Career Coach

The Kalamazoo Regional Educational Service Agency (KRESA)
is a critical part of Michigan’s education system serving the Greater Kalamazoo region and provides specialized services to schools and communities and optimizes resources by centralizing innovative programs and services. We partner with school districts and the broader community to offer essential programs including early childhood education, special education, career learning, and educator development, ensuring that learners of all ages receive the support they need.

We are currently seeking a Career Coach at Career Connect Downtown in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The essential responsibilities for this position include but are not limited to:

• Align services with KRESA Core Values (Collaboration, Innovation, Compassion, Respect, and Integrity) and Culture & Belonging principles to engage and serve all students
• Provide individualized career pathway planning services to a case load of youth participants, including career interest and skill exploration, goal setting and action planning, supporting transitions into employment, education or training, and support with navigating internal and external barriers to employment (e.g., lack of relevant work experience, inconsistent living environments, childcare needs, etc.)
• Deliver services to all youth participants with an equity mindset
• Work in collaboration with Michigan Works! Southwest service providers, along with other community partners, to ensure coordination of services for participants
• Collaborate across KRESA Career Connect to ensure participants have access to opportunities across the continuum of available programming available programming
• Assess participant readiness for experiential learning opportunities including internships, job shadows, workplace tours, and other work-based learning; coordinate with internal and external teams to engage participants as appropriate
• Attend community meetings and serve as a public representative of Kalamazoo RESA/Career Connect
• Display an understanding of skills essential to employment and the ability to coach young adults on those skills in individual and group settings
• Participate in professional development activities to keep abreast of current program policies, youth employment laws, workforce information, and recent trends in career development
• Have an awareness of local employment, academic and other resource institutions in the communities we serve in order to support participant objectives
• Become familiar with federal, state and local policies that govern the administration of our programming
• Maintain accurate and timely documentation of services provided to participants, including frequent case notes and documentation for compliant participant files
• Provide follow up services and support to participants who have achieved the goals outlined during their participation in the program
• Complete necessary reports and submit within required time frames
• Ensure services are conducted in adherence to KRESA’s core values and anti-bias, and anti-racism principles
• Other duties as assigned

Qualified candidates will have:

• Related professional experience in workforce development programs, community engagement, youth programming, preferred
• Related academic experience, a bonus

Other skills and abilities include:

• Embraces and supports KRESA philosophies related to our core values (Collaboration, Innovation, Compassion, Respect, and Integrity), Culture & Belonging, and Continuous Improvement
• Embraces and supports KRESA’s vision of a transformative,equitable and innovative education for all in the Greater Kalamazoo region
• Ability to interact effectively with individuals from a wide range of identities and lived experiences
• Ability to discuss differences with colleagues and…