Employment Specialist
Contract: Permanent, Full Time
Salary: £27,092 – £28,819 per annum
Location: South Yorkshire area
We are looking for motivated, proactive people who believe that employment can transform lives.
As an Employment Specialist, you’ll support people with mental health conditions, disabilities and other health-related barriers to achieve meaningful and sustained employment outcomes. You’ll build relationships with employers, health professionals and community partners to create opportunities that make a lasting difference to people’s lives.
This is a varied and rewarding role for someone who enjoys meeting new people, building relationships and helping others achieve their goals. No two days are the same. One day you could be supporting someone to take their first step towards work, and the next meeting employers, networking with partners or helping someone succeed in a new role.
We welcome applications from people with a wide range of backgrounds. You don’t need to have worked as an Employment Specialist before. What matters most is your ability to connect with people, build confidence, create opportunities and maintain a positive focus on outcomes.
If you’re proactive, resilient and motivated by helping people realise their potential, we’d love to hear from you.
Our wider benefits:
- Salary – £27,092 per annum
- Working hours – 37 hours per week (including some weekend and evening working)
- Eligible for essential car user allowance of £94.36 per month plus mileage expenses
- Driving licence essential
- Generous holiday entitlement – 27 days annual leave, statutory bank holidays plus an additional 4 SYHA days, pro rata.
- 5% pension contribution
- Excellent flexible working options including Flexi Time, Condensed Hours, Part Time, and Job Share.
- Excellent benefits including:
- SYHA Rewards – employee discount scheme, which offers cash back and shopping discounts. Plus, advice and resources on health eating, financial wellbeing, exercise and mastering your mental healthWestfield Health (employer paid)
- CounsellingDiscounted
- Gym membership
- Cycle to work scheme
- Access to a wide range of programmes to train and develop you.
For more information about our range of benefits, please visit the Your Wellbeing and Feeling at Home.
More about the role:
As an Employment Specialist, you’ll work closely with people who want to find and sustain paid employment, supporting them to identify their strengths, overcome barriers and achieve their goals. You’ll manage your own caseload while building strong relationships with employers, health services and community partners.
Some of the people you support may be experiencing severe mental illness or other complex challenges that impact their confidence, wellbeing and employment journey. You’ll need patience, resilience and the ability to build trust, while maintaining a positive, strengths-based focus on what’s possible.
This role combines coaching, networking, problem-solving and partnership working to help people access meaningful employment and thrive at work.
What is an Employment Specialist?
This is a diverse community-based role where you’ll:
- Support people to identify their strengths, ambitions and employment goals.
- Build strong relationships with employers to create opportunities and positive employment outcomes.
- Work alongside health services and partner organisations to provide joined-up support.
- Develop local networks and promote the service across communities and partner organisations.
- Support people before, during and after they move into employment, helping them sustain outcomes and thrive in work.
- Advocate for people with employers and challenge barriers to employment.
- Manage a caseload effectively, maintaining momentum and working towards agreed outcomes.
Who Are We Looking For?
We are looking for someone who is positive, organised and confident building relationships with a wide range of people. You’ll be motivated by helping people achieve their potential, while maintaining a focus on achieving positive outcomes.
You will bring:
- Strong communication and relationship-building skills.
- Confidence engaging with employers, partners and customers from diverse backgrounds.
- A proactive and organised approach, with the ability to manage competing priorities.
- The ability to work towards agreed outcomes and maintain momentum with customers.
- Resilience and adaptability when supporting people facing complex challenges and setbacks.
- A positive belief that people experiencing disadvantage, disability or health conditions can achieve meaningful paid employment with the right support.
- Good digital skills and attention to detail when recording information accurately.
- Confidence working independently, within communities and across partnership settings.
- A full driving licence and access to a vehicle for work purposes.
We’re particularly interested in hearing from people with transferable skills gained in areas such as recruitment, sales, coaching, training, education, customer service, housing, health, community engagement or employability services. Previous Employment Specialist experience is not essential.
Who we are:
At South Yorkshire Housing Association, our purpose is for our customers to settle at home, live well and realise their potential.
Feeling settled and living well means different things to the people and families that live across South Yorkshire. So, we work with people in different ways – from our extra-care housing, to providing services and opportunities that individuals can access in their home, workplace and community, to creating houses for affordable rent.
Our employees enable us to create the best services, support, and experiences for our customers. We believe that difference makes us better, and that our services are made stronger by having a diverse workforce. We encourage and welcome applications from all backgrounds.
At SYHA, we value the incredible contribution and talent that people with disabilities can and do bring to our workplace and we are proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. As part of our commitments, we will ensure that disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role will be guaranteed the opportunity to demonstrate their abilities at interview.
To be considered under the scheme, disabled applicants must disclose their disability (as defined by the Equality Act 2010) on the Equal Opportunities section of the job application.
SYHA does not hold a sponsorship license and are unable to provide visa sponsorship.
For the purposes of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 this is an excluded job.
Please click here to apply: Employment Specialist (10620) – South Yorkshire Housing Association | SYHA
For more information about our application and interview process, plus answers to our frequently asked questions, please click here to go to our Candidate Toolkit.
For an Informal Discussion Contact: Judith Badger 07464 498232
Closing Date: 6 September 2026
Assessment Centre Dates: 17 September (PM or AM) or 21 September (PM or AM)South Yorkshire Housing Association is looking for a motivated, proactive Employment Specialist who believe that employment can transform lives.
As an Employment Specialist, you’ll support people with mental health conditions, disabilities and other health-related barriers to achieve meaningful and sustained employment outcomes. You’ll build relationships with employers, health professionals and community partners to create opportunities that make a lasting difference to people’s lives.
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