Description

ORGANIZATIONAL OVERVIEW

STRIVE is a national leader with a mission to provide pathways to life-changing careers and opportunities through comprehensive professional training, intensive personal support, and self-empowerment for those who face societal barriers to advancement. Predominately operating in low-income, Black and Brown communities, STRIVE celebrates 85,000 graduates since its founding in 1984. STRIVE's purpose is to ensure that everyone can achieve upward mobility and financial empowerment for themselves and their families and offers free programs to adults of various ages, genders, and with justice-impacted backgrounds. See why STRIVE Works in this 2-minute video or learn more at strive.org. 

STRIVE is active in 14 U.S. locations: in four directly operated sites and through 10 licensed partners across the country. STRIVE is embarking on a growth plan in order to have the capacity to serve 10,000 individuals a year by 2033. To achieve this ambitious goal, we need to significantly expand our capacity in locations we are currently in and expand to new communities that are in need of our services.

POSITION SUMMARY

The Career Skills Instructor is tailored for a dynamic and engaging individual responsible for delivering STRIVE's Active Career Exploration curricula and cultivating relationships with program participants. Through group discussions and activities, the Career Skills Instructor will develop a learning environment that increases social and emotional capabilities while also preparing young adults with the skills to enter the local workforce. This role will prepare Future Leaders program participants to transition successfully to a post-workshop placement into either employment, education, or industry-recognized credential training experience. 

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Deliver lessons that help promote workforce readiness standards and career exploration from the Future Leaders Program Manual & curriculum.
• Establish and maintain a weekly, monthly, and quarterly schedule of instruction.
• Oversee a project-based service-learning initiative with young adults engaged in work readiness programming. 
• Develop and implement activities that supplement life skills curriculum teachings and support career pathway pursuits and exploration. 
• Foster a welcoming and supportive classroom environment (either in-person, hybrid, or remote) for the STRIVE Future Leaders Active Career Exploration Workshop.
• Assist participants in workshop-assigned lessons, career exploration activities, or technology support as needed. 
• Oversee classroom workshops experience, including keeping attendance, counseling participants regarding their progress/pace, and developing a youth adult-centric environment that supports nontraditional learning styles and modalities.
• Provide support to the Job Development and Case Management staff in cultivating new employment opportunities for young adults and provide supplemental career counseling. 
• Support referrals to local Industry Recognized Credential testing sites for youth when ready for the credentialing exams.
• Serve as a liaison between the program and local community college to provide targeted support to students engaged in educational and training experiences at partnering community college campuses. 
• Provide retention services for one year, ensuring that participants stay on their career plan and prepare for potential career and education advancement.

OTHER DUTIES: 

• Demonstrated experience working with people of diverse socioeconomic, cultural, and ethnic backgrounds, including those with diverse levels of academic preparation and varying physical and learning abilities.
• Experience with Learning Management Systems (LMS) and or knowledge management platforms, high level of digital literacy, and comfort troubleshooting and coaching young adults to access STRIVE training materials.
• Performs additional duties and projects as assigned. 

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree encouraged or proven track record as a young adult practitioner
• Experience working with justice impacted young adults or young adults who are at the pre-entry of justice involvement is strongly preferred.
• Experience and or knowledge of local labor market demands, and workforce development boards are preferred. 
• Knowledge and experience of young adults' development needs are required. 
• Some experience in teaching or facilitating classroom activities or leading structured activities to young adults in an Out of School Time program setting is required. 
• Strong communication skills are required, both written and oral.
• Must be flexible, enjoy working with young adults, and have a solid initiative to work in a team.
• Intermediate in Microsoft Office or Google Applications, Windows applications, internet, and email required. Experience with cloud-based software such as Apricot or Salesforce is helpful.