Employability Team Manager Full time: 37.5 hours Salary: £36,592.72 pa We have an exciting opportunity for a quality driven, professional and highly motivated individual to lead and manage regional team members working to Individual Placement & Support (IPS) principles in our established community based employability service. Since 2010, The Poppy Factory has provided an award winning employment support service to veterans facing physical and mental health challenges across England, Wales and NI. Demand for our service continues to grow and we are looking for someone to join our team and continue to take the service forward with the needs of the Ex-Armed Forces at the centre of what we do. Are you:

• An experienced manager in possession of strategic thinking who is keen to lead a motivated and established team?
• Able to identify & lead on projects both on time and to a high quality?
• Passionate about improving the lives of our Ex-Armed Forces after they leave service?
• A creative problem-solver who understands the importance of asking the right questions, and is thoughtful and tenacious in working with others to identify a range of possible solutions?
• Skilled at engaging, coaching and developing team members, championing high quality standards in order to deliver the best possible results for clients and employers?
• A collaborative worker, who is able to work closely with colleagues across the system to ensure service quality and strong governance?

The successful candidate for this role will have a sound track record of effectively delivering IPS employability services to people with mental and physical health problems, and will have a strong desire and ability to coach and motivate team members to attain ambitious targets. You will need excellent organisation, prioritisation and decision making skills. This role is home and field based so you will need to be self-motivated and comfortable with remote working, with the ability to maintain strong working relationships with colleagues. Special requirements

• Owing to the extensive travel requirements of the position it is necessary the post-holder holds a full UK Drivers licence; has access to a car for work purposes and possesses comprehensive motor insurance cover suitable for business use.
• The position requires an enhanced DBS check.

The Poppy Factory aims to be an exemplar employer. We provide competitive terms and conditions of employment including:

• A generous Company Pension scheme
• Company-paid life assurance

How to apply For the full job description and more information about the role, click here to download the Candidate pack. To apply for this position please send your CV and a covering letter clearly outlining how you meet the essential criteria in the person specification. You may address your covering letter to Sarah Casemore, Director of Operations. Closing date is midnight, 24^th April 2019 with interviews expected to take place 30 April 2019. For an informal conversation about the role, please contact Sarah Casemore, Director of Operations on 07785 667871. Click here to submit your application via our online portal

Employability Consultant (Birkenhead & The Wirral)

Full time: 37.5 hours

Salary: £29,565.51 pa experienced in IPS

This is an excellent opportunity to join The Poppy Factory at an innovative period of service expansion supporting veterans within an embedded NHS setting in the NW of England for a 3 year pilot project in collaboration with the University of Nottingham. It is funded by The Forces In Mind Trust (FiMT), a £35 million funding scheme run by the FiMT using an endowment awarded by The National Lottery Community Fund. We hope that you are inspired to join us in our important and life-changing work to create a world in which every workplace values and recognises the vast range of transferable skills that veterans can bring to an organisation. This is an exciting opportunity for a quality driven, professional and highly motivated and organised individual to join an established service working to the Individual Placement & Support (IPS) model. This role is offered on a 3 year fixed term basis.

Since we started The Poppy Factory employability service has facilitated over 1100 job starts for ex-armed forces throughout England, Wales and NI who experience some form of mental or physical health challenge in relation to work. Demand for our service has grown significantly; we are ambitious about supporting many more wounded; injured or sick veterans into meaningful and sustainable work and are now entering a further period of growth & research.

Are you:

• Keen to be involved at the start of developing a new integrated Poppy Factory employment service within an NHS clinical setting?
• Able to form effective & collaborative relationships quickly with a range of partners in the Wirral?
• Recovery oriented and hopeful about every person’s ability to succeed in employment, open minded about helping people move into competitive jobs regardless of physical or mental health issues?
• A creative problem-solver who asks questions to learn more about a situation and is thoughtful and tenacious in working with others to find a range of possible solutions?

The successful candidate for this role will have a sound track record of working with people with mental and physical health problems or disabilities and supporting them to gain and retain work, as well as employer engagement skills.

You will need IAG or equivalent, coaching and motivational skills, excellent communication, prioritisation, project management, data entry and caseload management skills. The role is site based at the Stein Centre, St Catherine’s Centre, Birkenhead so you will need to be self-motivated with the ability to develop and maintain strong working relationships with clinical teams and other colleagues.

The role also requires strong networking and relationship management skills with the ability to work collaboratively with both referral partners and local employers.

Prior IPS experience is essential.

The Poppy Factory aims to be an exemplar employer. We provide competitive terms and conditions of employment including:

• A generous Company Pension scheme
• Company-paid life assurance

How to apply

For the full job description and more information about the role, please click here to download the Candidate Pack

To apply for this position please send your CV and a covering letter clearly outlining how you meet the essential criteria in the person specification. You may address your covering letter to Sarah Casemore, Director of Operations.

The successful candidates will be subject to an enhanced DBS check.

Closing date is midnight on Monday 22 April 2019.

For an informal conversation about the role, please contact Pete Rhodes on 07468 476406 (no agencies please)

Click here to submit your application via our online portal

Volunteer Tour Assistants What is the role? Our Volunteer Tour Assistant’s support our Tour Guides during our busy Factory tours which are open to the general public. Visitor groups come from all walks of life- from adult social groups, to school groups and visitors with varying levels of disability. Our tours are very important as they help us to raise awareness about the unique history of The Poppy Factory as well as our life- changing work with disabled veterans. Tours run twice daily from Monday- Thursday at 10:30am and 1:15/ 2:00pm and consist of a 40 minute presentation and a 30 minute guided walking tour of our production area, followed by a brief spell in the gift shop on the till. We have also recently started running tours on Friday mornings. Main activities and tasks include:

• Welcoming visitor groups alongside TPF Tour Guides (35 max)
• Providing refreshments
• Answering visitor questions or directing questions to the Tour Guide
• Helping in the shop including using the till and wrapping items for sale.

What is the time commitment?

• An initial meeting face to face to discuss your motivations, skills and experience will take place as part of the recruitment process
• We ask volunteers to commit to a minimum of 2-3 tours per month.

Where will I be based? This role is based at The Poppy Factory, 20 Petersham Road, Richmond, TW10 6UR Apply for the role of Volunteer Tour Assistant To have an informal discussion about the role, please contact Alice Barrett, Volunteers Manager, on aliceb@poppyfactory.org / 0208 940 3305