What should a person bring to the trainee post?
- A genuine commitment to making a difference to the lives of others.
- A willingness to learn and develop new skills and experiences.
- Enthusiasm to work with homeless and formerly homeless people.
What can a trainee expect?
The programme is a 12-month work-experience placement. The placement will be tailored to provide the best possible opportunities for trainees to gain the knowledge and skills needed to be an effective and professional generic support worker.
The placement includes:
- Comprehensive induction into the organisation, the trainee scheme and the specific job. This will include topics such as professional boundaries, health and safety, social norms of the workplace, and managing relapse.
- Suitable placement within a project in our Street and Hostel Services or Housing and Community Support Services. Trainee programmes will also become available within our Central Services team. Trainees could be offered the opportunity to work within Human Resources, IT, Communications, Strategic Support, Business Development or Finance.
- A placement supervisor within the project who will offer support, direction, feedback and evaluation of your work based on a set of core competencies and professional appraisals.
- On-going training.
- Two six-month placements within different Thames Reach projects. One project is likely to be within a hostel. The placements offer the opportunity to gain an understanding of how we work with people in different settings (hostels, day centres, in their own homes) and with different life issues (alcohol or substance misuse, mental health problems).
What do we expect from trainees?
- To demonstrate a keen interest in supporting homeless and formerly homeless people to develop life skills and live independently.
- With training and support, to demonstrate the ability to undertake and deliver services directly to homeless and formerly homeless people, including taking on key working and working towards full case load responsibilities.
- To identify skills and knowledge to learn during the placement.
- To have an insight into their own behaviour and be able to accept constructive feedback.
- To participate in the full range of training opportunities provided.
- To show commitment to Thames Reach’s values and high level of professionalism.
- To be committed to working in a team and becoming a valued member of the organisation.
- To be motivated, pro-active and use initiative.
- To be flexible and able to adapt to change to meet the needs of the service.
- To be able to commit to a 12-month full-time traineeship and fulfil the criteria set out in the person specification.
Duration of the traineeship
Trainees will be offered a short-term contract for 12 months. The traineeships are subject to successful probation reviews at three- and six-month intervals.
When the traineeship finishes: what's next?
As a trainee placement nears its end, if trainees decide to pursue a career in this sector, they will be offered some assistance in applying for jobs and interview preparation. In addition, trainees will be entitled to apply for Thames Reach vacancies that are advertised to other Thames Reach employees.
There is, however, no guarantee of a paid job after the completion of the traineeship.
