Employment Training Specialist

Job Description

TITLE : Employment Training Specialist (ETS)

WHO WE ARE :

Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) is a student-focused, innovative educational organization committed to academic excellence.

Our mission is to empower and educate all students to think critically, creatively, and responsibly, to embrace diversity, and to pursue their dreams with a purpose.

We are a family of excellent public schools in which every student has the opportunity to succeed and the power to create their own future.

Led by forward-thinking leadership and our commitment to prioritizing students, racial equity, and authentic engagement with our families, team members, and communities, our staff have diverse opportunities to develop their careers in a challenging but rewarding environment.

We are an organization for people who are passionate about education and who are committed to the Indianapolis community.

SUMMARY OF OPPORTUNITY :

The Employment Training Specialist (ETS) / Job Coach is responsible for the overall provision and management of employment training for secondary students with IEPs who will graduate high school with a Certificate of Completion.

The ETS provides direct instruction to students, support to TORs and IAs; networks with local businesses; and collaborates with other team members to create a successful transition to employment that is individualized to graduates’ support needs.

This is a 10-month, classified position.

WHAT YOU’LL DO :

The following outlines what your core duties and responsibilities will be for this position and provides a sample overview of what your day-to-day may look like.

Core Duties and Responsibilities

The Employment Training Specialist (ETS) / Job Coach focuses upon preparing students for employment via providing a variety of service learning and internships in community businesses for high school students who are working toward a Certificate of Completion in the Life Skills and ARCHES Programs.

The ETS spends much of their time in the community developing internships and paid employment opportunities for students and providing students with instruction and support.

Student support includes directly coaching instructional assistants who accompany and coach students on-the-job; providing direct coaching / instruction on the job as well as in safe navigation and travel to and from the internship.

The ETS is the primary liaison and contact person among the community businesses, student, and school staff. Much of the remainder of the ETS’ time is used for monitoring and recording student progress and performance on all aspects of their internships and assisting students to apply for post-high school and adult services.

Day In the Life Overview

On a regular day, as ETS you might :

• Aligns students’ employment training experiences to result in successful preparation for post-secondary program options, paid employment, and greater independence in community life.
• Develops in-school and community internship opportunities for high school students that offer varied types of work for the purpose of assessing students’ interests, aptitudes, and skill acquisition.
• Oversees the planning, implementation, and evaluation of in-school and community internships
• Acts as the liaison between the school employment program and community businesses who host internships.
• Serves as the primary contact among local businesses, students, special education programs, and transportation re : student internships
• Coordinates student work and transportation schedules / training.
• Provides direct instruction and support to students to utilize public transportation and complete required tasks onsite at their internships.
• Establishes a Job Analysis for each internship that is the basis for the data collection of student interns’ progress
• Analyzes student progress data into required reporting formats and utilizes the data for assessment of student interests and assets for employment purposes / outcomes.
• Trains school staff how to perform job tasks and appropriately support individual students onsite.
• Coaches IA’s on proper methods and timing of fading prompts to build student independences
• Sustains a unified system for data collection and individual student employment-related records
• Establishes, updates, and maintain individual students’ Vocational History throughout the high school years
• Collaborates with each student and their team to develop a long-term plan toward transition.
• Updates program reports reflecting students’ status as outlined in the ETS Procedures Manual according to the established schedule.

WHAT YOU’ll BRING : SKILLS AND MINDSETS

As an ideal candidate for this role, you will be able to achieve the following :

Growth Mindset - Continuously seeks to improve individual work, demonstrating candor and ability identify weaknesses. Finds lessons in failures and successes of others.

Proactively seeks and acts on feedback.

Effective Influencer - Inspires others to work towards common goals to meet the needs of urban school students, despite obstacles.

Advocates the importance of the district’s role in serving schools and communicates with internal and external stakeholders.

Strong Collaboration & Cross-Functional Skills - Builds rapport and cooperative relationships with others. Establishes and maintains strong relationships with relevant stakeholders.

Places high priority on team and organizational goals.

• Confidentiality - Makes effective decisions regarding sensitive and confidential information. Respects the privacy of others and maintains the confidentiality of information to which exposed.
• Communication Skills - Possesses effective verbal and written communication and should be able to adapt communication style to suit different audiences.
• Strategic Thinking - Identifies challenges and guides team toward solutions. Creates space for productive debate and alternative perspectives.

Encourages innovation and creativity from team. Identifies risks and ways to mitigate.

Project Management - Supports staff and schools in managing projects from end to end, identifying and monitoring project milestones and holding team accountable for achieving results.

EDUCATION, CERTIFICATION, AND LICENSURE REQUIREMENTS

CERTIFICATES, LICENSES, REGISTRATIONS :

Upon being hired, IPS ETS is required to successfully complete the Employment Specialist Training offered by the Center on Community Living and Careers CCLC of the Indiana Institute on Disability and Community IIDC at IU.

This training introduces new employment specialists to the field of community employment services. Estimated training completion time is 40 hours with online assignments required in order to successfully complete the training and receive a competency-based certificate from Indiana University.

Staff must submit Driver Record check. You can obtain it for free from : ETS should be able to support students' transit needs as needed utilizing the Mini Bus.

Training is provided by IPS.

• Associates degree and 3 years’ experience working with individual with disabilities, preferably high school age students or adults.
• Working knowledge of the City of Indianapolis.
• Working knowledge of navigating the IndyGo bus system.
• A track record of developing and maintaining strong working relationships with and among a diverse group of individuals;
• Strong communication skills;
• Close attention to detail coupled with the ability to exercise good judgment;
• Strong organizational, oral and written communication, and interpersonal skills;
• Ability to work well independently as well as collaboratively;
• Ability to execute meetings, calls and emails with professionalism, courtesy and accuracy;
• Personal qualities of maturity, humility, strong work ethic, sense of humor, and diligence; and
• Ability to effectively allocate and prioritize time to several tasks to ensure completion of all.

FLSA CLASSIFICATION :

Exempt

ELIGIBILITY FOR REMOTE WORK :

Not eligible.

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS :

• PHYSICAL DEMANDS : The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.
• Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to use hands to finger, handle, or feel;

talk or hear. The employee frequently is required to stand and walk distances inside and outside in all types of weather.

The employee is occasionally required to sit; reach with hands and arms; and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl. The employee must occasionally lift and / or move up to 10 pounds.

Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and ability to adjust focus.

The employee must be mobile outside of the school building in the community of Indianapolis, be able to move around the city and ride the IndyGo busses.

WORK ENVIRONMENT : The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job.

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently and routinely working in outside weather conditions of all kinds and seasons, in city businesses, and on IndyGO busses.

The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.