Life Skills Educator

Center for Employment Opportunities • Buffalo, NY

2d • Onsite

About The Position

The Life Skills Educator (LSE) leads in-person group workshops for Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO) participants, preparing them for success in temporary and permanent employment. Workshops typically serve 10–20 participants and take place at the local office four days per week. The role may also include intake and/or outreach responsibilities depending on site needs. Staff are expected to report to a CEO site because most participant interactions are conducted in person. CEO strongly encourages people with lived experience of incarceration or involvement in the justice system to apply.

CEO provides employment services to people recently released from incarceration. The organization serves approximately 8,000–9,000 participants annually across the United States and has helped more than 30,000 formerly incarcerated individuals secure full-time employment since 1996.

The LSE delivers CEO’s work-readiness education and orientation, coaches participants on employment preparation, records participant progress, and supports site operations. Depending on the site, additional duties may include cultivating referral relationships and conducting outreach, or welcoming participants and processing onboarding documents. The role may require transporting participants to apprenticeship training and traveling throughout the city for outreach.

Requirements

• At least two years of experience teaching or leading group presentations.
• Commitment to CEO’s mission and interest in working in a fast-growing, results-oriented nonprofit environment.
• Interest in re-entry or criminal justice reform.
• Ability to engage participants, lift morale, and present content in an exciting and engaging way.
• Ability to analyze different points of view and data and form an appropriate perspective for the context.
• Ability to learn and deliver curricula quickly and accurately using excellent communication skills, and to adapt presentation style to support participant understanding.
• Comfort providing feedback and support to facilitate participants’ development of knowledge and skills.
• Self-motivation, diligence, resilience, stamina, and accountability for deadlines and outcomes.
• Strong organization and time-management skills, ability to manage multiple priorities, and willingness to seek prioritization support when needed.
• Comfort learning new technologies adopted or implemented by the organization.
• Valid driver’s license.
• For outreach assignments, ability to travel throughout the city where the site is located, comfort conducting outreach, and relationship-building skills.
• For intake assignments, strong attention to detail and ability to follow processes and produce consistent, accurate, thoroughly documented work.
• For intake assignments, respect, fairness, patience, and efficiency when working with participants, referral partners, and outside agencies.

Responsibilities

• Lead organized, engaging work-readiness education and orientation sessions that follow CEO’s course syllabus.
• Prepare participants for CEO’s program model by ensuring they have required documentation and understand program policies and safety practices.
• Coach participants on employment preparation, including professional resumes, networking, and mock interviews.
• Help participants develop communication and self-presentation skills and become ready to start work.
• Discuss participants’ employment goals and provide support, encouragement, and constructive feedback.
• Keep current on practices and events that may affect participants and suggest curriculum updates.
• Keep parole officers informed about participant progress.
• Use motivational interviewing techniques as appropriate to support participants’ goals.
• Monitor and record class attendance and accurately document participant contacts and progress in the case management system.
• Escort participants to nearby agencies to apply for documents when needed.
• Transport participants to a classroom training center for apprenticeship training as needed, up to five hours per week.
• Support the Site Lead with administrative and operational duties.
• When assigned outreach duties, cultivate relationships with probation and parole officers and community organizations to generate participant referrals.
• When assigned outreach duties, work off-site at supervision offices to present CEO services, facilitate referrals, share participant progress updates, connect participants to external resources, and document outreach activities and outcomes in Salesforce.
• When assigned intake duties, welcome walk-ins, explain document requirements, collect intake materials, and provide brief CEO program overviews.
• When assigned intake duties, review intake documents, including I-9s, for CEO and federal compliance and return them accurately to participants.
• When assigned intake duties, enter participant details promptly and accurately into Salesforce.
• When assigned intake duties, retrieve parole documentation and coordinate with participants, referral sources, and internal departments.
• When assigned intake duties, respond to requests for letters of reasonable assurance, agency inquiries such as OCSE and SSA, and employment verifications.
• Perform other tasks and responsibilities assigned from time to time.

Benefits

• Medical coverage
• Dental coverage
• Professional development opportunities and training, including regular Motivational Interviewing training
• Paid parental leave
• Participation in a retirement plan
• Sick leave
• Vacation leave
• Paid holidays
• Lunch-and-learns, team outings, holiday gatherings, and other staff activities

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: No Education Listed