Fulltime 37.5 hours pw
£25,000 - £29,000
I am looking for someone with high standards.
Guildford YMCA is a growing independent charity affiliated to YMCA England and a founding member of The Youth Consortium (Surrey and Borders). We have a turnover in excess of £2 million and provide housing, conferencing, a public restaurant and a large youth department, commonly called ‘Plantation’. Plantation opened 14 years ago and has grown exponentially over the years. We now have 25 fulltime youth workers, plus another 60 part-time paid and volunteer staff (many of whom are seconded from Surrey County Council). We run over 50 projects, programmes and initiatives a week all over Surrey and into Hampshire and West Sussex. We support hundreds of young people throughout the year, many of whom are very vulnerable or socially excluded. We have recently taken on the management of three large County Council youth centres and their associated satellite venues in south west Surrey.
I am looking for a new Youth Venues Manager to replace Owen who is heading back to university. The Youth Venues Manager sits within the formal management team of Guildford YMCA and alongside the Youth Projects Manager, Sarah. The Youth Venues Manager is responsible for managing and growing the youth work in our youth centres and our established Plantation Café – a popular drop in café for young people open five days a week. You will manage a budget of £100,000 and line manage four excellent fulltime staff, who themselves oversee a further 55 part-time paid and volunteer youth workers.
What I expect from you, the Youth Venues Manager, is someone who has experience of working with young people and is good at it! Qualifications in youth work are an advantage of course, but I will provide training as necessary. I will need you to have managerial or leadership experience and the ability to understand, define and meet our contractual obligations within the budget you set. You need to be able to build positive professional relationships with our funders and partners at a senior level as well as be able to inspire, motivate and direct your staff team, ensuing the highest standards are always met. You will be busy and it’s a dynamic role, balancing day-to-day fire-fighting with meeting long term objectives. I expect you to work hard and I expect you to have a lot of fun doing it!
For my part, I will invest in your ongoing professional training. I will empower you and give you autonomy over how you lead and inspire your staff. You will receive a company contributed pension, and heavily discounted (and very nice) lunch! Being a local charity I will never be able to pay my staff what they are worth. However, I can promise that you will be a key member of a very professional team, shaping the impact of our work with young people and influencing the growth of our youth work in our youth centres and youth café. You will be fully supported by me and the wider team. We have a strong, fun team spirit and an encouraging and inspiring culture where banter is essential and where young people are at the heart of all that we do.
We are an inclusive Christian organisation and I welcome applicants of all faiths and those of none. The role, of course, is subject to an Enhanced CRB Disclosure.
To learn more about us look at www.guildfordymca.org.uk & www.plantationcafe.org.uk
For further information and an application pack in Word format please contact Owen Rist on 01483 888122 or orist@guildfordymca.org.uk
Closing date for applications is Wednesday 8th August. First round interviews: 15th or 16th August.
Jon Pickerill
Director of Youth Programmes