Employment Specialist

History: Our story begins with Kevin, our inspiration and the "K" in tkMomentum. Kevin has cerebral palsy and for over 10 years, Kevin had been working in a sheltered program making less than minimum wage and receiving minimal job skills training. The situation made it difficult to transition into employment within the community. Kevin expressed to his brother Tyler, (The "T" in tkMomentum), that he felt trapped, like there were no opportunities for him and his peers in employment. At that very moment, the two brothers dreamt up tkMomentum and in 2017 officially launched the organization.

Mission: tkMomentum is a non-profit organization aiming to identify, obtain, and maintain individuals with disabilities' vision or version of meaningful employment.

Culture: tkMomentum is a client centered organization that views strengths over weaknesses. We believe that there is a suitable position for everyone. Our success comes from finding our clients a position that fits their needs and desires while providing comprehensive support and training to obtain employment where they will thrive and develop. Our approach to our clients directly translates to our strategy in training and developing our team members as well.

Job Description:

Employment Specialists help individuals with disabilities or barriers to employment live fuller, more independent lives by assisting in securing gainful employment. tkMomentum’s clients are those with with the following:

• Developmental and Intellectual Disabilities
• Physical Disabilities and Injury Related Disabilities
• Mental Health Barriers, History of Substance Abuse
• Justice Involved
• Students with Disabilities, and at Risk Youth
• Individuals Experiencing Homelessness or Housing Insecurity

Employment specialists work directly with clients and oftentimes, their families, support team, educational institutions, and other service providers in order to optimize a client’s readiness for work. tkMomentum is looking for adaptable, understanding and self-motivated people to help our clients with disabilities and barriers to employment identify, obtain and maintain their vision or version of meaningful employment.

Responsibilities:

• Develop rapport/understanding of clients needs and advocate on behalf of clients to employers, referral resources, and community support networks.
• Draft, analyze, develop, track, and update client service plans focused on achieving gainful employment outcomes and/or independence.
• Manage a caseload and case records
• Phases of Employment and support service overview
• Identify Employment: Assists clients in understanding strengths and how they may align with attainable employment options. Identify steps to achieving employment interests such as understanding educational requirements and steps to complete, typical job duties of employment interest, etc.
• Obtain Employment: Assist clients in applying to jobs, advocate on behalf of clients to employers.
• Maintain Employment: Assist clients in learning job tasks, employer expectations, and maintaining professional relationships.
• External Barriers to Employment Support: Assist clients in learning public transportation and other transportation options, developing professional communication skills, develop technical and soft skills, develop resources necessary to continue to obtain/maintain employment.
• Travel will be required in your designated region, driving radius is primarily based within 25 miles of job posting. Depending on the client's needs, employment specialists will primarily be working in community-based locations, the district office, and remotely when appropriate. Employment specialists will be reimbursed for mileage and can expect to drive up to 150 miles per week.
• tkMomentum offers an additional 25% differential pay for scheduled on-site work between the hours of 6:00 PM and 7:00 AM.

Knowledge and Ability:

Understand disabilities and their impact on a person's independence and employment opportunities. Ability to communicate and write effectively, learn and adapt to implement changes, work well under pressure, work with individuals with high support needs, effectively prioritize, organize, and manage time, and use a variety of computer applications.

We perform our interviews over Google Meet. You can choose one of our current three weekday interview time slots up to 24 days in advance through the Calendly app invitation link within the indeed.com request email. Please disregard the Indeed interview schedule invite! Once you have confirmed on Calendly, we will send you an interview confirmation to your email and that email will be where the interview will be performed.

Please record or fill out the screening questionnaire email sent by indeed. In lieu of the questionnaire, a brief cover letter is acceptable covering why you are passionate about human services, your relevant experience to the job description, and why you would be a good fit into tkMomentum’s work culture.

Job Type: Full-time

Pay: $19.00 - $21.00 per hour

Expected hours: 32 – 40 per week

Benefits:

• Flexible schedule
• Paid time off

Schedule:

• Day shift
• Monday to Friday

People with a criminal record are encouraged to apply

Application Question(s):

• Do you have experience working with individuals with intellectual disabilities, social services, or workforce development?
• What is your desired start date?

Education:

• High school or equivalent (Required)

Experience:

• of listed work experiences do you have?: 1 year (Required)

License/Certification:

• Driver's License (Required)
• Auto insurance? (Required)

Shift availability:

• Day Shift (Required)
• Night Shift (Preferred)

Work Location: In person