PARTICIPANT ENGAGEMENT SPECIALIST About Cara Collective Cara Collective seeks to fuel a courageous national movement to eradicate relational and financial poverty. Through our four entities - Cara, Cleanslate, Cara Connects, and Cara Plus - we engage job seekers, employers, and other organizations across the country to break the cycle of poverty through the power and purpose of employment. At present, we produce 1,000 jobs each year; however, our results don't just end with employment. Today, we take the insights gained over the past 30 years to equip other organizations and employers with practices to help build a more inclusive economy. Learn more at www.caracollective.org. About the Role The Participant Engagement Specialist is a hands-on role responsible for driving participants' growth and development in their self-directed job searches and send out eligibility (SOE) for employment with hiring partners through direct interaction with all program participants. This position has a focus on providing technical support in digital literacy as well as overall team process support. The Participant Engagement Specialist also assists in scheduling and coordinating participant-facing volunteers (Career Coach, Interview Coach, and Portfolio Coach and associated) who work to drive growth in socio-emotional skills and job search outcomes for our participants. Reports To Manager of Engagement Direct Report(s) N/A Outcomes The Participant Engagement Specialist is responsible for supporting Cara Collective in achieving its annual participant impact goals: Specific outcomes include: * The percentage of Participants that reach Send Out Eligibility within 30 days of point-of-traction * The number of days between a Participant reaching Send Out Eligibility and obtaining a short-term and/or longterm job * The number of participants obtaining a long-term job via self-directed job search * The number of participants engaged in mock interviews, resume writing, and other job-search preparation The Responsibilities of the Participant Engagement Specialist Participant Engagement (70%) * Responsible for Send Out Eligibility preparedness with participants. * Train participants on Self-Directed Job Search. * Guide participants through internal processes to leverage the full benefits of our program resources. * Assists participants with one-on-one technical challenges (ie Online job applications, Creating email accounts, finding emails or documents on their phones, Voicemail setup/admin, Cara Central, Editing resumes, Assessments). * Hands-on participant Engagement on in-person participant training days. * Facilitate the presentation of technical content to participants during Welcome Weeks (onboarding process). * Assists with clothing assessments for participants * Other duties as assigned Referrals, scheduling/documentation and processes (30%) * Assist in creating participant-facing volunteer sessions (Career Coach, Interview Coach, and Portfolio Coach) and follow up with related outcomes and documentation. * Consistently document participant encounters in timely manner according to team deadlines. * Assist in the coordination of offsite volunteers to let them know which participants are coming and quickly troubleshoot changes. (Ensure quality reach-outs and 'face time' with volunteers, their experience, their ideas, their productivity, etc.) Qualifications * Associate's degree and at least 3 years of professional experience. * Exceptional software and overall technical skills. * Flexibility and adaptability with an orientation to collaborative intentionality. * Demonstrated work history of resourcefulness and problem solving. * Highly organized and able to manage multiple and sometimes shifting priorities/stakeholders. * High energy and ability to engage others towards a common goal. * Excellent written and verbal skills. * Demonstrate empathy and an openness to learning as well as teaching, demonstrating patience. Equal Opportunity Employer Cara Collective is committed to creating a diverse work environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. Cara does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, gender identity, religion, sexual orientation, age, disability, parental status, veteran status, or any other protected status under applicable laws. We encourage individuals of all backgrounds to apply. If you are a qualified candidate with a disability, please email us at kboelkens@carachicago.org if you require reasonable accommodation to complete this application.