Hire Ready Coach (Remote)

Application Deadline: 4/18/24

Location: National/Remote; Los Angeles, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Newark, NJ preferred

Our country's education and workforce systems are inequitable, failing to meet the needs of our most marginalized citizens. Historically, workforce education has led to low-wage jobs disconnected from ongoing higher education, which has created significant barriers for career advancement. At the same time, traditional higher education has increasingly become unaffordable for Americans from lower-income backgrounds while also lacking direct connection to the labor market. The consequences of these systemic failures are dire.

At Propel America, we believe a better system should and can exist. We believe high school graduates shouldn't have to choose between forestalling income and accruing significant debt while pursuing a traditional college degree, or forestalling education and mobility for low-wage, entry-level work with few opportunities for advancement. Propel is building that better system: a Jobs-First Higher Education allowing young adults from low-income backgrounds to access an affordable and efficient pathway to a good job, propelling them into a choice-filled life.

By privileging both the needs of young adults and those of our employer partners, Propel America:

• Partners with employers to assess talent needs, create relevant training programs, and hire diverse, local talent for their in-demand roles.
• Recruits, guides, and supports opportunity youth (18-24 years old), particularly those from low-income backgrounds, through a blended, technology-enabled career accelerator inclusive of a suite of products and supports (e.g., career exploration, cohort learning, one-on-one coaching, etc) to ensure Fellows have what they need to be successful in their job interview, persist in the workforce, and a plan for ongoing education and career advancement.
• Partners with training and higher education organizations to offer in-demand credentials that allow young adults to earn college credits

To learn more about Propel America, please visit https://www.propelamerica.org.

The Hire Ready Coach is responsible for developing Propel Fellows' employability skills to ensure their successful completion of the training program, attainment of certification, and placement with Propel employer partners, managing a caseload of approximately 60 students. The Hire Ready Coach will report to the Portfolio Manager.

The core responsibilities of a Hire Ready Coach are:

• Employability Skill Development and Coaching - Coach Fellows to achieve Hire Ready status
  • guiding Fellows to "Hire Ready" status, overseeing their progress through both Propel and training partner programs (e.g., NLU, CHCP), and supporting them in achieving employability milestones outlined in the curricula
  • adopts a standardized support approach while remaining flexible to address individual Fellow needs as necessary
• Cross-Functional Collaboration - Collaborate with Program and non-Program team members to ensure that students (1) successfully transition from the pre-fellowship program, (2) transition into the externship/hire component of our program, and (3) achieve Hire Ready designation such that the Externship and Employment Managers are able to place Fellow into successful employment with our partners.
  • Provide regular updates to key stakeholders via check-ins, team meetings, Salesforce and other data tracking systems so that the organization is able to monitor program implementation and success on a timely basis

Coaches will support a Fellow across five regions: Baton Rouge, LA; Newark, NJ; Philadelphia, PA; Camden, NJ; and Los Angeles, CA.

The major buckets of work for the Hire Ready Coach include:

Employability Skill Development and Coaching (60%)

• Deliver standardized Propel coaching and support, ensuring equitable access to resources while allowing for personalized assistance as needed.
  • Assess Fellows' needs and implement tiered strategies to effectively support a high volume of participants.
• Guide Fellows through the process of becoming Hire Ready, overseeing completion of both the Propel and training partner (e.g., NLU, CHCP) programs
  • Develop individualized plans for each Fellow to enhance employability skills, addressing areas of strength and areas needing improvement.
    • Each Fellow has a baseline assessment/understanding of the employability skills they are excelling in vs. the ones they need to improve/grow in
    • Each Fellow has a plan in place to achieve the employability skills that are prioritized by Propel and that are required to be designated Hire Ready.
    • Exit students who do not meet expectations; collaborate with Portfolio Manager to provide additional programming to support those who do not pass credential exams
  • Provide ongoing support to help Fellows achieve core curriculum milestones and "Hire Ready" status, tailoring coaching to individual needs, including:
    • Leverage synchronous and asynchronous methods of support
    • Weekly 1-1 calls that are focused on employability skill development
    • Proactive and reactive communication
    • Monitoring of student progress against Propel's curriculum
    • Monitoring of student progress against training partner curriculum
• Identify and connect Fellows to the Portfolio Manager when local resources are needed; tracking referrals and usage to support program completion.
  • Connect Fellows to local services that address challenges they may face but that are outside of the scope of Propel's program offerings (e.g., homelessness nonprofits, domestic violence support organizations, etc.)
  • Track data to understand the percentage of Fellows who need additional support and the local organizations that are most successful in supporting them to Propel program completion
• Achieve department-identified metrics and goals for Fellow program persistence and completion

Examples of milestones and or artifacts that would designate a Fellow as Hire Ready: 1. Fellow has a resume and cover letter; 2. Fellow demonstrates responsiveness to outreach by Propel team members; 3. Fellow has successfully submitted all required paperwork for externship acceptance; 4. Fellows have demonstrated strong collaboration skills through group projects.

Cross-Functional Collaboration (20%)

• Regularly communicate with the Portfolio Manager to provide feedback on Fellow progress toward program completion and Hire Ready designation
• Support in the planning of program celebration and fellow milestones through virtual and in-person celebrations
• Where possible, join Fellow PD sessions led by the Employability Instructor to ensure you are up to speed on what Fellows are learning
• Transition Fellows designated as Hire Ready to the Externship/Hire team

Leverage Technology for Impact (20%)

• Capture, track, and input fellow data daily toward priority Key Results in order to provide the most accurate picture of Fellows and their needs
• Engage with Fellows directly through Propel's technology platforms (e.g, DialPad) so that we are able to assess key themes/trends in Fellow support
• Share feedback and ideas for improvements collaboratively across the Propel team as we continue to build and refine our coaching methods to ensure more and more fellows reach their career goals.
• Continuously reflect on data/analytics to increase impact, with an eye toward positive fellow experience, outcomes, and scalability
• If applicable, support in the Case Management and data input for the SNAP grant (or other grants) in the local region

Important Notes:

• 25% travel is required for this role
• Propel holds monthly evening PD sessions from 7-9 EST 1-2 times per week; Coaches must be available to attend 50% of those sessions.

The Hire Ready Coach is deeply passionate about supporting our young people to achieve their full potential. The Hire Ready Coach embraces the rewards and challenges of working directly with young people, and is willing to go above and beyond for individual Fellows who need unique interventions. The ideal Hire Ready Coach knows that data is vital to our programmatic success, and leverages technology to collect and analyze data meaningfully. And the Hire Ready Coach knows that the work cannot be done in isolation, and partners thoughtfully and successfully with stakeholders to achieve their goals.

Core Competencies:

• Mission & Core Values Alignment: Demonstrated commitment to our mission and values, particularly in promoting equity and advancing a Job-First Higher Education approach for our fellows, with in-depth knowledge of the population we serve.
• Equity Focus: Dedicated to fostering inclusivity, actively addressing bias and building strategies to promote diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) within our organization and programs.
• Student Coaching & Mentorship: Coaches effectively by both building strong relationships and supporting through accountability.
• Social & Self-Awareness: Navigates diverse cultural contexts.
• Impact & Results: Focuses on results and desired outcomes and how best to achieve them in order to get the job done.
• Communication: Communicates clearly and effectively across multiple channels.
• Problem Solving: Resolves difficult or complicated challenges.
• Curiosity & Learning Orientation: Takes a proactive approach to learning and growth.

Preferred Qualifications:

• 3+ years of professional experience as a college advisor, career coach, counselor or other relevant experience.
• Experience using relevant technology including Zoom, Salesforce, Google Suite, texting platforms, and learning management systems (LMS).
• Experience or knowledge of healthcare career pathways
• Ability to work flexible hours (e.g. nights and weekends) as necessary

The salary for this position is between $59,000 - $77,000 annually. We consider candidate experience and location when determining where a candidate may fall within that range. Propel America offers a competitive total rewards package including coverage of 90% of health insurance premiums, unlimited PTO, 401k contribution up to 5% of base salary, and a flexible work environment.