Employability practitioner

This occupation is found in small, medium or large organisations which sit within any of the public, private or charitable sectors. These organisations will deliver employability support through local and national contracts across different public services such as back to work programmes, careers advice and guidance, housing, probation, health, social care, apprenticeships and skills development.

The broad purpose of the occupation is to work with individuals (service users) who are distanced furthest from the labour market, helping them to address and overcome obstacles to securing suitable and sustainable employment. Employability Practitioners may specialise in working with a specific group of service users and will devise strategies to address and overcome the multiple and complex barriers to employment, and to improve their employability prospects, with the end goal being to find employment or to progress in work if they are already employed. This requires a broad appreciation of the types of public services, community offerings and funding streams available and an understanding of how these fit together so that they can put in place a bespoke plan of support that takes a holistic approach to the whole service user. Employability practitioners will be aware of the growing green economy with the UK Government’s commitment to moving to net zero carbon emissions by 2050 and the impact this has for current and future employability needs.

In their daily work, an employee in this occupation interacts with service users. This can include individuals who have or may have one or more of the following; mental health conditions, physical health conditions, disabilities, generational unemployment, social barriers e.g. lone parenting, addiction or substance misuse, low levels of education/attainment, language barriers i.e. English is not their first language, financial difficulties, ex-forces, ex-offenders, youth unemployment barriers etc. This list is not exhaustive. Employability Practitioners are responsible for safeguarding their services users from abuse and neglect as well as adherence to the Government’s PREVENT strategy which aims to protect vulnerable people from radicalisation and/or extremism. They will also interact with their colleagues, employers who are providing employment to service users, recruitment companies, public services, other community and support organisations that the service user is accessing and other key stakeholders. They will sit within a team of other Employability Practitioners who all report into a Team Manager and will usually work normal working hours however there may be times when they have to work evenings and weekends if any of their service users are employed and need to be contacted outside of these times.

An employee in this occupation will be responsible for supporting a caseload of the hardest to help individuals to change behaviours and develop knowledge and skills to improve their employability. All interactions and interventions that the employee has with service users will be recorded and regularly updated on the relevant in-house company computer systems. They will also be responsible for undertaking practitioner development and supporting colleagues through coaching and mentoring. The role will involve gathering data and information through research to make recommendations and inform service delivery through evidence-based improvements. They will also liaise with employers, advocating on a servicer user’s behalf, to find the right opportunity, based on their wants, needs and aspirational employment/career goals. They will be responsible for developing relationships with external stakeholders and to identify business development opportunities for the benefit of the local community and generating referrals of service users. An Employability Practitioner can be based in an office where the service users travel to meet them or equally they can be field based and will meet with service users out in the community in agreed locations.