Are you passionate about inclusive employment and skilled at building meaningful relationships with employers? Do you want to be part of a programme that helps people overcome barriers and thrive in work? Connect to Work is a new person-centred employment support programme designed to help individuals with a disability, health conditions or other barriers to find employment and sustain meaningful paid work. Fixed term: Until March 2029 Interviews: Week of 15th June There is full information about the role below and attached but, if you would like an informal discussion, please contact Jim Hynes - Connect to Work Lead on email Jim.hynes@brighton-hove.gov.uk About the role We're looking for a motivated Employer Engagement Officer to lead on employer and stakeholder relationships for the Connect to Work programme. This role is all about creating meaningful opportunities - working closely with local businesses, employment advisers and stakeholders to shape inclusive pathways into work for people who need tailored support. What you'll be doing: Building strong, lasting relationships with employers across all sectors to understand the benefits of supported employment, inclusive recruitment, and to create opportunities for participants. Working with employment advisers to understand participants' aspirations and match them with job opportunities you have identified through employer engagement activity. Demonstrating your understanding of the local labour market to inform service delivery and support strategic planning. Leading the programme's engagement and publicity strategy, including creating promotional materials and representing the service at forums and events to support participant recruitment and employer engagement. Supporting reporting, audits, assessments, and outcome evidence which demonstrates our delivery is compliant with the Individual Placement Support and Supported Employment Quality Framework models. What we're looking for: Proven experience in recruitment, business development, or employer engagement. A strong understanding of the barriers people face in accessing and retaining work - and the challenges employers face in recruitment. Experience creating new opportunities such as apprenticeships, jobs, or work placements. Excellent communication, negotiation, and relationship-building skills. Confidence presenting to networks and representing the programme externally. A proactive, organised approach with the ability to meet targets and manage competing priorities. A commitment to inclusion, safeguarding and collaborative work. Encouraging a diverse workforce Our city is known and loved for its diversity. Not only is the mixture of people, culture and skills vital to the economic and social development of the city, it's what makes Brighton & Hove such a great place to live, work and visit. We are committed to developing and retaining a workforce that is representative of the diverse communities we serve so we welcome applications from individuals from all backgrounds. In order to achieve our aims of proportionate representation, we particularly encourage applicants from a BME or White Other background as well as those who identify as disabled, male or trans. Find out more about our commitment to being a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone can achieve their potential by reading about our fair and inclusive actions, our anti-racism strategy and the work we are doing to encourage a diverse workforce (brighton-hove.gov.uk). Why work for us? As a council, we want to: • be connected • be confident • be innovative and creative • be diverse and inclusive • be healthy and psychologically safe For more information about our values and the benefits of working at the council, visit Why work for us which gives details of our wellbeing support, our benefits including leave and pensions as well as details of our training and development. How to apply Please read our Apply for a job at the council pages carefully. They give you all the guidance you need to complete your application as well as information on what will happen after you've submitted your application and at interview. As part of your application, you will need to provide your education and career history and answer some application/shortlisting questions. Your answers to the application/shortlisting questions are the most important part of your application as they will be used in the shortlisting process to assess whether you meet the essential requirements for the role that are set out in the person specification and to decide whether you should be offered an interview. Before you start your application, please read our Shortlisting questions guidance (brighton-hove.gov.uk) as this gives important advice which will increase your chance of success in the shortlisting process. AI advice for candidates We are interested in hearing about your experience and skills in your own words. While we value people who know how to use AI, we ask that you minimise using it in your application. We are keen to hear how your experience and skills align to our values and the skills and experience needed to perform well in our roles with clear real examples from you. To support you in this, we have guidance on using the STAR model which can help you ensure you are telling us your whole story. We also provide clarity on the skills we are looking for in our adverts and in the job description/person specification attached to each job advert. All the applications we receive are read by at least two hiring managers and we do not use AI in this process. Our experience of reading applications is that those that have heavily used AI contain generic paragraphs that are strikingly similar to other applicants' responses. This makes it extremely difficult to differentiate between applications, and doesn't give us enough evidence of your individual skills. There is a risk that we will therefore not be able to shortlist you. Instead, we recommend you ensure your application stands out by presenting clear examples of your actual skills and experiences in your own words. Additional information Your starting salary will be pro rata if the above position is less than 37 hours or term-time only. DBS statement options: Please note that this post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, and is subject to a Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) Check. We are a workplace that supports flexibility and employee wellbeing in the way we work whilst providing the best service for our customers. Team and service working arrangements are designed to support both employee work life balance and team collaboration. These would be part of your individual working arrangements alongside any personal preference agreed with your manager in advance of joining. Your contractual location will be the designated council office for your team and travel to and from your contractual location would be at your own expense.