants in order to ensure sufficient resources to meet established goals and objectives.
• Develops, designs, oversees, evaluates, and reports on employment and training programs, monitoring procedures, surveys, and program performance data in order to maximize program effectiveness and efficiency and recommend program changes.
• Writes reports and responds to inquiries in order to document services and program activities and provide information.
• Coordinates program services with other support services in order to provide for client needs.
• Confers with special interest groups in order to provide information on program goals and objectives.
• Makes presentations to small and large groups in order to convey information.
• May be responsible for determining eligibility, conducting and interpreting assessments, case management, career counseling, and job placement.

ENTRY LEVEL KNOWLEDGES, SKILLS AND ABILITIES REQUIRED:

• Knowledge of the agency goals, objectives, procedures, and policies.
• Knowledge of occupational groups, job families, and employers.
• Ability to understand and interpret applicable federal and state laws, rules, regulations, policies, and guidelines.
• Ability to manage an employment and training program.
• Ability to communicate effectively orally and in writing.
• Ability to facilitate workshops and present information to large groups

FULL PERFORMANCE KNOWLEDGES, SKILLS AND ABILITIES REQUIRED:

• Ability to identify and analyze problems, reach logical conclusions, and make sound recommendations.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

Any combination of education and/or work experience that demonstrates competency in:

• Interpersonal Skills: Shows understanding, friendliness, courtesy, tact, empathy, concern, and politeness to others; develops and maintains effective relationships with others; may include effectively working with individuals who are difficult, hostile, or distressed; relates well to people from varied backgrounds and different situations; is sensitive to cultural diversity, race, gender, disabilities, and other individual differences, effectively communicates and works with coworkers as team members.
• Customer/Quality Skills: Anticipates, monitors, and meets the needs of customers and responds to them in an effective, appropriate manner. Demonstrates commitment to identifying customers' apparent and underlying needs and continually seeks to provide the highest quality service and product to all customers.
• Accountability Skills: Holds self accountable for measurable high-quality, timely, and cost-effective results. Determines objectives and sets priorities. Accepts responsibility for own actions and decisions. Accountable to own development including learning necessary job knowledge and associated laws, rules, and policies. Identifies and participates in learning opportunities. Complies with established control systems and rules.
• Planning/Organization Skills: Organizes work, sets priorities, and determines resource requirements; determines short- or long-term goals for self and strategies to achieve them. Using flexibility and resiliency skills, appropriately and effectively adjusts work, plans and priorities to changing circumstances. Monitors own progress and evaluates outcomes.
• Teaching Others: Helps others learn through formal or informal methods, identifies training needs, provides constructive feedback, coaches others on how to perform tasks, acts as a mentor.

Contact Information:

Questions about this position should be directed to: [e-mail]

Benefits of working for the State of Maine:

No matter where you work across Maine state government, you find employees who embody our state motto "Dirigo" or "I lead" as they provide essential services to Mainers every day. We believe in supporting our workforce's health and wellbeing with a valuable total compensation package, including:

• Work-Life Fit - Rest is essential. Take time for yourself using 13 paid holidays, 12 days of sick leave, and 3+ weeks of vacation leave annually. Vacation leave accrual increases with years of service, and overtime-exempt employees receive personal leave.
• Health Insurance Coverage - The State of Maine pays 85%-95% of employee-only premiums ($11,196.96 - $12,514.32 annual value), depending on salary. Use this chart to find the premium costs for you and your family, including the percentage of dependent coverage paid by the State.
• Dental Insurance - The State of Maine pays 100% of employee-only dental premiums ($387.92 annual value).
• Retirement Plan - The State contributes the equivalent of 14.06% of the employee's pay towards the Maine Public Employees Retirement System (MainePERS) for MSEA, or 18.86% for Confidential employees.
• State employees are eligible for an extensive and highly competitive benefits package, covering many aspects of wellness. Learn about additional wellness benefits for State employees from the Office of Employee Health and Wellness.

Note: Benefits may vary somewhat according to specific collective bargaining agreements and are prorated for anything less than full-time.

There's a job and then there's purposeful, transformative work. Our aim is to create a workplace where you can learn, grow, and continuously refine your skills. Applicants demonstrate job requirements in differing ways, and we appreciate that many skills and backgrounds can make people successful in this role.

As an Equal Opportunity employer, Maine State Government embraces a culture of respect and awareness.

We are committed to creating a strong sense of belonging for all team members, and our process ensures an inclusive environment to applicants of all backgrounds including diverse race, color, sex, sexual orientation or gender identity, physical or mental disability, religion, age, ancestry, national origin, familial status or genetics.

If you're looking for a great next step, and want to feel good about what you do, we'd love to hear from you.

Please note reasonable accommodations are provided to qualified individuals with disabilities upon request.