Social Enterprise Development Officer

Social Enterprise Development Officer

Contract Type : Full Time, Permanent

Salary : €27,162 - €34,980

Scale: Clerical Office Grade (point depending on experience)

Hours: 37 week ( Flexible )

Location : Ballybane, Galway

About Meals4Health

Meals4Health () produces and home delivers fresh ready meals to meet the nutritional needs of older people and people living with chronic illness. 

As a commercial enterprise, we focus on providing top quality products and service to our customers. As a social enterprise, we focus on meeting a community need and involving the community to ensure that our service is inclusive and responsive to those experiencing disadvantage or marginalization. 

A key feature of Meals4Health is improving the employability of long-term unemployed people by providing real work experience, accredited training, mentoring, tailored interventions and support in a commercial business environment. At Meals4Health we balance the requirement for commercial profitability with the provision of quality, nutritious food to underserved communities.

The Role

Meals4Health is seeking a Social Enterprise Development Officer to join our dedicated team. This role is an ideal opportunity for an enthusiastic and self-motivated person and involves the promotion of Meals4Health products to new and existing customers. The role centers on building relationships within local communities to meet existing needs and identify emerging needs including in more rural areas. Reporting to the Social Enterprise Manager, the Social Enterprise Development Officer will develop and execute a promotion plan which will ensure that those who need Meals4Health know about it and can access it. This will increase the reach of Meals4Health, generate referrals and create sustainable and positive change in local communities.

The ideal candidate will be confident in building relationships across a range of stakeholders, be a strong networker, a good communicator, and consistently achieve goals; as well as being someone who can listen to and appreciate the needs of older people. 

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement promotional plans which deliver agreed, ambitious but realistic goals across the most appropriate target markets.
• Develop messaging and materials that resonate with our ageing population and vulnerable adults.
• Engage with existing and prospective customers to gain and analyse feedback, raise awareness of the service in the community and support innovation in product development to best meet needs.
• Prepare and deliver presentations to health and social care providers and referring agencies from across various health and social care environments.
• Develop and build new community partner relationships and identify opportunities to acquire new business in areas of greatest need.
• Manage the Meals4Health social media channels and contribute to optimizing the website
• Analyse the performance of all promotional activities to ensure they are meeting their targeted goals, resulting in increased sales and meeting community need.
• Identify areas for improvement and ensure the service continues to support older people and vulnerable groups through nutritious meals.

Skills/competencies

• Excellent communication, interpersonal and networking skills
• Have a passion for social impact and working with people
• Be driven to succeed with an ability to deliver on objectives
• An ability to prioritise and meet deadlines
• Proactive and self-motivated with the ability to adapt to new situations
• In all aspects of work to act professionally, and to be a strong fit with the culture and ethos of COPE Galway and Meals4Health to best represent our work
• Excellent IT skills, with strong database analysis and Microsoft Office capabilities
• Knowledge of social media and digital marketing tools
• Full driver's license

Education and Training

•   Ideally a 3rd Level qualification (Level 6 or higher NFQ Major award) relevant to the role.
• Evidence of ongoing training and upskilling

What we are offering

• An opportunity to work in an award-winning social enterprise and make a positive difference to people's lives and communities
• A supportive and inclusive work environment where your ideas and input are valued
• The opportunity to grow and develop professionally in this role through training and experience.
• 23 days annual leave plus public holidays
• Contributory pension scheme, after 6 months
• Trauma informed practice training
• Bike to Work Scheme, discounted gym membership and more

Eligibility

This position is supported by POBAL under the Community Services Programme (CSP), and you must be eligible to apply. The following groups are a priority for employment under CSP:

• People who are in the workforce but unemployed and seeking to return to work; i.e. people who are in receipt of Jobseeker's Benefit (JB), Jobseekers Assistance (JA), or people who are signing on for credits
• Qualified Adults (adult dependents of those in receipt of a social welfare payment)
• People With Disabilities (PWD) i.e. in receipt of Disability Allowance, Blind Pension, Partial Capacity Benefit or other disability benefit
• Ex-prisoners or people with a criminal conviction and in contact with the Probation Service
• Migrants
• Refugees
• Asylum Seekers
• Irish Travellers
• Roma
• People coming from a labour activation scheme i.e., Community Employment (CE) TUS, or Rural Social Scheme (RSS) Placements
• One Parent Families (people who parent alone without sufficient resources and are in receipt of social welfare payments
• People who are deserted, separated, divorced or widowed (people in receipt of Widow's/widower's non-contributory pension, surviving Civil Partners' non-contributory pension, or deserted Wives allowance/benefit)
• Carers (people in receipt of Carers Allowance/Benefit who want to return to the workforce)
• People who are homeless
• Stabilised and recovering drug misusers
• Ukrainians - displaced by the war