Career Development Specialist

Overview

The Connecticut Institute for Refugees, Inc. (CIRI) is a statewide nonprofit organization that assists refugees and immigrants resolve legal, economic, linguistic, and social barriers so that they become self-sufficient, integrated and contributing members of the community.

Why work for CIRI?

• Diverse Culture
• CIRI is an eligible employer for the Public Interest Loan Forgiveness Program
• Strong team of supportive staff
• Incredible mission of helping refugees and immigrants
• Long-Term Community Connections
• Medical/dental/vision/life/403B plan
• 13 paid holidays
• 20 days paid time off
• Honor work/life balance
• Promotes self-care

The US has a proud history of providing refuge to those fleeing war and persecution and is the largest resettlement country in the world. The Connecticut Institute for Refugees and Immigrants (CIRI) has received and resettled refugees for over fifty years. We are affiliated with the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI), one of ten national agencies that administer the refugee resettlement program nationally.

Salary: $44,000

Position Summary: The Career Development Specialist (CDS) contributes to the effort to help to Afghan Humanitarian Parolees, SIVs, and other eligible Afghan nationals obtain gainful employment and become self-sufficient. The CDS works in concert with case managers on the Afghan Support Services Team to trouble-shoot obstacles to clients' success in achieving and sustaining employment and attaining career goals. The CDS helps maintain data collection and information sharing systems necessary for programming planning, reporting and continuity.

Essential Job Functions

Career Planning - Case Management

• Collaborate with clients on development and implementation of their service plans and career development plans.
• Coordinate with the client, the client’s employment focused case manager to identify appropriate job openings to individual clients.
• Assist clients with navigating the job application and interview processes, with the goal of empowering clients to do this independently.
• Train clients on all aspects U.S. work culture to ensure job retention and career development including work ethic, attitude, and skills. (hard and soft skills)
• Enhance and deliver CIRI’s Job Club and other pertinent trainings to program participants, including job readiness training, women’s job club, computer literacy classes, financial literacy training, and other specialized services.
• Conduct outreach to connect with Career services provided by the community.
• Connect clients to staffing agencies when needed.
• Identify scholarships and tuition reimbursement opportunities to further clients’ career goals.
• Empower individuals to complete ELL training programs, researching and developing custom solutions to barriers to ELL learning.
• Work closely with the Volunteer Coordinator to recruit volunteers to assist clients with obtaining employment and planning a career path.

Administrative Management

• Maintain timely client data, including case notes, for enrolled client utilizing CIRI’s online data collection systems and paper case files.
• Develop an understanding of key grant programmatic requirements and help prepare statistical information for different reports required for specific grants and programs.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree with a concentration in a relevant field (social work, teaching, anthropology, psychology, international studies, public health)
• At least 1 year of experience in a client-facing employment position and / or 2 years of experience working with vulnerable and/or underserved populations.
• Ability to provide in person services to clients in New Haven and Bridgeport community.
• Superior organizational, communication and prioritization skills.
• Exceptional interpersonal skills and proven ability to collaborate with other staff and service providers.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite and experience working with client databases.
• Must have reliable car, valid U.S. driver’s license and valid auto insurance.
• Ability to have a flexible schedule to accommodate occasional after-hours services.
• Familiarity with Afghan culture
• Verbal fluency in Pashto and/or Dari strongly preferred