ABOUT CHILDREN INTERNATIONAL

Children International Inc., herein referred to as CIM is an affiliate of Children International, a global non-profit, headquartered in Kansas City, USA.

Children International (CI) globally delivers child and youth development programming to break the cycle of generational poverty. Through a long-term, customized approach, we serve young people in 10 countries around the world for the first two decades of their lives. By providing access to resources such as education, health care and positive role models, along with life skills and job skills they need to become sustainably employed adults, we are empowering our participants to improve their own lives, while transforming their families and communities. We are in it for the long haul, because we know that the nearly 220,000 children and youth we support around the world deserve a fighting chance.

As a locally registered entity, CIM boasts of a dedicated team of over 100 staff and 200+ volunteers. The organization operates offices and programs that support more than 25,000 young people across different communities in Quezon City, Caloocan, Manila, and Calumpit, Bulacan.

THE CAREER OPPORTUNITY

The Employment Partnership Specialist plays a key role in connecting young people with decent employment or opportunities to start their own business. This is achieved by designing and implementing a local workforce insertion approach through partnerships with relevant organizations. Reporting directly to the Youth Workforce Development Lead, the Employment Partnership Specialist will be expected to collaborate with various agency stakeholder—including other program leads, Service Area Coordinators, other agency leadership and field officers. Accordingly, the Employment Partnership Specialist must comply with all CIM policies, particularly those pertaining to child safeguarding.

This role focuses on identifying, developing, and strengthening collaborations with public, private, and civil society actors to generate opportunities for employment, entrepreneurship, and work-based learning opportunities for youth so they can ultimately become confident young adults with the skills and tools to reach their goals, become sustainably employed, and positively influence their community.

All efforts must ensure relevance, sustainability, and measurable impact of the implemented actions. This role is ideal for an experienced candidate who is passionate about combatting poverty, excited to work directly in the community, and capable of creative problem solving in a fast-paced environment.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Identify, establish, and strengthen local Agency 19+ partnerships that generate employment and/or entrepreneurship and work-based learning opportunities for youth.
• Collaborate with the Youth Workforce Development Lead in planning and executing a locally relevant workforce insertion approach that delivers on the agreed objectives, aligns to Agency’s local context, responds to the needs of the target group, and achieves job placement goals.
• Contribute to agency planning and budgeting processes for 19 –24 programs.
• Support the Youth Workforce Development Lead in multisectoral collaborations that optimize resources and enhance the sustainability of intervention, and, where applicable, partner with the Global Strategic Partnerships team on multinational initiatives.
• Collaborate with Employment Field officer/s to support in implementing work-based learning (WBL) experiences—such as internships, professional practicums, co-ops, and volunteer programs.
• Facilitate youth connections with employers, job fairs, mentoring programs, business networks, and other opportunities in the workforce development sector.
• Collaborate with team members to strengthen youths’ employability skills—such as interview preparation, resume writing, career exploration, and entrepreneurship—while supporting mentoring and pre-placement preparation to enhance their job opportunities
• Identify barriers to employment or entrepreneurship and coordinate actions to overcome them.
• Promote program visibility through events, digital media, and community engagement spaces.
• Ensure data consistency, reliability, timeliness, and quality to maintain data integrity. Regularly update progress and comply with all reporting requirements, including the agency-wide partnership database.
• Enable seamless information flow and ensure effective collaboration and coordination within the Agency and the communities and across the global organization to maximize collective impact on young participants and families.
• Demonstrate behaviors aligned to CI values consistently.
• Contribute to a learning culture that tackles agency challenges and models effective problem solving. Join learning sessions to exchange best practices and lessons learned.
• Actively support continuous improvement initiatives and adapt quickly to change within a complex, ever-changing work environment.
• Participate and engage as needed in stakeholder activities to build alliances, engage, and gather feedback from diverse groups. These include relevant internal stakeholders and external stakeholders (corporates, government institutions, other prospective employers and civil society partners etc.).

EDUCATION, EXPERIENCE AND KEY SKILLS:

• Background in a relevant field of study like social work, other social sciences, business administration, community development, or related fields. Complementary training in employability, youth development, or corporate social responsibility would be highly desirable.
• 2 - 3 years of experience in the development of workforce insertion access projects, with a strong focus on identifying, engaging, and leveraging relevant partners. Proven experience in partnership development and management is essential.
• Additionally, past experience in mentoring, career guidance, or supporting youth in vulnerable situations would be an asset.
• Knowledge of labor laws and employment-related regulations.
• Strong interpersonal and negotiation skills with the proven ability to deal tactfully, manage conflict and build effective relationships and collaborate with people across different levels, both internally and externally.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment, learn quickly, analyze complex information, identify trends and recommend innovative solutions.
• Strong verbal and written communication in the main local language and relevant local languages
• Comfort using MS Office Suite (Work, Excel, PowerPoint)
• Demonstrated vision and commitment to supporting social service and/or humanitarian causes 

WORK REQUIREMENTS

• Work schedules may include weekend and evening hours depending on work requirements. 
• Willingness to travel across service areas within the city/country, with at least 60% of the time outside office for workforce development activities, employer/local partners engagement, and other program-related events. There may be occasional travel outside the country for training and other related activities

ORGANIZATIONAL POLICIES

• Strictly observe confidentiality and strong ethics with respect to all beneficiary information and other organizational data.
• Comply with and ensure adherence to the organization’s policies, safety and security protocols, and child safeguarding norms and guidelines by self as well as all stakeholders both internal and external.
• Value other cultures and demonstrate respect while relating with all organizational constituents irrespective of their race, color, faiths, gender, sexual orientation, age, caste, disabilities, experiences, beliefs, and ethnicity.

OVERALL DECISION MAKING & SUPERVISION

• This position requires flexibility, independent planning and coordination as well as moderately complex decisions requiring judgement and initiative.
• The position is monitored on progress - typically reflects the status of tasks completion and goal execution.

JOB INFORMATION

• Department: Programs
• Reports to: Youth Workforce Development Lead
• Grade: 6