Business Engagement Development Officer

We have an exciting new opportunity for you to join the Getting Ready for Employment and Training (GREAT) project as a Business Engagement Development Officer.

The GREAT project has been operating since 2017 and aims to support families to move into training and employment across Leicester city and the wider county. As a project led by Voluntary Action LeicesterShire (VAL), we work in collaboration with several organisations to deliver effective and tailored services to participants.

The project is funded by the European Social Fund and The National Lottery Community Fund. https://valonline.org.uk/the-great-project/

Our current partnership includes;

• Business in The Community
• Optima UK
• Personal Development Point
• Scalliwags Mobile Crèche

The GREAT Project is looking for a Business Engagement Development Officer to establish, expand and lead on building relationships with local employers. You will be involved in creating career opportunities for project participants by recruiting a diverse range of employers to become active partners and project ‘champions’ in developing business-to-business engagement. In addition to engaging with local organisations and stakeholders, a key part of the role will be to increase referrals to the project and expand employment opportunities for GREAT project participants.

The ideal candidate will ideally have established experience in business engagement and development combined with great networking skills. You will work to proactively engage and drive new leads and employment opportunities for project participants. You must be confident in your ability to build business relationships and achieve your targets.

This is a unique and rare combination of engagement, development, operational and brand development work.
A superb communicator, and able to prioritise your work in a fast-paced environment, you will have an established track record in working independently and as part of a high-performing team, balancing a variety of tasks.
Proven skills in engaging and motivating others (both face-to-face and remotely) to achieve outcomes and an ability to develop high quality information and resources are also necessary.
You will be networking with businesses to support our participants with their job aspirations to ensure they have a good “employment” experience. Experience in a role that requires a high level of compliance, or interfacing with employers, is desirable, but not essential.
Accuracy and attention to detail are needed as well as the ability to explain the project’s aims clearly to businesses with professionalism and a passion to change lives for the better.

You will be joining an established project team and be working across Leicester and Leicestershire. You will understand the needs and aspirations of our participants through discussion with team members and also understand local labour market trends through research and engagement.

You will have a proactive and dynamic approach, excellent technical and organisation skills, a keen eye for detail, combined with the ability to prioritise and multi-task. The project team works with structured processes and to tight timelines and targets, so flexibility and a “can do” attitude are a must.

We continually strive to be more inclusive, more diverse and flexible. We welcome applications from everyone. We particularly encourage applications from Men and Black/Black British candidates from or with lived experiences of Caribbean, African or other background, as these groups are under-represented in some of our teams.

Voluntary Action LeicesterShire (VAL) is a sector leading diverse and ambitious organisation, with a vision for growth. You will benefit from a competitive salary, a flexible and supportive working environment, 25 days annual leave, rising with service, plus bank holidays and a 6% employer pension contribution.