Apprentice Engagement Officer

Southampton City Council

Hampshire (SO14 7LY)

Closes in 13 days (Sunday 12 April 2026)

Posted on 27 March 2026

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Contents

Summary

This is a role for an Apprentice Engagement Officer to work with NEET young people and prepare them for education, employment or training. The role will involve mentoring style support to engage young people who are experiencing barriers to EET.

Wage

£24,795 a year

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At Southampton City Council we are committed to paying Foundation Living Wage as a minimum and we believe apprentices should also be paid fairly. The salary is £24,795.

Training course
Employability practitioner (level 4)
Hours
Monday to Friday, shifts to be confirmed.

37 hours a week

Start date

Monday 1 June 2026

Duration

2 years 3 months

Positions available

1

Work

Most of your apprenticeship is spent working. You’ll learn on the job by getting hands-on experience.

What you'll do at work

  • Establish, maintain and develop effective relationships which engage young people, including undertaking an assessment of their needs; agreeing and delivering support, brokering support where necessary, and monitoring their progress
  • Carry a caseload of referred young people
  • Deliver high quality information, advice, guidance and support on all aspects of progression to young people and their parents and carers, individually and in groups, in a variety of settings and locations
  • Ensure young people are assisted in securing and sustaining suitable opportunities in education, training and employment

Where you'll work

Civic Centre
Southampton
Hampshire
SO14 7LY

Training

Apprenticeships include time away from working for specialist training. You’ll study to gain professional knowledge and skills.

Training provider

TOTAL TRAINING PROVISION LIMITED

Training course

Employability practitioner (level 4)

Understanding apprenticeship levels (opens in new tab)

What you'll learn

Course contents
  • Holistic Assessments & Diagnostics - Use holistic assessment and diagnostic skills to identify servicer user employability, career goals and aspirations and health and well-being barriers. Assess service users’ strengths and obstacles to building healthier lives through returning to work.
  • Interviewing & Effective Questioning - Apply effective interviewing and questioning techniques to identify servicer user employability, career goals and aspirations and potential barriers to these
  • Attention to detail & Record Keeping- Conduct routine compliance checks of service user records for own caseload and others, identifying areas for improvement and making recommendations.
  • Design & Deliver Interventions - Utilise evidence-based solutions to design and deliver employability, health and wellbeing related programmes, services and interventions to service users which considers the specific needs of different groups (e.g. those with physical disabilities and those with mental, learning, emotional and behavioural challenges, including autism and dyslexia). These can be either on a one-to-one basis (face-to-face or remotely) or in groups at a central office or out in the community.
  • Flexible Working - Where required, work flexibly across different locations by undertaking outreach work to make services accessible for service users or even co-locating with other community services. Where required, work flexibly outside of normal office working hours as there may be times when they have to work evenings and weekends if any of their service users are employed and need to be contacted and provided with support outside of these times
  • Communication - Communicate to a high standard, both verbally and written, using a wide variety of different methods and adapting for different audiences, evaluating the effectiveness for continuous improvement.
  • Coaching & Mentoring - Coach and mentor service users and colleagues and actively improve coaching and mentoring skills for themselves and others.
  • Problem Solving & Risk/Crisis Management - Uses advanced problem solving, and negotiation skills to establish win-win situations with service users where possible. Identifying when they might potentially fall out of work and rapidly respond to minimise the risk. Address safeguarding and PREVENT concerns maturely, dealing with service users when they present in crisis, minimising risks/crises in the future through pastoral support and effective risk assessment.
  • Managing Complex Caseloads - Application of specialist knowledge to deal with particular complex and challenging cases.
  • Behaviour Management - Anticipate and de-escalate challenging behaviour in service users, managing challenging behaviour as it presents itself using relevant non-clinical behaviour change tools and techniques.
  • Change Management - Manage change effectively with the on-boarding/off-boarding of contracts and services
  • Business Development - Identify, seek out and establish business development and commercial opportunities for the organisation including new referral streams. This may include the impact of a move to net carbon zero emission economy by 2050 on the local labour market.
  • Networking - Network with internal and external customers and key stakeholders to build relationships and identify business opportunities.
  • Stakeholder Management & Engagement - Build and maintain strong working relationships with key stakeholders to support service delivery by taking a multi-agency and integrated services approach.
  • Giving Feedback - Give constructive and timely feedback to service users and colleagues.
  • Evaluation & Critical Analysis - Evaluates and analyses programmes, services and interventions, using data to make recommendations for improvements and to inform service delivery.
  • Research Skills - Gather labour market, employability and careers information, analyse it, spot trends and patterns, draw conclusions to inform information, advice and guidance given to service users and employers. Research skills are used to further specialism knowledge and experience, as well as to support service design and delivery. This may include the impact of a move to net carbon zero emission economy by 2050 on the local labour market.
  • Deliver Information, Advice & Guidance - Apply employability, careers and labour market knowledge to deliver high quality information, advice and guidance that is tailored to the needs of the service users and key stakeholders.
  • Service Delivery - Adheres to company vision, mission and values, embedding them in all service delivery.
  • Performance Management - Independently manage own performance to meet and exceed minimum service levels, contractual requirements and service level agreements.
  • ICT & Digital Skills - ICT skills are used for record keeping and digital skills are used to support service users with finding employment through social media and the internet.
  • Assertiveness - Assertively directs and challenges service users to reach their potential. Will also be used when dealing with key stakeholders.
  • Manage CPD - Manage your own and support the professional development of others. Promote best practice through learning opportunities as they arise.
  • Holistic Assessments & Diagnostics - Use holistic assessment and diagnostic skills to identify servicer user employability, career goals and aspirations and health and well-being barriers. Assess service users’ strengths and obstacles to building healthier lives through returning to work.
  • Interviewing & Effective Questioning - Apply effective interviewing and questioning techniques to identify servicer user employability, career goals and aspirations and potential barriers to these
  • Attention to detail & Record Keeping- Conduct routine compliance checks of service user records for own caseload and others, identifying areas for improvement and making recommendations.
  • Design & Deliver Interventions - Utilise evidence-based solutions to design and deliver employability, health and wellbeing related programmes, services and interventions to service users which considers the specific needs of different groups (e.g. those with physical disabilities and those with mental, learning, emotional and behavioural challenges, including autism and dyslexia). These can be either on a one-to-one basis (face-to-face or remotely) or in groups at a central office or out in the community.
  • Flexible Working - Where required, work flexibly across different locations by undertaking outreach work to make services accessible for service users or even co-locating with other community services. Where required, work flexibly outside of normal office working hours as there may be times when they have to work evenings and weekends if any of their service users are employed and need to be contacted and provided with support outside of these times
  • Communication - Communicate to a high standard, both verbally and written, using a wide variety of different methods and adapting for different audiences, evaluating the effectiveness for continuous improvement.
  • Coaching & Mentoring - Coach and mentor service users and colleagues and actively improve coaching and mentoring skills for themselves and others.
  • Problem Solving & Risk/Crisis Management - Uses advanced problem solving, and negotiation skills to establish win-win situations with service users where possible. Identifying when they might potentially fall out of work and rapidly respond to minimise the risk. Address safeguarding and PREVENT concerns maturely, dealing with service users when they present in crisis, minimising risks/crises in the future through pastoral support and effective risk assessment.
  • Managing Complex Caseloads - Application of specialist knowledge to deal with particular complex and challenging cases.
  • Behaviour Management - Anticipate and de-escalate challenging behaviour in service users, managing challenging behaviour as it presents itself using relevant non-clinical behaviour change tools and techniques.
  • Change Management - Manage change effectively with the on-boarding/off-boarding of contracts and services
  • Business Development - Identify, seek out and establish business development and commercial opportunities for the organisation including new referral streams. This may include the impact of a move to net carbon zero emission economy by 2050 on the local labour market.
  • Networking - Network with internal and external customers and key stakeholders to build relationships and identify business opportunities.
  • Stakeholder Management & Engagement - Build and maintain strong working relationships with key stakeholders to support service delivery by taking a multi-agency and integrated services approach.
  • Giving Feedback - Give constructive and timely feedback to service users and colleagues.
  • Evaluation & Critical Analysis - Evaluates and analyses programmes, services and interventions, using data to make recommendations for improvements and to inform service delivery.
  • Research Skills - Gather labour market, employability and careers information, analyse it, spot trends and patterns, draw conclusions to inform information, advice and guidance given to service users and employers. Research skills are used to further specialism knowledge and experience, as well as to support service design and delivery. This may include the impact of a move to net carbon zero emission economy by 2050 on the local labour market.
  • Deliver Information, Advice & Guidance - Apply employability, careers and labour market knowledge to deliver high quality information, advice and guidance that is tailored to the needs of the service users and key stakeholders.
  • Service Delivery - Adheres to company vision, mission and values, embedding them in all service delivery.
  • Performance Management - Independently manage own performance to meet and exceed minimum service levels, contractual requirements and service level agreements.
  • ICT & Digital Skills - ICT skills are used for record keeping and digital skills are used to support service users with finding employment through social media and the internet.
  • Assertiveness - Assertively directs and challenges service users to reach their potential. Will also be used when dealing with key stakeholders.
  • Manage CPD - Manage your own and support the professional development of others. Promote best practice through learning opportunities as they arise.

Training schedule

  • Studying towards the Level 4 Employability Practitioner Apprenticeship
  • Functional Skills, if required

Requirements

Essential qualifications

GCSE in:

English and Maths (grade A* - C (9 - 4))

Share if you have other relevant qualifications and industry experience. The apprenticeship can be adjusted to reflect what you already know.

Skills

  • Communication skills
  • IT skills
  • Attention to detail
  • Organisation skills
  • Customer care skills
  • Problem solving skills
  • Administrative skills
  • Team working
  • Creative
  • Initiative
  • Organisational Skills

About this employer

Being part of the Southampton City Council team requires people who are willing to take personal responsibility for delivering excellence, to work with others to achieve the best possible outcomes, to embrace change and new opportunities, to make the most of the resources available to us and to think and act in the best interests of our customers. Southampton City Council are responsible for providing a number of services to the residents of Southampton including waste, housing, benefits, libraries, community support, marriages etc. and our aim is to give our customers the best service possible.

https://www.southampton.gov.uk/ (opens in new tab)

Disability Confident

Disability Confident

A fair proportion of interviews for this apprenticeship will be offered to applicants with a disability or long-term health condition. This includes non-visible disabilities and conditions.

You can choose to be considered for an interview under the Disability Confident scheme. You’ll need to meet the essential requirements to be considered for an interview.

After this apprenticeship

Although we can’t guarantee you a permanent job at the end of your apprenticeship, we will support you to apply for suitable roles within the council, and help make sure you are ready for a wider job search.

Ask a question

The contact for this apprenticeship is:

Southampton City Council

Beth Bray

beth.bray@southampton.gov.uk

The reference code for this apprenticeship is VAC2000023813.

Apply now

Closes in 13 days (Sunday 12 April 2026)

After signing in, you’ll apply for this apprenticeship on the company's website.