Mentor

Mentor

Salary: £34,000

Contract: Permanent

Location: South West London

This role will require travel across the local area covering Croydon, Kingston upon Thames, Merton, Richmond upon Thames, Sutton, Wandsworth

The Role
As a Mentor, you will support young people aged 18–24 to overcome barriers, build confidence and move into sustainable employment. Managing your own caseload, you will provide tailored one-to-one support from initial assessment and job preparation through to employment and in-work support.

You will build effective relationships with participants, employers and key stakeholders, helping individuals develop the skills, confidence and experience needed to secure and sustain employment.

Key Responsibilities

• Build positive, supportive relationships with young people, encouraging engagement, motivation and accountability.
• Manage a caseload of participants and provide structured one-to-one mentoring throughout their journey into and within employment.
• Complete initial assessments, identify barriers and agree SMART action plans, reviewing progress regularly.
• Deliver confidence-building, motivation, work-readiness and job-search support, including CV development, interview preparation, sector exploration and soft skills development.
• Work with employer engagement colleagues to identify suitable employment opportunities and support recruitment, onboarding and day-one preparation.
• Provide ongoing in-work support to participants and employers, including regular check-ins, workplace coaching and discussions around reasonable adjustments.
• Develop and maintain in-work support plans with participants and employers, subject to consent.
• Rapidly re-engage participants who leave or fall out of work, helping them move back into employment, education or training.
• Maintain accurate, timely and audit-ready records, including action plans, contact notes, evidence and outcomes.
• Work collaboratively with Jobcentre Plus, employers, training providers and local partners to maximise sustained employment outcomes.
• Work flexibly across locations and, where required, outside standard hours to meet participant and programme needs.
• Carry out responsibilities in line with organisational values, policies, procedures and relevant compliance requirements.
• Undertake other duties appropriate to the level of the role where the post-holder has the necessary training or experience.

Skills and Experience

• Experience providing one-to-one mentoring, coaching or employment support to young people or individuals facing barriers to work.
• Experience within employability, welfare-to-work, youth employment, skills, education, training or a similar target-driven environment.
• Strong ability to build trust, motivate participants, challenge appropriately and maintain engagement through face-to-face, telephone and digital contact.
• Good understanding of action planning, barrier removal, work-readiness, job matching, in-work support and sustained employment outcomes.
• Ability to manage a caseload effectively, prioritise activity, meet deadlines and achieve targets, quality standards and compliance requirements.
• Excellent communication, influencing and relationship-building skills when working with participants, employers and wider stakeholders.
• Knowledge of safeguarding, data protection, equality and diversity, health and safety, and participant consent requirements.
• Good IT skills, including Microsoft Office, digital communication tools, case management systems and performance reporting.
• Ability and willingness to travel regularly across the local area to support participants, employers, events, placements and programme delivery.
• Good knowledge of the local labour market, employer recruitment needs and routes into employment, apprenticeships, education and training is desirable.