Career Connect

WELCOME

Thank you for your interest in Career Connect.

I am looking forward to welcoming a new member of our Senior Leadership Team in the role of Commercial Director to support our growth strategy and continue our diversification plans. As our new CEO, appointed in January 2023, I have developed a structure to take us in to this next phase of growth and this role is a key part of that.

We want to create and deliver services that have the maximum positive impact on the people we serve. Our commercial offer is a key part of that impact and we believe we can offer the best in our field. We already have a thriving offer to schools and colleges, a growing Accredited Training Centre and a developing Outplacement offer.

We are looking forward to taking these, alongside new products, to the next level. As this is a new role, you will have the opportunity to create new opportunities and shape your own team, whilst working as part of a talented team of committed and passionate colleagues. This is an exciting time to be joining us and we know the right person in this role will be able to make a real difference.

S.Clark

Sheila Clark Chief Executive Officer

OUR VISION, MISSION AND VALUES

Career Connect seeks to empower, educate and support individuals, communities and organisations in all aspects of the career journey.

Our services are delivered by professional and experienced teams across the following areas:

Professional careers guidance and employer encounters in schools.

Support for young people who are at risk of or Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET), reaching those who are vulnerable or from under-served groups.

Careers support and guidance for adults looking for work, including those from minority groups, through services in other languages including Arabic.

Employment, Education and Training support to offenders and ex-offenders.

A range of fully accessible, accredited training programmes for careers professionals run face-to-face or digitally.

Our Vision

A society where every individual realises their full potential

Our Mission

To drive social mobility by enabling more people to access and succeed in education, training and employment

Our Values

Inclusive: we believe diversity is a strength and each person should be supported to achieve the best possible outcomes, irrespective of their background.

Person-centred: we care about people as individuals, we advise and advocate on their behalf so that they can achieve their goals.

Aspirational: we are committed to raising aspirations and achieving a greater level of social mobility.

Impartial: we work independently as a charity, to broaden horizons and help people to find an opportunity that’s right for them.

Professional: we are passionate about our work; we are highly skilled and knowledgeable, working with integrity to achieve results.

ABOUT US

We are a charity committed to supporting young people and adults to realise their potential.

We deliver our mission through high quality and professional career management, employment and training services delivered in schools, in the community and in prisons.

We commission high quality research to help shape our services, contribute to policy debates and share best practice. We are passionate about social mobility and helping the most disadvantaged to create a better future.

Our History

We were established in 2001 as part of the Connexions network, becoming a charity in 2014. During 2021/22 we worked with 67,292 across a whole range of contracts incuding 8 Local Authorities, 150 schools and 12 prisons. Since becoming a charity we continue to diversify our services, delivering programmes to a range of young people and adults and in new settings including criminal justice.

The charity has always been focused on innovation and has delivered ground-breaking programmes including two Social Impact Bond programmes, New Horizons and Unlocking Potential. New Horizons focused on those Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) and at risk of NEET supporting 4,222 young people delivering £10.56m worth of outcomes with an outlay of £4.5m. This was followed by our second programme, Unlocking Potential (UP), with an additional focus on young people facing mental health and well-being barriers that increased their risk of becoming NEET. UP supported 4,040 young people delivering £9.9m worth of outcomes against an outlay of £4.2m. These programmes delivered an above target return for our social investors alongside a strong evidence of impact in independent evaluations.

We have also utilised our leading expertise in Careers guidance to provide consultancy internationally in Sri Lanka, UAE and more recently Bahrain delivering training and supporting them to design an all age Career service.

WHY WE ARE HERE

Educational inequality

A child from a disadvantaged background is 18 months behind when they reach their GCSE’s and are three times more likely to be excluded than their better off peers.

Social mobility

Those from better-off backgrounds are almost 80% cent more likely to be in a professional job than their working-class peers. This immobility has remained stagnant over the past four years.

Re-offending rates

48% of adult offenders are re-convicted of another offence within one year of release.

NEET levels

In June 2020 there were 765,000 young people (aged 16-24) categorised as NEET (Not in Education, Employment, or Training), 11.1% of the relevant population.

What we do

Our services are focused on delivering the highest quality services to participants on our programmes and cover several key areas including;

• Providing professional career management services and employer encounters in schools

• Supporting young people who are at risk of or NEET

• Providing information and guidance for those who are looking for work

• Delivering Employment, Education and Training support to offenders and ex-offenders

• Delivering a range of accredited training programmes

2023 KEY STRATEGIC PRIORITIES

• We believe there are significant opportunities to enhance our services through digital delivery methods, and provide better tools and insight for our people through improved technology provision.

• The majority of the charity’s funding currently comes from local and national government. Although this will remain a key funding source we are moving to a more hybrid funding model, which includes Trusts and grants, philanthropy and community fundraising.

• Career Connect’s services are mainly delivered in the NW, although we have provided programmes elsewhere, including internationally. We are targeting expansion into new geographical areas, especially across the North utilising our current skills and experience.

• We are exploring new service offerings, including career transitions/outplacement services for companies and expanding our schools services to work with children and young people earlier, including delivery in Primary schools.

• We are investing in enhancing our approach to Research and Impact, ensuring that we can improve our services, influence policy and share best practice.

Our key objectives

As a charity committed to helping people realise their full potential we have set a number of ambitious objectives to achieve over the next five years.

By 2025 we want to achieve the following...

Our impact:

• Working with over 100,000 people annually supporting them across careers, employment and training.

• Achieving satisfaction rates for our services in excess of 95%.

• Producing at least two research publications annually that influence the achievement of our mission.

• Working in 10% of England’s secondary schools.

Our people:

• Recognised as a Best Companies Top 100 employer for non-profits, reflecting our commitment to engaging our people.

• A team that reflects the diversity of the people we support on our programmes.

• An accredited Living Wage employer.

• The Investors in Diversity accreditation.

Our turnover last year was £14.4m and we have reserves in excess of £4.0m, putting us in a strong position finically. Our funding currently comes from the following sources;

• Local Authorities – Across Liverpool City Region and Greater Manchester

• Schools and Colleges across the UK

• Careers and Enterprise Company

• Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service

• European Social Fund

EQUITY, DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION STATEMENT

Career Connect is fully committed to making equality and diversity a reality for the participants we serve.

We do everything possible to involve participants to ensure that they have access to services, and that these services are effective irrespective of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, or any other individual characteristic that may limit a person’s opportunities in life. We value the diversity of the local area and want services to be fully accessible, relevant and meaningful to all our service users.

We will continue to challenge stereotyping and support individuals considering opportunities in non-traditional areas. Our modes of delivery will be accessible so that all services can be understood and used by those with learning difficulties and disabilities, as well as those less familiar with or able to access web-based technology. Equality and diversity is integral to the development of the service and we will always monitor the take-up of services – and the outcomes achieved – by these groups.

ORGANISATION CHART

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Total staff – 315 FTE

DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH & EVALUATION

DIRECTOR OF HR

DIRECTOR OF FINANCE

DIRECTOR OF OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT & FUNDRAISING

DIRECTOR OF DIGITAL & IT

CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER

COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR

DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS ALL LA CONTRACTS

SENIOR OPERATIONS MANAGER PERFORMANCE YOUTH CONTRACTS

ANWC MANAGING DIRECTOR

ROLE DESCRIPTION

Job Title: Commercial Director

Responsible to: Chief Operating Officer

Job Purpose

The Commercial Director role is a key member of the Senior Leadership Team, reporting to the Chief Operating Officer (COO). As an experienced and efficient leader, you will maintain control of diverse commercial areas and procedures.

• Developing and implementing commercial strategies according to the Charity’s strategy and objectives aiming to accelerate growth.

• Conducting market research and analysis to create detailed business plans on commercial opportunities (expansion, growth etc.)

• Understanding the requirements of existing customers to ensure their needs are being met.

Key Responsibilities

• Monitor performance of commercial activities using key metrics and prepare reports for senior management.

• Design and implement the Charity’s commercial strategies, plans and procedures.

• Act to acquire new customers and manage client relationships (new and existing).

• Collaborate with and coordinate diverse teams (marketing, new business etc.)

• Build and maintain profitable partnerships with key stakeholders.

• Assist in setting financial targets and budget development and monitoring.

• Set comprehensive goals for performance and growth.

Terms and Conditions

Salary: £60,000

Pension: Scottish Widows Defined Contribution Scheme

Probationary Period: 6 months

Notice Period: 3 months

• Establish policies that promote the Charity culture and vision.

• Encourage maximum performance.

• Evaluate performance by analysing and interpreting data and metrics.

• Write and submit reports to the SLT and the Board of Trustees.

• Maximise business development opportunities.

• Manage relationships with partners/ stakeholders and maintain the reputation of the Charity.

• Act as a positive role model and inspirational leader.

Corporate Duties and Responsibilities

• Ensure efficiencies are achieved in the delivery of services across the wider Career Connect portfolio, including working in an integrated way across contracts.

• Promote the safeguarding and welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults in accordance with the Career Connect Safeguarding policy and procedures.

• Helping to maintain a safe and healthy working environment in accordance with the Career Connect Health and Safety policy and procedures.

• Respect the confidentiality of all matters in relation to employment and clients. Comply with the requirements of the Data Protection Act 2018 and other legislation with regard to the processing of any personal data.

• Promote and maintain the Career Connect policies on Equality, Dignity at Work and Code of Conduct.

• Take responsibility for own continuous professional development, by identifying and undertaking learning and development opportunities and alerting line manager where support is needed.

• Implement and follow Career Connect policies and procedures to promote business continuity in emergency situations.

• Act in a ‘risk aware’ rather than risk averse way. Every member of staff, from the directors through line managers to the individual employee must be aware of the nature of risk, and the agreed system of control.

This job descriptions sets out the main duties of the post at the date when it was drawn up. Such duties can vary from time to time without changing the general character of the post or the level of responsibility entailed.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

Essential Experience, Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Proven experience in the commercial field.

• Understanding of broader business functions such as HR, Finance, Compliance, Marketing etc.

• Proven understanding of corporate governance.

• Effective management of budgets in excess of £1m.

• Demonstrable competency in strategic planning and business development.

• Working knowledge of data analysis and performance metrics.

• Outstanding organisational and leadership abilities.

• Excellent interpersonal skills, commercial acumen and exemplary work ethics.

• Aptitude in decision-making and problemsolving.

HOW TO APPLY

The recruitment for this role is being supported by Prospectus on behalf of Career Connect. Please apply via the Prospectus website with a CV and supporting statement (of no more than 1000 words). Please ensure that you have included mobile, work and home telephone numbers, as well as any dates when you will not be available or might have difficulty with the recruitment timetable.

At Prospectus we believe passionately that a truly inclusive workplace leads to increased social impact. We are committed to supporting our clients build more inclusive teams. To understand how we are performing, we ask that you kindly complete the brief equal opportunities questionnaire when you submit your application via our website. Please be assured that your responses are kept confidential, separate from your candidate record, are not part of any application you make, and that the consultants never see individual responses to the questionnaire.

https://jobs.prospect-us.co.uk/jobs/184625commercial-director/

Recruitment Timetable

Deadline for applications: 9th July, Midnight

Interviews with Prospectus: w/c 17th July

Interviews with Career Connect: w/c 31st July

Second stage interviews: 10-11th August

Queries

If you wish to have an informal discussion about the opportunity, please contact our retained advisors jane.ray@prospect-us.co.uk or sam.badenoch@prospect-us.co.uk at Prospectus.