Being a youth worker continues to be redefined. Here are two examples of temporary part-time jobs being advertised at the Wigan Youth Zone. Misnamed youth workers are thus fully integrated into the 21st century’s imposed version of the 1980’s Youth Training Scheme.

Job Title: Employment Broker Youth Worker – 20 hours per week Salary: £7.50 – £9.50 per hour

Job Description

Main duties and responsibilities

• Experience of working with NEET young people aged 15 – 21 and understanding their barriers
• Ability to recruit students onto the Get a Job course
• Possible school engagement work (between Jan – Jun specifically)

Job Brokering for students

• Pro-active
• Shows good initiative
• Business Networking at events such as regional Expo’s & employability events
• Online Business networking to broker jobs for students
• Town centre and retail park business networking to broker jobs for students
• Local business networking to broker jobs for students
• Ability to transition students into brokered job opportunities including casual, full or part-time and apprenticeships

Managing work experience placements

• Ringing students on the database who are still looking for jobs, training or further education opportunities
• Matching students to appropriate businesses for placements
• Risk assessments
• Monitoring students while on placement
• Site visits with students & supervisors
• Collating supervisor reports

and

Job Title: Teaching Support Assistant & Business Networking Youth Worker – 8 hours per week  Salary: £7.50 – £9.50 per hour

Job Description
Young people experience

• Experience of working with NEET young people aged 15 – 21 and understanding their barriers
• Ability to recruit students onto the course
• Possible school engagement work (between Jan – Jun specifically)

Teaching

• Teaching employability skills modules such as:
• CV Writing
• Cover Letter Writing
• Interview Techniques
• Application writing
• Presentation skills
• Team building
• Customer service skills
• Writing lesson plans
• Assessing learning
• Ability to understand VAK learning styles
• Ability to use a variety of teaching strategies

Job Brokering for students

• Pro-active
• Shows good initiative
• Business networking at events such as regional Expo’s & employability events
• Online business networking to broker jobs for students
• Town centre and retail park business networking to broker jobs for students
• Local business networking to broker jobs for students
• Ability to transition students into brokered job opportunities including casual, full or part-time and apprenticeships

Cohort information: Cohorts are run on a rolling basis throughout the year. The full time programme is 8 weeks long and part-time programmes of 4 weeks long.

Ironically, close on forty years ago, Marilyn Taylor, my partner, was employed full-time as a Specialist Employment Assistant within the Careers Service. Her job was to find work experience placements for young people. She worked closely with the Further Education college, which taught work preparation courses. Meanwhile the Youth Service, for which I worked full-time, related supportively, yet critically to these initiatives. We did not see our role as preparing young people for employment on the employer’s terms, teaching employability skills. We saw ourselves as playing a distinctive part in preparing young people to be active, questioning citizens. In this light we challenged the ideology of then burgeoning Youth Opportunity Schemes and the dramatic rise of the Manpower Services Commission. Given Marilyn was also a part-time youth worker she faced many contradictory situations in this period. At least, though, the tensions were out in the open. Today we suspect the dilemmas are brushed deep under the carpet.