Vocational Specialist

Provide program wrap around services, including living skills, mental health stability, and benefits support (25%) Deliver program services to assigned clients in accordance with program, contract, and funder requirements, including developing individualized plans, setting goals, and tracking participation and progress. Support clients’ mental health stability by monitoring symptoms and functioning, encouraging engagement with treatment and prescribed care plans, teaching coping and stress-management skills, and helping clients develop wellness and relapse-prevention plans.

Employees are encouraged to bring their authentic, original, and best selves to work. We'll never discriminate against anyone's background or creed. If you're good at what you do, we want you to do it at Tasks Unlimited.

 
 Now offering a $2,000 sign-on bonus!

Position Summary
The Vocational Specialist supports adults living with mental illness in building the skills, confidence, and stability needed to pursue meaningful employment and greater independence. This position provides individualized vocational assessment, job readiness instruction, hands-on training, job coaching, placement support, and ongoing follow-up to help clients reduce barriers to successful employment. In addition, this position delivers program supports that address the whole person, including independent living skills, mental health stability, and access to and maintenance of public benefits. The Vocational Specialist builds trusting relationships with clients, recognizes how mental health symptoms and life circumstances may affect work performance and daily functioning, and responds with practical, strengths-based support. The role also requires regular collaboration with internal and external staff, and other supports to coordinate services, monitor progress, address concerns, and promote successful employment and community stability outcomes. This position requires sound judgment, flexibility, timely documentation, and the ability to balance client-centered support with employer expectations, program and contract requirements, and changing service priorities.

This position is in-office at assigned worksite location(s), with some schedule flexibility based on program needs.

Essential Job Functions
Conduct and coordinate job development activities with employment and other external entities (30%)

• Develop individualized employment goal plans with clients and assist them in obtaining employment aligned with their goals.
• Instruct participants in life skills, goal development, motivational strategies, job-seeking skills, job-retention skills, and other skills suited to participants’ needs.
• Assist clients with job readiness activities so they can better understand their skills, skill levels, and employment goals before placement with prospective employers.
• Perform job coaching as needed with placed clients to ensure that they are able to maintain employment and handle and difficulties that arise in a timely manner
• Conduct ongoing follow-up with clients after placement to ensure satisfaction and retention
• Monitor and assess ongoing employment support needs to ensure employment retention goals are met

• Maintain ongoing communication with Vocational Rehabilitiation Servcies (VRS) staff and employer partners to ensure their program and business needs are being met.
• Conduct follow-up with employers after clients are placed to support employer satisfaction, future partnership opportunities, and retention.
• Educate businesses and community organizations about Tasks Unlimited’s Job Placement Program by attending speaking engagements, one-to-one meetings with prospective businesses, networking events, hiring events, job fairs, and similar activities.

Coordinate and complete all necessary paperwork and documentation (25%)

• Assess and document client’s ability to function and manage symptoms based on interaction with the client; determine appropriate interventions and assist client in maintaining the highest level of independence possible
• Complete and maintain required JOBS and Fairweather documentation, including individualized plans, progress notes, assessments, and participation and outcome reporting, in compliance with applicable contract and accreditation requirements
• Complete all paperwork, billing, reports, and charting contemporaneously and in a timely, organized manner

Provide program wrap around services, including living skills, mental health stability, and benefits support (25%)

• Deliver program services to assigned clients in accordance with program, contract, and funder requirements, including developing individualized plans, setting goals, and tracking participation and progress
• Teach and reinforce independent living skills such as budgeting and money management, meal planning and preparation, personal care and hygiene, household maintenance, time management, transportation, and use of community resources
• Support clients’ mental health stability by monitoring symptoms and functioning, encouraging engagement with treatment and prescribed care plans, teaching coping and stress-management skills, and helping clients develop wellness and relapse-prevention plans
• Respond promptly to signs of crisis or decline in functioning, follow agency crisis and emergency procedures, and communicate concerns to supervisors, case managers, and mental health providers
• Assist clients in understanding, applying for, and maintaining public benefits and supports (such as medical assistance, food support, housing assistance, and disability or income benefits), including reporting income changes and connecting clients with benefits planning resources as appropriate
• Promote peer support, shared responsibility, and community connection consistent with the Fairweather model, and participate in Fairweather program meetings, activities, and planning
• Coordinate with county staff, case managers, mental health providers, housing providers, and other community supports to align service plans and address barriers to employment and stability

Provide vocational training to assigned clients (20%)

• Deliver direct onsite vocational hands-on training and supervision of job skills
• Provide vocational support and skill training on the job and in classroom settings
• Collaborate with other staff in problem-solving work performance and behavioral issues
• Complete planned interventions and report related concerns to appropriate personnel
• Offer assessment of vocational performance and recommendations regarding vocational training/service needs
• Monitor clients’ mental health symptoms and work quality, and provide constructive, positive feedback to clients

This job description is intended to outline the general nature and scope of the position. Additional duties and responsibilities may be assigned as needed.

Physical Requirements
Physical Demand
Frequency/Requirement

Sit
Frequently

Stand
Occasionally

Walk
Occasionally

Reach with hands and arms
Occasionally

Stoop, kneel, or crouch
Occasionally

Lift and carry
Up to 25 pounds occasionally

Communicate effectively in person and by telephone
Frequently

Use hands for typing and general computer work
Frequently

Work Environment and Equipment
Work is performed at assigned worksite locations with time in the community, employer businesses, and program or client residence sites to deliver training, living skills instruction, and supports. Regular use of standard office equipment is required, including a computer, telephone, copier, and printer. This position may also require use internal databases and Microsoft Office applications.

Direct Reports
None

Qualifications
Education and Experience
Required

1. Bachelor’s degree with at least two years of job coaching, development, or placement experience; or Associate’s degree with four or more years of job coaching, development, or placement experience; or six years job coaching, development, or placement experience working with people who are in recovery, or have disabilities
2. Experience working with diverse populations, particularly with adults who have been diagnosed with a serious and persistent mental illness
3. Experience with career development services
4. Valid driver’s license and insured vehicle

Preferred

1. Prior job coaching experience
2. Global Career Development Facilitator certification and/or Certified Employment Support Professional certification
3. Experience with the Fairweather model, JOBS or similar employment programs, independent living skills instruction, and/or public benefits navigation

Knowledge Areas

• Psychology – Human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research messages; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders
• Vocational rehab – Help individuals prepare for, find, keep a job, and assist independent living
• Independent living, mental health recovery, and public benefits – Teaching daily living skills, supporting mental health stability and recovery, and helping individuals access and maintain benefits and community resources
• Sociology and anthropology – Group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures and their history and origins
• Law and government – Laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process
• Safety and security – Relevant equipment, policies, procedures and strategies to promote effective operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions

Skills

• Social perceptiveness – Being aware of other’s reactions and understanding why they react as they do
• Active learning – Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making
• Time management – Managing one’s own time and the time of others
• Coordination – Adjusting actions in relation to other’s actions
• Monitoring – Monitoring/assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action
• Complex problem solving – Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions
• Service orientation – Actively looking for ways to help people

Abilities

• Oral comprehension – The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences
• Oral expression – The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand
• Written comprehension – The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing
• Deductive reasoning – The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense
• Professionalism – Maintaining appropriate professional boundaries
• Establishing and maintaining interpersonal relationships – Developing constructive and cooperative working relationships with others, and maintaining them over time
• Communicating with supervisors, peers, or subordinates – Providing information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates by telephone, in written form, e-mail, or in person
• Getting information – Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources

Pay range $26 - $28 per hour DOE, plus benefitsTasks Unlimited has always been, and always will be, an Equal Opportunity Employer with a commitment to a diverse and inclusive workplace. Tasks does not discriminate on the basis of any status protected by applicable federal, state, or local law. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. Tasks will provide reasonable accommodation to applicants with physical and mental disabilities; we are a drug-free workplace. Tasks participates in the E-Verify program for all applicants.