HEAD of EMPLOYER ENGAGEMENT & TRAINING
Salary: £40,000 - £45,000
(dependent upon skills and experience)
Newcastle-under-Lyme College is the best college in Staffordshire and, increasingly,
one of the most successful in the country. Over the last five years we have:
 utilised our outstanding financial health to invest in the further development our
outstanding campus;
 seen exceptional growth in student numbers;
 consistently achieved ‘top 25%’ success rates for all areas of activity; and
 been recognised by Ofsted as a very good college with many outstanding
features.
Reporting to the Vice Principal, this is an opportunity for an ambitious and dynamic
manager to lead all of the employer-facing activities of the College, in a manner that
secures our strategic aim to be the first-choice college provider for apprenticeships,
traineeships and employer training within the local area.
Our ambition…
is to be a first choice college provider
Our values…
NULC staff support & promote
NULC students can
Ambition, Confidence, Excellence so that
Achieve, Contribute, Enjoy
Summary & Overview
Newcastle-under-Lyme College delivers apprenticeships and other work-based
training across a wide range of curriculum areas to young people and adults. At the
present time the College has around 1,100 apprentices and a further 250 learners
pursuing workplace NVQs. The majority of this provision is delivered within the
surrounding north Staffordshire/south Cheshire area where there are established links
with over 400 employers.
The College is committed to increasing its offer to business both in terms of
apprenticeships and employer funded bespoke training programmes
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In addition, the College has acquired Axia Training Services, a private training
provider specialising in work with the ceramic industry in Stoke-on-Trent, which
operates independently but is a wholly owned subsidiary of the College. The
postholder will be expected to work closely with the management of Axia to further
the interests of both organisations.
Timely framework completions and success rates at the College have consistently
been above national rates for a number of years and are particularly strong for the
16-18 age range. Our most recent Ofsted report (January 2014) confirms that all
aspects of apprenticeship provision are ‘good’ alongside the many outstanding
features of the College as a whole.
To be successful in this post you should have significant relevant experience and a
proven track record of motivating and leading people to achieve excellence. In
addition, you should have a clear understanding of the needs and priorities of
employers as well as the drive and enthusiasm necessary to rapidly expand the
current provision and develop into new curriculum areas.
The principal responsibilities of the post holder are:
1.
Foster a culture of working with employers that is embedded throughout the
College.
2.
Drive quality improvement, including the timeliness of achievements, across all
qualifications within the area of responsibility.
3.
To lead the College’s Employer Engagement Team to ensure that they secure
new business, follow up leads and manage existing clients in order to ensure
recruitment targets are consistently met with the overall objective of ensuring
that the College becomes the preferred supplier for employer training in the
area.
4.
To adopt a strategic and commercial approach to the identification of new
partnership and/or funding opportunities based upon a clear understanding of
the objectives of the Local Enterprise Partnership, the Chamber of Commerce
and other employers’ organisations.
5.
Provide clear leadership to all the staff within the area of responsibility so that
the College can achieve its overall objective of being excellent in all areas.
HEAD OF EMPLOYER TRAINING : SPECIFIC DUTIES
1. To identify opportunities to develop and drive up business to meet targets, and to
deliver commercial activity.
2. To utilise labour market information and other market intelligence, including
developing relationships with the Local Enterprise Partnership, in order to
develop extensive employer relationships within agreed sectors.
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3. To work with the Heads of Faculty and the Business Development Managers in
order to develop and deliver an employer engagement strategy for the College.
4. To undertake the day-to-day management and leadership of staff within the area
of responsibility, and to ensure that all assessors have a maintained caseload in
accordance with agreed targets.
5. To work with the Marketing Department to ensure that effective strategies are
being implemented to better engage with employers and so increase student
recruitment.
6. To contribute to the production of annual self-assessment reports and effective
quality improvement plans.
7. To monitor caseloads and targets within the area and report on Key
Performance Indicators to the Senior Management Team at regular intervals.
8. To hold regular process review meetings with the assessment teams to provide
a focus upon excellent customer service and to ensure the consistency and
effectiveness of the implementation of the training plans of all candidates.
9. To ensure that appropriate arrangements are in place to maximise the timely
achievement all elements of all apprenticeship frameworks including English and
Maths and Employee Rights and Responsibilities.
10. To work with Heads of Faculty and Curriculum Managers from across the
College to promote the options for students’ internal progression on to
appropriate work based learning programmes and the development of
employability skills generally.
11. To lead the continued development of the College’s ‘Work Shop’ which promotes
employment and progression opportunities to all students and provides a
comprehensive recruitment service to local employers.
12. To exert financial control in accordance with the College’s Financial Regulations
and to promote the efficient use of resources within agreed budgets.
13. To promote the College’s strategic objectives and to promote the values and
behaviours which underpin them.
14. In liaison with the Human Resources Department, to ensure that individual and
team objectives are in place and regularly monitored for all staff. To ensure that
appraisals are undertaken regularly, training and development needs identified
and the performance of all staff is monitored closely.
15. To ensure that College policy is implemented, particularly in relation to equality &
diversity, health & safety and child protection, and that appropriate checks are
undertaken in respect of all employers with whom the College works.
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16. To serve as a member of the College’s Core Planning Team and to undertake
any cross-College responsibilities as may from time to time be assigned to the
post by the Senior Management Team.
17. To undertake any other duties which are commensurate with the post.
Salary and Conditions:
All staff are employees of the College Corporation who determine conditions of
service in negotiation with recognised trade unions.
The salary will be £40,000 - £45,000 dependent upon skills and experience. The
salary is payable on 27th of each calendar month or the working day before if it falls
on a non-working day by direct credit transfer into a bank/building society of your
choice.
It is the policy of the College to approach referees of candidates short-listed for
interview if consent has been given on the application form. It is also College policy
to approach a candidate’s current or most recent employer for a reference. Where
the candidate is working in the education sector a reference will be sought from the
appropriate Principal, Headteacher or Vice Chancellor. The appointment is subject
to satisfactory references and appropriate checks with the Disclosure & Barring
Service together with a probationary period of twelve months.
The post is pensionable and a deduction of up to 8.5% is made from salary.
Appointments are provisional until medical clearance is obtained, and this may
require the person appointed to pass a medical examination.
The hours of duty are 37 hours per five-day week. Annual holiday entitlement will be
35 days per year, plus bank holidays, other statutory holidays and days when the
College will close in the interests of efficiency.
Applicants are required to disclose in writing if they are related to any senior
member of the College Staff.
For further information and to apply online please go to our vacancies page at
www.nulc.ac.uk/jobs. Alternatively you can e-mail us at vacancies@nulc.ac.uk
or leave a voicemail on 01782 254123.
Closing date: 20 March 2015
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NEWCASTLE-UNDER-LYME COLLEGE
PERSON SPECIFICATION
HEAD OF EMPLOYER ENGAGEMENT & TRAINING
To be a person who:
Essential
Holds an appropriate academic Educated to degree or equivalent
or professional qualification.
Desirable
Assessed via
A management qualification
Application form
Has experience of working, Substantial relevant experience in a Experience
of
FE
/
WbL Application form
teaching and or assessing on relevant industry/curriculum area.
management systems within either Interview
work-based
learning/training
a College or private training
(WbL) programmes.
provider setting.
Has high level problem- Can demonstrate a successful track- Able to inspire and motivate others Interview process
solving, sales and negotiation record of managing budgets and to
achieve
challenging Presentation
skills.
achieving challenging sales/income performance targets.
generation targets.
Has interpersonal, motivational Proven track record and experience
and communication skills of of managing people to achieve
the highest order.
excellent standards of assessment
and learning.
Can demonstrate success in Application form
addressing marginal performance Interview process
issues in order to improve Presentation
standards.
Can demonstrate a clear Experience working with employers Experience of working at strategic Application form
strategic vision for Employer and service providers designing level.
Interview process
Training at the College.
programmes to meet needs.
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To be a person who:
Essential
Has a good knowledge and
understanding of the issues
affecting assessment, teaching
and learning within the FE
sector in general.
Understanding of further education Experience
of
innovative Interview process
funding and inspection processes.
curriculum
development
and Presentation
change, and providing academic
A good working knowledge of quality leadership
to
students
and
assurance processes within an colleagues.
FE/WbL setting.
Has a high level of literacy and Is able to analyse and interpret
numeracy and very good IT complex performance data.
skills.
Can produce concise, well-written
reports which are suitable for a
variety of audiences.
Is able to work as a member of Integrity, self-motivation, vision and
a closely-knit team, making a energy.
positive contribution to the
management of the College Willing to operate flexibly within the
context of a wider management
and its success.
team.
Desirable
Assessed via
Confident speaker, able to deliver
presentations to a variety of
audience.
Demonstrates a range of qualities Interview process
that are complementary to those
existing within the team.
Is well organised and able to Is able to work under pressure at Evidence of a successful and Interview process
manage the peaks and troughs busy times of the year.
innovative approach to solving
of a varied workload.
problems.
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To be a person who:
Essential
Desirable
Assessed via
Has an understanding of their
responsibilities relating to the
safeguarding of young people
and vulnerable adults.
Ability
to
communicate
the
importance
the
importance
of
safeguarding, and safe working
practices generally, to employers.
Experience of dealing with external Interview process
agencies in relation to the
safeguarding of young people and
vulnerable adults.
Has an understanding of
equality & diversity issues and
a positive attitude towards
them.
Can demonstrate an excellent
working knowledge of equality &
diversity within the context of the
curriculum area.
Has
experience
and
an Interview process
understanding of the integration of
inclusive learning and widening
participation into the wider E&D
agenda.
Understands the importance of Previous evidence of improvements Can identify CPD requirements in Interview process
continuous
professional arising out of CPD.
others and lead development
development
in
raising
sessions for staff in order to raise
standards.
standards.
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