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We are Hiring! Social Enterprise Officer

Oct 4, 2023 | Europe, Jobs, News, Procurement, Support

Job Description & Person Specification

Social Enterprise Officer: Buy WISEly & GreenBoost4SMEs.

Free-lance contract position – 139 days over 23 months.

The Organisation

Social Enterprise in Ireland has a home. We are here to help social enterprises, social entrepreneurs and social innovators in getting their idea off the ground and providing the supports to grow. We are here to build a network that will change and impact their social mission as well as foster an entrepreneurial sphere of passionate and ground-breaking models of social change. We are here to support an open and inclusive network for social enterprises, social entrepreneurs and social innovators.

There are three pillars to the work of the Irish Social Enterprise Network –

Network – We run events and networking opportunities throughout the year. We aim to bridge the gap between social enterprises across Ireland.

Information – We aim to point you in the right direction to get your idea off the ground or take your organisation to the next level.

Advocacy – We aim for an Ireland where social enterprises are recognised as being a valuable and necessary part of the economy and society.

We are currently seeking a dynamic and experienced Social Enterprise Officer, primarily focusing on Project Management, to lead and oversee the successful implementation and coordination of our key projects: ‘Buy WISEly’ and ‘GreenBoost4WISEs’. The successful candidate will be responsible for organising events and trade fairs, coordinating study visits, and developing training sessions, coaching, mentoring, focus groups, and providing essential administrative and financial support for the projects.

 

The Projects

The Irish Social Enterprise Network is running two European Projects called ‘Buy WISEly’ and ‘GreenBoost4WISEs’ over the coming 24 months. These two projects require the development and implementation of events, surveys, study visits, administration and coordination with our European partners. We are now recruiting a Social Enterprise Officer as a core part of our team. This post-holder will report to the CEO of ISEN. Both projects are outlined below.

Buy WISEly Project

Buy WISEly is a project co-financed by the EU Single Market Programme. The concept has been developed due to the following critical issues and needs:

  • There is a lack of research on the relationship between Work Integration Social Enterprises (WISEs) and Mainstream Businesses (MBs) (this includes lack of knowledge of the share of resources, partnership organisations, generated value etc.);
  • This project will monitor, report and evaluate the outcomes of partnerships;
  • Address existing fragmented Business to Business (B2B) policies (supporting measures for social enterprises when it comes to the cooperation with MBs) across Europe.

The main general objective is to enable WISEs and mainstream businesses to design, foster and implement transactional partnerships including trade relationships for sustainable buy social B2B market. As for the specific objectives, they are:

  • Raise awareness WISEs and their products and services and how mainstream businesses can purchase from them
  • Encourage the involvement of mainstream businesses to support up/re-skilling pathways of disadvantaged groups to facilitate their access into the ordinary labour market;
  • Strengthen the operational and financial capacity of WISEs to cooperate with mainstream businesses, the so called “trade readiness”;
  • Develop transactional partnerships through concrete actions between WISEs and mainstream businesses.

GreenBoost4WISEs Project

GreenBoost4WISEs overall aims at making business and processes of WISEs more sustainable and to raise awareness on through capacity building, knowledge transfer and transnational cooperation.

The specific objectives are:

  • Supporting transnational and cross-sectorial cooperation and exchange of good practices to enable sustainable growth of WISEs to face the green transition;
  • Upskilling and training towards staff and management of WISEs to green their operations;
  • Encouraging the uptake and adoption of sustainable measures and innovative solutions;
  • Fostering cooperation between WISEs and other relevant stakeholders (e.g., other social economy entities, mainstream businesses, academia and public authorities).

Numerous activities are foreseen consisting of capacity-building and awareness raising through study visits, focus groups, trainings and events. Specific activities are also tailored in order to stimulate and to develop green strategies in internal organisation processes and businesses such as coaching and mentoring activities at national and EU levels and financial support to WISEs through trainings addressing sustainability in key sectors and advisory and consultancy services in implementation countries are: Austria, Italy, and Ireland. The consortium is composed of WISEs networks and circular economy representative.
Two specific target groups have been identified in the framework of this project. On the one hand, the main direct target groups of GreenBoost4WISEs are WISEs managers and their representatives, other types of social economy enterprises (cooperatives, foundations, networks, etc.) and public authorities. On the other hand, indirect target groups and beneficiaries are disadvantaged groups working in WISEs and mainstream businesses.

The Role

The Social Enterprise Officer will deliver these projects. This holder of this post will be one of the key public faces of the Irish Social Enterprise Network.  As this is a small team the role includes supporting the delivery of member events and services. The role of the Social Enterprise Officer in both projects are outlined below;

Responsibilities:

  1. Project Coordination and Management:
    • Oversee and manage the ‘Buy WISEly’ and ‘GreenBoost4WISEs’ projects ensuring timely and effective implementation.
    • Develop detailed project plans outlining stages of implementation, resources required, and timelines.
  2. Event Organisation and Coordination:
    • Plan, organise, and coordinate events and trade fairs to promote the objectives of the projects.
    • Liaise with stakeholders, partners, and vendors to ensure smooth execution of events.
  3. Development of Training and Coaching Sessions:
    • Develop comprehensive training, coaching, and mentoring sessions catering to the needs of the projects (Note: delivery of these sessions is not included in the role).
  4. Study Visits and Focus Groups:
    • Coordinate and manage study visits and focus groups to gather insights and feedback to aid in project development and implementation.
  5. Administrative and Financial Support:
    • Provide essential administrative support including documentation, reporting, and maintaining project records.
    • Manage project budgets, ensure proper allocation of funds, and handle financial reporting and documentation.
  6. Stakeholder Engagement:
    • Develop and maintain strong, collaborative relationships with internal and external stakeholders, ensuring alignment with project goals and objectives.
    • Facilitate communication between project stakeholders to ensure clarity of project objectives and expectations.
  7. Monitoring and Evaluation:
    • Monitor project progress against planned objectives and deliverables, and report on project status to relevant stakeholders.
    • Evaluate project outcomes and impacts and provide recommendations for improvement.
  8. Working with colleagues:
    • Under the direction of the manager, help ensure communication and content for social media.
    • Keep appropriate records accessible and up to date
    • Provide telephone and support as required.
    • Attend and support board meetings and formal general meetings of the network, as required.
    • Work with the CEO and Board of Management to develop the organisation’s business and strategic plans.
    • Support the ISEN board in establishing a well-functioning organisation
    • Other tasks as directed by the board of management.

 

The Person

The ISEN Social Enterprise Officer should meet the following criteria;

Essential Criteria

  • a natural sales person and can confidently ask social enterprises and other possible members take part in the activities of the projects
  • Ability to plan, organise and deliver events
  • You have great personal communication skills – on the phone, on line and in person.
  • You are able to work on your own initiative, meet deadlines and cope with competing demands and pressures.
  • You have an eye for detail and are well-organised.
  • You enjoy being a part of a small team and have a passion for social enterprise and social change.

Required competencies

  • An understanding of social enterprise activities; understanding of Irish nonprofits and enterprise support will assist.
  • Experience in financial management and budgeting.
  • Excellent on Microsoft Office and other packages including Word, PowerPoint and Excel
  • You are able to pick up and work with other software and applications such as Eventbrite, Mailchimp and CRM packages e.g. Zoho or Salesforce.
  • Excellent oral and written English.
  • Numerate and able to generate financial and qualitative reports on activities.

Terms and Conditions of employment

 Buy WISEly

 Timeline:         Project started on 1st June 2023 and ends on 30th November 2024.

Days:               There should be a total of 38 Days.

 GreenBoost4WISEs

Timeline:         Project starts 1st October 2023 and ends on 30th September 2025.

Days:               There will be a total number of 101 days.

Overall Contract

Contract:         23-month Umbrella Contract with Service Level Agreements for each project.

Status:             ISEN will not provide, nor will it be responsible for paying, any benefits for the Service Provider or any Personnel, including but not limited to paid holidays, paid sick leave, health insurance and any other insurance cover.

Based:             Remotely & some attendance in Dublin required

Timeline:         Project has maximum number of 139 days over the duration of the contract. It is expected that there will be busier months than others and every effort will be made to plan those timelines as much in advance as possible.

Day Rate:        €380.00 Per Day

Start Date:      1st November 2023

End Date:        30th September 2025

Reporting:       There will be monthly time sheets required for both projects separately.

Payment:         Payment will be made upon receipt of timesheets and within 14 days at the end of each month.

Insurance:       The contracted party will expect to have professional indemnity cover in place to the value of €65,000

Taxes:             The Service Provider shall be responsible for all liabilities to income tax, PRSI and any other levies required to be deducted or withheld by law in relation to the fees paid to the Service Provider

How to apply

Interested candidates are invited to submit a cover letter and resume outlining their experience and qualifications to info@socent.ie by 5pm on Monday 16th October 2023. Please include “Social Enterprise Officer” in the subject line of your email.

Irish Social Enterprise Network is an equal opportunity organisation. We encourage applications from candidates of all abilities, backgrounds, and experiences.

Application Deadline

Closing Date 5pm GMT Monday 16th October 2023.

Interviews

We expect to have interviews on the 23rd or 24th of October 2023. Please hold these dates in your diary.

A probation period of six months will apply.

We will encourage and provide training and support for personal development.