Life Coach - South Bend - FT

GOODWILL INDUSTRIES GROUP•South Bend, IN

21h•Onsite

About The Position

The Excel Center – Northern Indiana is a high-quality, free, public high school for adult learners 18 and older, offering coursework toward an Indiana Core 40 diploma. The learning environment provides direct/face-to-face instruction, an accelerated format, small classes, and individualized attention tailored to adult learners. Students are assigned a life coach for academic and personal counseling to support their goals. The Excel Center also requires students to earn industry-recognized certificates and/or dual credit college courses. Life Coaches are integral staff members, primarily responsible for promoting continued student engagement and serving as student advocates and counselors. Each life coach manages a caseload of typically 65-80 students, building relationships and providing resources to remove barriers to their educational progress. Effective life coaches must be able to triage their caseloads, managing core responsibilities while also being responsive to student crises as they arise. This role contributes significantly to students seeking a second chance to change their lives.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree required.
Flexible availability for daytime and evening classes.
Two years of experience in social work, counseling, advising, academic guidance or related field.
Superior verbal and written communication skills.
Strong meeting facilitation skills.
Has working knowledge of computer programs to perform clerical tasks: Google Applications, student information systems, Microsoft applications, Excel, Word and web browsers.
Demonstrated ability to develop relationships at all levels and to relate to a diverse population.
Awareness of community resources.
Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment; energetic self-starter; flexible, able to work autonomously as well as take direction as needed and work with a team; able to embrace change positively.
Excellent analytic, critical thinking, organizational and strategic planning skills.
Ability to gather and analyze data for informed decision making.
Possess the essential mindset that all students can succeed.
Drive to improve the outcomes and lives of students in and out of the classroom.
Exhibit resilience to persevere and create opportunities for students out of challenges and lessons learned.
Outstanding role model for success and professionalism.
Requires occasional local travel/transporting individuals.
Current driver’s license and adequate automobile insurance required.
Must be able to successfully pass a background check and drug screen.

Nice To Haves

Experience working with high school age students in a non-traditional setting; diverse, inner-city populations and/or in adult education setting highly preferred.
Bi-lingual in English and Spanish highly preferred.

Responsibilities

Provides support, work closely, and maintains open communication with leadership, staff, teachers and students to support student success.
Attend all team and professional development meetings and special events including scheduled open houses, testing sessions, recruitment events, fairs, and orientations.
Becomes part of a reliable alliance to ensure student engagement.
Manages and monitors students’ information to ensure academic progress.
Assist in developing the overall class schedule each term.
Develop individual student class schedules.
Direct students toward the path that leads to graduation, using appropriate resources such as credit tracking form.
Maintains confidential information; tracks student data in student information system and/or Excel.
Initiate and maintain contact with key community partners (community agencies, educational institutions, and employers) to extend the support services provided to students.
Identify and connect students to community resources to remove barriers and support academic and/or personal goals.
Distribute and track public transportation passes.
Execute recruitment strategies to attract prospective students through outreach and events.
Must be accessible and present for school events (e.g. Open Houses, Recruitment events, fairs, iExcel orientation, etc.).
Participate in administrative leadership meetings.
Other duties as assigned.