Employment Guidance Counselor (Temporary)

The current vacancies are in the Workforce Solutions department. 

Are you passionate about walking alongside families as they build toward stability, employment, and lifelong success? Join Workforce Solutions as an Employment Guidance Counselor and be a catalyst for change in the lives of individuals participating in the Minnesota Family Investment Program (MFIP).

This position in Workforce Solutions provides employment guidance counseling for individuals receiving services in Minnesota Family Investment Programs (MFIP). The Employment Guidance Counselor position provides full scope of employment services and case management including orientation, intake, assessment, career counseling, goal planning, employment plan development, referrals, community resource coordination, a documentation/verification, and full family centered support. 

The candidate must have a services mindset that utilizes a strength-based approach, coach approach and motivational interviewing that ensures families are at the center of program requirements in working toward family stability and employment and education goals. The individual will need to demonstrate the ability to collect and track documentation, maintain and update case records electronically, ongoing engagement and communication and time management are additional required skills. 

Basic Function:

To provide employment guidance counseling to facilitate the employment process for individuals who are public assistance and social service recipients, economically disadvantaged, dislocated workers, and/or unemployed, to guide them as they pursue obtaining a diploma, GED or other training, obtaining or maintaining employment, or improving their employment status. To perform related duties as assigned. 

1. Interview potential participants in order to determine eligibility and assess employment and educational status and prospects with respect to the individual's interests, abilities, education, experience, aptitudes, needs and labor market demands.  
2. Work with program participants to develop an individualized employability plan that focuses on participant potential, addresses employment and education barriers, and structures activities toward education and employment goals.
3. Provide follow-up and support services to individuals by monitoring and documenting participants' accountability in program progress in implementing their employability plan and reaching established education and vocational goals; resolving employment problems through ongoing counseling with program participants and continued counselor contact with schools, employers, and other service providers as needed; and, when and if necessary, initiate welfare sanctions for participants who are not in compliance.
4. Achieve individual performance goals to contribute to overall program performance outcomes.
5. Maintain case records and documentation of eligibility assessments; management information system tracking; employability development plans and participant contracts; service referrals; and expenditures the counselor has authorized for vocational training, support services and employment related equipment and expenses.
6. Provide vocational information on education and/or employment options, working conditions, training programs, financial aid opportunities, refugee services, and current labor market conditions to program participants, community agencies and other County service providers.
7. Identify barriers to participants completing their education or obtaining employment including physical, psychological, educational, cultural, familial, attitudinal and chemical abuse problems.
8. Recommend, schedule, and coordinate services for program participants with community agencies and with medical and social service professionals to address identified needs. 
9. Identify financial aid programs available to individuals and advise them of the effects of such programs on TANF, food support, and childcare and housing subsidies.
10. Identify support service needs and make referrals as appropriate; facilitate crisis counseling, intervention and referral to meet emergency needs for food, housing, legal assistance, pregnancy counseling, physical safety and financial management; make referrals to appropriate community service providers and culturally specific programs as appropriate.
11. Determine need for specific achievement, aptitude, interest or psychological testing; refer program participants for testing or administer tests; analyze and interpret test results; and discuss results with participants as part of their overall vocational and educational assessment.
12. Develop and conduct one-to-one or workshop sessions to build job seeking and job-keeping skills, goal setting, resume writing, self-esteem and to foster positive attitudes. 
13. Administer and interpret various assessment tools and evaluation instruments that highlight program participants’ employment needs, skills and abilities.
14. Research job market conditions and educational resources to develop vocational guidance resource materials by evaluating school placement statistics; researching news reports, professional journals and Dept. of Labor publications; visiting educational institutions and interviewing school personnel and staff at the Dept. of Education; and conferring with professionals and participants from other employment programs.
15. Develop and maintain relationships with other service professionals and agencies, including those providing services to refugees, in order to facilitate individual’s access to community resources and to evaluate effectiveness of these programs.
16. Represent the department at appeal hearings in relation to services provided to program participants. Contact employers to solicit participation in state and federal jobs programs and provide recommendations regarding the organization and development of such programs.

(The work assigned to a position in this classification may not include all possible tasks in this description and does not limit the assignment of any additional tasks in this classification. Regular attendance according to the position’s management approved work schedule is required.)

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16.

Education:  Bachelor's Degree in a social science or related field or equivalent. 

Experience:  None.

Substitution:  Equivalent combination of education and related experience.

Preferred:  Prior MFIP Experience; Demonstrated understanding of serving low-income populations, cultural diversity, and case management tracking; Demonstrated creativity, adaptability, initiative, and accountability are also key desired attributes.  

Certifications/Licensure:  None.

This is a temporary, unclassified, at-will position. This position requires an open screening and selection process. There is no exam for this temporary unclassified, at-will, position. All applicants who meet the minimum qualifications will be forwarded to the hiring department for further consideration on an ongoing basis until all positions have been filled. 

Definition of Unclassified from the Ramsey County Personnel Act:

Criminal Background Checks:

All employment offers are conditioned upon the applicant passing a criminal background check. Convictions are not an automatic bar to employment. Each case is considered on its individual merits and the type of work sought. However, making false statements or withholding information will cause you to be barred from employment, or removed from employment.

Salary : $63,811 - $95,717