Youth Services Employment Specialist

Staff positions are supportive roles providing support to our rehabilitation mission. Applicants for staff positions do not need to have a barrier to employment to be eligible for these roles. To ensure full consideration for a staff position, please attach a resume to your application so we can gain a complete view of your experiences.

Peckham, Inc. – Youth Services Employment Specialist Ann Arbor Day Treatment | Part-Time.

POSITION SUMMARY:

Help young people see what’s possible—and help them get there. At Peckham, we believe every young person has strengths, abilities, and potential worth investing in. The Youth Services Employment Specialist plays a meaningful role in creating an extraordinary experience for youth—helping them discover their strengths, explore possibilities, build confidence, and take meaningful steps toward becoming successful, responsible, and caring adults. This part-time position serves youth who are court-involved as well as youth referred through the Washtenaw County community.

• Build authentic, trusting relationships with youth through a strengths-based, trauma-informed approach that recognizes their abilities, experiences, interests, and potential.
• Create an environment where youth feel welcomed, respected, supported, and challenged to grow.
• Serve as a consistent, encouraging adult who helps students recognize their strengths, develop confidence, and envision new possibilities for their future.
• Provide mentoring, encouragement, and individualized support while maintaining appropriate boundaries and professional relationships.
• Hold students accountable for their choices and behavior while using pro-social, restorative, and skill-building approaches that promote personal responsibility and growth.
• Provide individual counseling, support, and crisis intervention within the scope of the position and organizational practices.
• Connect youth and families with schools, community resources, and other supportive services when additional resources are needed.
• Provide individualized career exploration, assessment, evaluation, and consultation based on each student’s interests, abilities, goals, and needs.
• Develop individualized vocational and career plans that identify strengths, goals, barriers, action steps, and opportunities for growth.
• Help youth explore careers, understand workplace expectations, identify education and training pathways, and connect their interests to real-world opportunities.
• Deliver comprehensive work-readiness instruction, including job preparedness, job-seeking skills, applications, phone etiquette, resume development, interviewing, workplace communication, professionalism, and job-search strategies.
• Provide opportunities for students to earn industry-recognized credentials and certifications aligned with their interests and high-demand career pathways.
• Coordinate talent tours, career exploration activities, workplace exposure, and other experiences that allow students to see possibilities beyond their current circumstances.
• Assist youth in identifying and overcoming barriers to employment and education, including identifying reasonable accommodations when appropriate.
• Support students in developing the skills, habits, and confidence necessary for successful employment, continued education, and greater independence.
• Provide follow-up, coaching, and retention support to youth and employers during employment or continued education.
• Represent Peckham professionally at business networking events, community meetings, and other opportunities that strengthen employer and community partnerships.
• Promote workplace diversity, inclusion, and opportunities for young people with barriers to employment.
• Develop and maintain positive relationships with referral sources, schools, community partners, employers, and funding partners.
• Identify new opportunities, partnerships, and resources that expand the possibilities available to Peckham youth.
• Support Day Treatment Programming:
  Develop and facilitate engaging daily programming that supports the academic, social-emotional, career, and personal development of court-involved and community-referred youth.
• Facilit…