Job Description
MassHire Department of Career Services (MDCS) oversees the Commonwealth's network of One-Stop Career Centers, that assist businesses in finding qualified workers and providing job seekers with career guidance, as well as referral to jobs and training. MDCS strengthens the Career Center system through continuous improvement processes, and innovative business practices that maximize resources, foster partnerships, and engage employers to ensure a skilled, motivated, and adaptable workforce capable of meeting the emerging labor market needs of the Commonwealth, now and in the future.
The Employment Counselor is responsible for evaluating employment and/or training services for applicants with substantial and/or significant barriers to employment. All services will be provided either in person or via a virtual platform.
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Duties include but are not limited to:
- Review and analyze client information obtained through interviews, records, tests, and observation to determine employment and training interests, vocational aptitudes, and abilities, substantial or significant barriers to employment, and eligibility for agency services and programs to make recommendations; to meet clients' needs.
- Conduct counseling interviews with individual clients or groups of clients who have substantial and/or significant barriers to employment to assess the type and extent of the barriers, to accessibility for available, to guide, to motivate, and suggest approaches, and to assist clients in achieving occupational vocational and/or training goals based on the clients' needs and available services.
- Advise clients on such matters as job search methods, techniques and processes either individually or in a group setting, dealing with substantial or significant barriers to employment, to motivate clients, and' to recommend specific courses of action to prepare clients for employment and/or training opportunities.
- Answer inquiries concerning eligibility, procedures, and benefits using agency guidelines to inform clients and other interested parties of agency programs and services.
- Maintain liaison with public and private organizations to promote agency programs and services, to exchange information and to develop the resources necessary to provide client services.
- Work closely with our WIOA mandated partners for the purposes of providing the best possible service to shared customers.
- Compile occupational, educational, and other pertinent information to assist clients in determining vocational and educational interests and goals. When appropriate, create a career plan for customers in need of in-depth services.
- Refer clients to appropriate training and employment opportunities; follow up in a timely fashion, for customers enrolled in career planning follow up should be conducted at a minimum of every 30 days continually update MOSES with services and notes to describe those services.
- Administer and interpret various DCS tests.
- Review RESEA goals and determine which additional services would be beneficial to the job seeker, schedule a follow up appointment for customers.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Bi-lingual strongly preferred.
- Knowledge of interviewing techniques.
- Knowledge of the types and content of occupations common to the public and private sectors.
- Knowledge of the types and uses of tests to determine individual's interests, aptitudes, skills, and occupational preferences.
- Knowledge of the principles and practices of general psychology relating to individuals with significant and/or substantial barriers to employment. Ability to understand, explain, and apply the laws, rules, regulations, policies, procedures, guidelines, etc. governing OJC programs & services.
- Ability to analyze and determine the applicability of data, to draw conclusions and to make appropriate recommendations.
- Ability to interpret the results of tests used to determine individual interests, aptitudes, skills, and occupational preferences.
- Ability to establish rapport with people from different cultural and/or economic backgrounds.
- Ability to motivate clients.
- Ability to gather individual information through questioning and observing individuals.
- Ability to interact with people who are under physical and/or emotional stress.
- Ability to communicate effectively in oral and written expression.
Qualifications
First consideration will be given to those applicants that apply within the first 14 days.
Minimum Entrance Requirements:
Applicants must have at least (A) two years of full-time, or equivalent part-time, professional experience in employment counseling, vocational counseling, guidance, placement counseling, rehabilitation counseling or educational counseling, or (B) any equivalent combination of the required experience and the substitutions below.
Substitutions:
I. A Bachelor's or higher degree with a major in counseling or guidance may be substituted for the required experience.
Education toward such a degree will be prorated on the basis of the proportion of the requirements actually completed.
Special Requirements: None.
Comprehensive Benefits
When you embark on a career with the Commonwealth, you are offered an outstanding suite of employee benefits that add to the overall value of your compensation package. We take pride in providing a work experience that supports you, your loved ones, and your future.
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An Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action Employer. Females, minorities, veterans, and persons with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply.
The Commonwealth is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, disability, national origin, veteran status, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. Research suggests that qualified women, Black, Indigenous, and Persons of Color (BIPOC) may self-select out of opportunities if they don't meet 100% of the job requirements. We encourage individuals who believe they have the skills necessary to thrive to apply for this role.