Heart of Birmingham Vocational College
“Since joining HBVC I have felt so lucky, to be here. I no longer have that Sunday night dread! Everyone is so friendly and happy to help, you are made to feel at home straight away. I have been given the correct training and support to do my job confidently. My role is varied, I get to meet so many of the learners and help them on their journey. This college really does put the learners first.” Sarah, Employability Coach, Joined September 2022
Have you ever thought of working with young adults with individual challenges in a specialist environment?
We are looking for a talented and inspiring SEN Employability Coach to join our growing team.
Salary - £22,464 - £26,508 (pay scale points 15 – 22) (actual gross p/a)
Reporting to – Employability & Careers Manager
Contract – Full Time, Term Time, Permanent
Note: This is a term time only role, you will be required to work during term time only, taking all college holidays. The salary range stated above is a pro-rata salary that already takes this into account, and the £ range stated is therefore the actual salary range for this position, with no further pro-rata reductions to be applied for term time only working.
We also offer all staff the option to join our 9 day fortnight working pattern – read on for more information.
A little about us:
Thank you very much for your interest in our position of Employability Coach here at Heart of Birmingham Vocational College (we all like to call the college ‘HBVC’, it’s so much easier to say!). This is a fantastic opportunity to join our successful Teaching and Learning team and contribute to our continued growth and success.
HBVC is an exciting and innovative college with a reputation for high-quality provision that is responsive to the needs of our learners. Based in Birmingham, Edgbaston and Redditch, we specialise in providing excellent education and support to learners with diverse and additional needs. We offer full-time Study Programmes that provide individualised learning experiences, whilst developing learner’s key employability and supported living skills. Our entire staff team are very passionate about making HBVC a great place for everyone to be and are committed to enabling learners to fulfil their aspirations. We have a unique approach to ensuring everyone feels a part of our college which is reflected in our core values of Openness, Determination, Excellence, Progress, Respect and Empowerment.
We have made it our mission to provide an inspirational learning environment for person centred vocational education in a community-based setting, enabling learners to achieve exceptional outcomes. Our vision is to empower our learners to prepare themselves for the next stage of their adult lives by providing them with transferable skills that enable them to become purposeful independent individuals and to find their place in their community.
We first opened our doors in 2014 with 10 learners and 3 staff. Since then, we have successfully grown the college to what it is today, with 147 students and 86 staff. We are an Ofsted rated ‘Good’ college and we are now looking for a Tutor to join our team and contribute towards our aim of achieving ‘Outstanding’ status.
A little about the role and what it’s like to work with us:
Our Employability Coaches support learners in a range of work placement settings linked to specific job roles/industries which enable them to achieve their aspirations and outcomes, for example, learners may access placements in industries such as construction/maintenance, hospitality and catering, hair and beauty, business and administration plus many more.
As you read this and consider whether this is the job for you, we would like to tell you a little about what it is like to work for HBVC. Our vision, values and mission encompass the views of all staff working with us and are at the core of everything we all do. We have a strong culture of high performance, continuous improvement, teamwork, and open communication. In return for your hard work and dedication, we can promise an investment in you and your future, offering a competitive remuneration and benefits package and excellent professional development.
Why you should choose us:
We’re all about our people; our staff, our learners, our families. We recognise that taking a new job can sometimes be a daunting prospect and we want to show you why choosing to work with us is a great career decision. Working in education can be very challenging and the wellbeing of our staff team is vitally important to us; our learners deserve our best, for our staff to give their best, they need to feel their best.
In addition to basics such as an employer pension scheme and flexible working policy, we offer enhanced maternity and paternity benefits, a cashback healthcare scheme, off-site counselling and occupational health support, and basic confidential health checks with our on-site medic. We’ll support you from your very first day with thorough induction and appraisal processes, and give you all the training you need to perform in you role.
This role is term time only, meaning all college holidays are your holidays too (16 weeks per year). We also operate an optional 9-day fortnight working pattern, which you can join from day 1; compress 10 working days’ worth of hours into 9, in a working pattern that suits you between our opening hours of 7:30am – 5pm Monday to Friday, and take every 10 th day (always a Friday) off.
We really are committed to ensuring all staff working with us have a positive work-life balance.
In summary:
If you are enthusiastic, well organised and have a good sense of humour, can be an outstanding role model for our learners then we would encourage you to consider applying for this role. Applications from candidates who may have experience and skills linked to specific vocational areas and/or those who may currently be working in industry but are wishing to explore a career change would also be very welcome. Vocational experience and skills in any area/industry would be of great interest to us and would be beneficial to our learners.
We welcome visits and would be happy to give you a tour of our college - we'll show you around, introduce you to staff and learners, and answer any questions you may have. Tours are a great opportunity for you to see our college 'in action' and get a real feel for what it's like to work here – give Wendy Lamb - Head of HR, a call on 0121 8090666 or email jobs@hbvc.ac.uk to book an appointment.
We look forward to receiving your application and discussing the role further with you.
Please download our job pack for more information on our college, and to find out why you should choose us for the next step in your career!
Contact Wendy Lamb, Head of HR on 0121 8090666 or email jobs@hbvc.ac.uk for more information and an application form, or you can download the job and application form from our website: https://www.hbvc.ac.uk/work-for-us/job-opportunities
We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of young adults and expect all staff to share this commitment. As this post involves working with or access to vulnerable children and adults, the successful candidate will be required to undertake an Enhanced Disclosure from the Disclosure & Barring Service including Children’s and Adults Barred List checks.
Closing date for receipt of applications: Wednesday, 08 th January 2025. Shortlisting: Thursday 9 th January 2025 Interviews: w/c 13 th January 2025 Anticipated start date: As soon as possible, subject to notice periods.
