About the JFCS Career Development Center:

Holding down a job is part of life, but keeping a job or finding a job that you love is challenging. You can help improve peoples’ lives and careers at the JFCS Career Development Center. The team at JFCS helps people find their pathway to obtaining and maintaining satisfying employment by providing career counseling, workshops, job fairs, and other services for job seekers of all ages and backgrounds.

There is a strong ripple effect to our service delivery - happy and well-matched employees actively support the growth and wellbeing of our region’s economy. JFCS Career Development Center works holistically with all other departments in the agency to ensure that people who are struggling get the range of assistance they need.

Why You Should Apply:

Every year, refugees arrive in Pittsburgh ready to work and begin providing for their families. Our region offers many opportunities, but due to language barriers, low literacy, skill mismatches, and cultural differences, finding and retaining work can be challenging. The Immigrant & Refugee Career Counselor will work closely with the Career Development Center (CDC) team to help refugees (and by extension their families) achieve financial and economic self-sufficiency and reach their long-term career goals.

Position Summary:

The Immigrant & Refugee Career Counselor is a key team member of the JFCS Career Development Center’s career counseling team. This position will work to develop job search strategies, career pathways and long-term career goals for newly-arrived as well as more well-established refugee and immigrant job seekers who are working toward self-sufficiency. This individual will ensure clients have all of the necessary tools, resources, and support to achieve their goals and be successful in their careers going forward - whether their goal be higher education, employment or career advancement.

About JFCS Pittsburgh

In today’s world, it is important that your life’s work brings you value and purpose. By joining the team at JFCS, you will experience hands-on opportunities that directly help people in the Greater Pittsburgh region through life’s changes and challenges.

Proudly voted by JFCS employees as one of Pittsburgh’s best places to work for +10 years, our care and commitment to our employees and our clients is our top priority. We are looking for new employees who share our commitment to providing critical, high quality services to the community.

Benefits:

• Collaborative work environment and diverse staff
• 37.5 hours work week with flexible scheduling to support work-life balance
• Hybrid work model (part of the week in office, part remote)
• Sick Time = 12 days a year
• Vacation Time = starts at 2 weeks the first year and then increases with longevity up to 4 weeks total
• Additional paid time off for all employees = most federal holidays, 3-5 floating holidays (to be used at employee’s discretion), and a number of Jewish holidays
• Comprehensive health insurance - medical, dental and vision
• Short and long term disability, life insurance and a 401k package for which JFCS contributes 4% of salary after the first year of service
• Annual longevity bonuses after the first year of service

Competencies:

• Belief in justice and equality in providing opportunities for immigrant and refugee populations.
• Passion for helping individuals achieve career success through employment and education.
• Ability to form strong and compassionate connections with others.
• Enthusiastic, patient, engaging and empathetic disposition.

Qualifications:

• Previous experience working with refugee and immigrant populations preferred.
• Must be sensitive to cultural differences of clients and staff from diverse backgrounds.
• A general understanding of workforce and labor markets.
• Strong computer skills required, including Microsoft Office and CRM experience.
• Top level organizational, written and oral communication, and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to multitask and work under strict deadlines.
  
• Bilingual language skills are a plus.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Provide individual assessment and career direction counseling for clients.
• Conduct individual career counseling sessions, both virtually and in person.
• Work with clients to develop an individualized career pathway plan and accompanying goals.
• Ensure each client has high quality materials needed to conduct a successful job search, including a resume.
• Identify and work to reduce barriers to accessing and retaining employment, including transportation, child care, and food insecurity to help clients find stability and family-sustaining wages.
• Administer and evaluate vocational testing and marketability assessment tools.
• Help to develop and deliver workshops, including Resume Writing, Job Search Techniques, Entering the Workplace Successfully, Interview Skills and other topics as required.
• Maintain contact with clients during job search and after placement to monitor employment status and ensure successful job retention.
• Work closely and collaboratively with other JFCS departments to best serve clients.
• Represent the CDC and specific programs to the community through community outreach, public speaking, and response to community concerns about the programs and clients.
• Track and regularly monitor program data including client engagement and case notes in agency database system and other required formats.
• Assume other related duties as assigned.