Job Title: Carer Recruitment Officer
Location: Belfast
Contract: Permanent - Part Time
Salary: £22,000 + £3,000 car allowance (pro rata)
Closing date: 20th September 2021
Interviews to be held on 28th September 2021
If you really want to make your mark in a rapidly growing business that is committed to improving the lives of children and young people, we have the role for you!
We have a fantastic opportunity for a Carer Recruitment Officer to join our team in Belfast, covering the whole of Northern Ireland. We want someone who places a focus on the positive outcomes of our children and young people.
This is your chance to join a supportive and caring, high achieving team at Kindercare.
About the Role:
We are looking for a Carer Recruitment Officer to help grow our family of foster carers. You will be responsible for generating local enquiries from various sources including online, social media and personal referrals, and for nurturing and supporting our potential foster carers. You will maintain contact with them through their journey from enquiry to approval, supporting the training and assessment process undertaken by your social work colleagues.
You will respond to enquiries, building a rapport with the applicant, informing the enquirer about the fostering task and the benefits of becoming a foster carer, answering any initial questions an enquirer may have. This will be followed by an initial visit to the enquirer’s home to gather further information in relation to potential applicants. Some of these initial visits will be undertaken online on a virtual platform.
The role is permanent. Core hours are between Monday to Friday, with flexibility required to work evenings and weekends to meet the needs of the business, for example responding to enquiries or holding local recruitment events. You will have a base at the Belfast office with the opportunity to work from home in line with business needs.
The focus of the role is to promote and inform potential applicants about fostering across the local community to help build our carer base. This will require coordination, engagement and recruitment of carers across Northern Ireland, and the ability to build positive working relationships with other Fostering Organisations to maximise opportunities to promote fostering.
You will have responsibility for the local Kindercare Facebook page, maximising all opportunities to promote fostering, promote the positive outcomes we achieve for our children and young people, and crucially, generate the interest of potential new foster carers.
You will be comfortable engaging with the public as well as existing foster carers and raising awareness of fostering. Working with Kindercare’s Registered Manager to exceed the local recruitment target, you will create opportunities to engage with existing carers to promote carer referrals. You will also collate evidence of previous local recruitment activity including carer referral activity and subsequent outcomes to inform future strategy.
You will be an effective communicator keeping colleagues and management updated with relevant information and weekly reports.
There is comprehensive induction training and support for this role.
Who we are looking for?
Ideally you will have experience in customer service and/or recruitment. An understanding of marketing and management of a local Facebook page would also help you succeed in the role; however, it is essential that you have strong communication skills to enable you to build rapport with members of the public and potential foster carers providing them with insight into the fostering task.
You must be proficient in excel database management and diary management, as well as demonstrating excellent spoken and written communication. A positive demeanour is also a must as you will be attending National Carer Recruitment Meetings where you may be required to present to a large group of professionals, where this is your time to shine!
Essential Criteria:
- A passion for growing our foster carer community
- Excellent verbal and written communication
- Excel database
- Self-motivated homeworker
- Flexibility
- Excellent organisational skills
- Confident in the navigation of social media especially Facebook
- Able to build rapport with your team
- Full driving licence
- Access to a car
About the Group
We are part of the National Fostering Group.
Our highly skilled and dedicated fostering community supports Local Authorities by providing short and long-term foster placements for thousands of vulnerable children and teenagers throughout the UK. With 100% of our 30 regional fostering agencies officially recognised by Ofsted, Welsh and Scottish regulators as either ‘Outstanding’ or ‘Good’, it is perhaps not surprising that more people choose to foster with our fostering agencies than any other fostering provider in the UK.
Why work for us?
- Holidays starting at 25 days per annum
- Extensive training suite
- Career development across the Group
- Professional support network
- Pension
- “Your Wellbeing Matters”
- Employee Rewards Hub
To apply, please click on the link below to access our online application form.
We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and we expect all employees to share this commitment and undertake appropriate checks.
We are an Equal Opportunities employer.