Employer Partnerships Executive - Youth Mentor Programme

Employer Partnerships Executive - Youth Mentor Programme Southampton, SO15 1GW Contract Type: Full Time Salary: £30000 - £33000 Working Hours: 35 Job Category: Sales/Account Management 01/11/2026 - 4 days remaining Apply for this job

Job Introduction

Employer Partnerships Executive - Youth Mentor Programme

Turn employer conversations into real opportunities for young people.

You will build the employer network behind our Youth Mentor Programme, creating the employment opportunities that help young people aged 18 to 24 move into work.

This is a proactive business-development role, not passive account management. You will identify and approach new employers, speak with decision-makers, understand their recruitment needs and convert those conversations into suitable employment opportunities. You will own an active pipeline and be measured on what your employer engagement produces - including opportunities and employment starts.

The role covers Southampton and Portsmouth, with travel across the delivery area for employer meetings and networking activity. 

Before you apply: the essentials

To be considered, your CV and application must clearly demonstrate:

• Experience in employer engagement, recruitment, business development, B2B sales or a comparable role.
• Evidence of personally generating new business, vacancies, customers or employer opportunities rather than solely managing existing accounts.
• Experience building and managing a prospect pipeline, including proactively approaching new organisations or decision-makers.
• Evidence of converting employer or customer conversations into measurable commercial, recruitment or employment outcomes.
• Experience identifying customer needs and presenting a relevant solution rather than relying on a standard sales pitch.
• Evidence of commitment, reliability and consistently delivering high standards of work.
• Evidence of delivering outcomes, targets, tasks, projects or agreed objectives.
• Ability to present your recent employment history clearly, including explaining gaps or short-term roles during the previous five years.
• Confident working knowledge of Microsoft Office applications and CRM or similar systems, with the ability to learn and adapt to other digital systems.

Your application should tell us what you personally generated and converted. Where possible, include evidence such as targets, pipeline value or volume, new accounts, vacancies, placements, conversions or other measurable results.

Useful, but not essential

• Experience within recruitment, employability or publicly funded employment programmes.
• Knowledge of local employers and labour markets across the delivery area.
• A sales, recruitment or business-development qualification.

The real job

A significant part of your role is creating employer relationships that do not already exist. You will identify prospects and initiate conversations by telephone, digitally, face to face and through local business boards, employer networks and networking activity.

You will ask good questions about recruitment needs, roles, hours, locations and workplace expectations, then turn viable conversations into defined opportunities.

You will work closely with Employment Advisors to understand the skills, interests and locations of young people approaching employment. That insight should shape your employer activity - there is little value in generating opportunities that participants cannot realistically access or sustain.

You will coordinate introductions and recruitment activity, maintain accurate CRM records and track conversion from prospect to opportunity and employment start. 

What success looks like

You build a broad employer network rather than depending on a handful of established relationships. Your pipeline contains credible opportunities across different sectors, occupations and locations, giving young people genuine choices.

Employers receive a responsive, professional service and understand what the programme can offer. Opportunities convert into employment starts, successful relationships generate further opportunities, and your CRM accurately reflects what is happening in your pipeline.

The working reality

This is a target and outcome-focused employer-development role. You need to be comfortable initiating conversations with employers who do not yet know Get Set UK, prospecting consistently and dealing with the fact that not every conversation will convert.

Success is not measured simply by how many employers you contact. What matters is whether those conversations create suitable opportunities and ultimately employment starts.

You will also travel across the delivery area to meet employers and attend relevant networking activity. 

What you get

• 25 days' annual leave, increasing with service.
• Vitality health and wellbeing support, including GP services, mental health support and physiotherapy.
• 24/7 Employee Assistance Programme, including up to six counselling sessions a year and legal, financial and debt guidance.
• Workplace pension, with salary sacrifice available subject to eligibility and scheme rules.
• Share buy scheme.
• Up to £360 a year through IncentFit for eligible activities.
• Wellbeing, retail, fitness, travel and mobile discounts, including 20% off eligible EE mobile plans.

About Get Set UK

Get Set UK delivers employment, skills, apprenticeships, health and justice services, helping people overcome barriers and progress towards meaningful, sustainable employment. We are part of Palladium, a global impact organisation with more than 60 years' experience delivering programmes and solutions internationally.

Our values are Be Ambitious, Be Proud, Be Considerate, Be Inspiring and Own It, and they shape how we work with colleagues, participants and partners.

Recruitment process

Apply through our recruitment platform and complete the short initial questionnaire. If you start your application through Indeed or LinkedIn, you will still need to complete this step before we can review your application.

We assess your CV and application against the minimum essential criteria for the role and the evidence you provide. Keep your CV clear and concise and focus on what you personally did, owned, improved or delivered. One to two pages will suit many applicants, although up to three may be appropriate where your relevant experience requires it.

If shortlisted, the process may include a recruitment call or Teams conversation, role-related questionnaire, assessment or testing, and a hiri