Come and join our lovely Mentoring Project Team. We are a small but mighty charity on a a mission to help visually impaired young people to thrive. We have an opening for a Mentoring Project Officer. All the details are below. If this sounds like it could be the job for you, please apply as soon as possible – we are planning to interview week commencing 27/03/23.
Job Description
LOOK is a small but mighty charity, supporting visually impaired (VI) young people to thrive. We offer structured peer support for our young people and their parent / carers, through our mentoring project, support groups and events programme. We believe that nobody should have to cope alone. By creating community and connection amongst visually impaired young people and their families, we aim to boost confidence and increase access to social, employment and education opportunities.
Our mentoring project and support groups connect VI people to VI people, for guidance and support.
An exciting opportunity has arisen within LOOK for a Mentoring Project Officer to support our mentoring programme.
The LOOK online mentoring programme connects visually impaired young people with a more experienced visually impaired mentor. The project is structured and heavily supported by LOOK staff. Each member of the mentoring project team is responsible for a caseload of online mentoring pairs, and provides resources, advice and guidance and additional phone support to both mentor and mentee where needed.
The Mentoring Project Officer’s tasks will include:
- Responding to new enquiries from families about LOOK’s work, on the phone and email
- Monitoring and supporting the online mentoring platform
- Providing support to mentors and mentees with the mentoring project
- Working with the wider mentoring team to train new volunteer mentors
- Working with the wider team to evaluate and monitor the impact of the project and regularly report on this
- Creating information and resources for families and young people on a range of topics as required
- Creating learning resources and content for workshops, with the rest of the LOOK team
- Supporting volunteers to facilitate and deliver support groups, youth forums and schools workshops as required
- Taking an active role in helping to shape and develop the project in response to need
- Online event hosting and facilitating as required
- Reporting any safeguarding concerns to the relevant team member
- Reporting on common themes and topics emergent in the mentoring conversations to the wider team
- Reaching out to, and meeting with parents / carers and young people for face to face support and group activities as required
- Working with other organisations, partners and stakeholders to develop the project and create new opportunities for VI young people
- Report writing
- Contributing to LOOK communications output as required
- Contributing to all LOOK’s wider projects and events, face to face and online, as required
Person Specification:
- Great with young people
- Mature, credible and comfortable with client groups and professionals
- Reliable, punctual and organised
- Great team member, but also self-driven
- Confident, sensitive, compassionate and resourceful
The successful candidate will have the following skills:
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Excellent listening skills and approachable manner, in person and on the phone
- IT skills (Competent with social media, word processing, Google Suite and office packages and online events platforms)
- Group facilitation skills
- Engage with young people
- Presentation skills
Prior Knowledge / Experience (essential):
- Youth work / counselling / coaching
- Volunteer co-ordination
- Workshop / group facilitation
- Safeguarding
Prior Knowledge / Experience (desired):
- Understanding of the barriers faced by disabled children
- Understanding of the needs of visually impaired children and their families
The successful applicant will be required to:
- Work flexibly – you may be required to work in a shared office space when necessary, attend regional/national events, visit our Hereford HQ.
- Travel nationally (wider circumstances allowing)
- Be available for evening, weekend and residential (overnight) working
Practicalities:
Contract length: 12 months
Location: UK (national – home working with option to work in shared office space depending on location)
Application deadline: 21/03/2023
Expected start date: 17/04/2023
Job Types: Full-time, Contract
Salary: £21,000.00-£24,000.00 per year depending on experience (potential for London weighting)
LOOK UK is committed to equality. Please let us know if you require reasonable adjustments to be made to accommodate your needs. We work with Access to Work, to ensure that employees are supported to carry out their roles.
Please disclose any additional needs you may have prior to your interview, so we can allocate time and resources effectively.
How to apply:
Please send the following to: admin@look-uk.org
- Your CV
- A completed Application Form
- A short video in which you answer the following:
Tell us about a mentor in your life – how have they supported you? What do you think makes a great mentor?
The video should be no more than 1 minute 30.
If you are selected for an interview, we will ask you to deliver a short presentation, no longer than 5 minutes, on how you would encourage engagement amongst young volunteers (ages 18-35 years).
You must be available for an online interview week commencing: 27th March. Our desired start date is 17th April.
If you have any questions, please contact us at the same email address or on
