This vacancy has now closed

Mentor Project Worker

  • Part time
  • £25,000 pro-rata
  • Home based with regular travel required in and around Edinburgh.
  • Closing 24th May 2023


  • Advertised from 10th May 2023
  • 28 hours a week. Fixed contract, until 31st March 2024.

Role

Volunteering Matters is a national volunteering and social change charity. We harness the unique power of volunteering to bring people together and build stronger, more resilient communities across the UK.

By bringing people together, we aim to resolve some of society’s most complex issues and have a real impact in communities. From tackling social isolation and loneliness; improving health and wellbeing; building skills, confidence and opportunities; and ensuring young people can become change makers in their community.

And we won’t stop until everyone in the UK has the opportunity to thrive.

In April 2021, the Volunteering Matters family grew to include ProjectScotland, who work to support young people facing multiple barriers or disadvantage to get on in life, through the power of volunteering. As part of our ProjectScotland offer, we have a national mentoring team, who recruit, train and support our diverse community of volunteer mentors across the country. Every young person we support through our projects has the opportunity to be matched to a mentor based on their personal needs, goals, interests and location. Each mentoring relationship and journey is very unique and the support a mentor can offer is dependent upon the goals their mentee has and what they want to achieve.

Mentoring is a vital component of the support we offer at ProjectScotland and we have an exciting opportunity to join our team in Edinburgh, strengthening our mentoring offer, and enhancing support for people engaged with our local services.

Role Purpose

We are looking for a talented, dynamic, and professional Mentor Project Worker who can support our efforts to provide a wraparound mentoring support offer to everyone engaged with our work across Scotland. The post will focus on supporting our existing work in Edinburgh, delivering end-to-end support to people with barriers to progress towards achieving employment, education or training. The right candidate will be someone who can work flexibly and demonstrate an understanding and total commitment to our organisational values.

This role is an exciting opportunity which calls for the successful candidate to support the growth of our mentoring provision in Edinburgh, recruiting and training new mentors, facilitating matches, and providing ongoing support for mentors. The post holder will also explore new avenues for mentor recruitment and work closely with our Edinburgh team and referral partners in the area.

Key Duties & Responsibilities

  • To recruit and train volunteer mentors across Edinburgh
  • Develop strong relationships with our diverse pool of mentors to ensure they feel supported, valued and listened to
  • Work closely with the mentoring team, volunteer mentors and beneficiaries to continually develop the project, specifically based on feedback from those impacted by what we do
  • Explore new avenues for mentor recruitment and develop and maintain relationships with referral partners
  • Create engaging content and share with our Communications Team so it can be promoted across our social media channels
  • To engage directly with our local beneficiaries, who have numerous barriers and challenges in their lives, and work with their Employability Coordinator, to understand their wants, needs and aspirations in order to make the best mentor match
  • To manage the risk assessment, quality assurance and audit processes as appropriate
  • Ensure monitoring, impact and evaluation information and data is collected and that the project meets its agreed targets, reporting format and schedule. Assisting the Mentor Manager with preparing reports to funders
  • Promoting and representing ProjectScotland and the wider Volunteering Matters family of brands
  • Contribute to the wider Volunteering Matters and ProjectScotland staff teams, upholding our values and commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion at all times

Person Specification

Skills

  • A sound and comprehensive understanding of the particular challenges and barriers that young people face
  • Outstanding written and verbal communication skills
  • Excellent organisational and IT skills
  • Excellent people skills with the ability to build professional, long-term relationships with others
  • Person-focused, and adaptable – able to go from delivering mentor training to chatting with a nervous beneficiary
  • Ability to manage a busy workload and prioritise accordingly
  • Strong attention to detail and a willingness to accurately record all interactions
  • An understanding of safeguarding and the importance of following the organisation’s policy and procedures related to this
  • An ability to be creative when it comes to problem solving as well as creating content for social media
  • A passion for supporting people and in particular, an understanding of the value and impact mentoring can have
  • Confidence delivering training virtually and face to face

Experience

  • Experience working with and supporting a diverse range of people in a community setting is desirable
  • Demonstratable relationship management experience with a wide range of partners and stakeholders
  • Proven ability to communicate effectively and work as part of a team
  • Experience delivering training would be advantageous

Qualifications

  • Relevant experience and values alignment is more important for this role than specific qualifications

Other

  • Although home-based, our model of delivery requires being “on the ground” in communities, and so a regular presence in, and travel within Edinburgh is required.
  • Some infrequent evening and weekend working may also be required.
  • All aspects of the role will be risk assessed.
  • Internet access to enable remote working is essential. IT equipment and infrastructure will be supplied.

This role requires membership of the PVG (Protection of Vulnerable Groups) scheme. Having a conviction will not necessarily cause a barrier to employment.

Volunteering Matters Values & Ways of Working:

In all that we do, Volunteering Matters embrace a philosophy of ‘Freedom within a Framework’ and are guided by our values:

  • We are Empowering
  • We are Inclusive
  • We are Compassionate
  • We are Positive
  • We are Straightforward

N.B. This job description is not an exhaustive list of tasks but is a guide to the key duties of the post. The post-holder is expected to take on any other duties from time to time which are reasonably required by their manager.

Application notes

Covering letter and CV to Matt Sellar – matt.sellar@volunteeringmatters.org.uk

Closing date: Wednesday 24th May