For over 30 years Gorgie City Farm has operated as a successful community-owned initiative based in the west of Edinburgh. We’re a working farm and visitor attraction aiming to bring the sights, sounds, and smells of farming into the city through our wide range of animals and plants. As part of this we aim to educate children and adults about farming and food production, and promote social inclusion by providing a host of volunteering opportunities, often for those with disabilities or problematic backgrounds.

We’re now looking for a new Volunteering Administrator to join our team and assist the Volunteer Manager in the recruitment, induction, co-ordination and support of our volunteers at the Farm. A farming background isn’t needed - we’re looking for a self-starter with good IT skills, strong administration and organisational skills to help us secure Gorgie City Farm’s excellent reputation within the City.

Are you passionate about helping disabled people to live a full and enjoyable life?

Do you believe that with your support vulnerable adults can achieve choice and control over their lives?

Are you a person who can build equal, emphatic and positive relationships?

Are you looking for a job where you work over the weekends and nights as well as day shifts on a rota basis?

Are you flexible enough to work over various sites as and when required to cover for your colleagues?

Do you have SVQ Level 3 qualification in Health and Social Care or be willing to work towards it, with funding from employer?

If your answer is yes to the above questions Freespace is the place for you!

We are currently looking for Support Workers to join our dedicated team on a full time (39 hours per week), permanent basis at various locations in Edinburgh on the starting salary of £18252 pa.

You are looking for a rewarding job, but you have other commitments and perhaps you can only work now and again, or at weekends/certain times?

We also have Relief Support Worker vacancies available on a £9.00 per hour rate.

On top of this we offer an enhanced rate for night shift and the opportunity to earn more with sleepovers at the rate of £8.21 per hour. We will offer you 30 days of annual leave (pro rata holiday pay for relief workers) which increases as the length of your employment grows, Life Insurance and auto enrolment pension.

To apply please send your current CV and supporting statement (no longer than 500 words) to recruitment@freespacescotland.org.uk

This post is excluded or excepted from provisions of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and therefore questions may be asked about all convictions, including those regarded as ‘spent’. PVG membership will be required and the cost of it will be met by Freespace.

This post is exempt as an occupational requirement under paragraph 1 schedule 9 of the Equality Act 2010.

For a comprehensive list of the essential and desirable criteria required for this post, please contact us on recruitment@freespacescotland.org.uk or 0131 346 9030

All successful candidates will be required to register (or re-register) with SSSC within 6 months of their starting date.

A Person Specification is available for download below.

We have live vacancies across various locations in Scotland. And they’ll be a steady flow of new vacancies released over the coming months. Please search for a job in your postcode by clicking apply, and if there’s not a job near you right now then remember to sign up for alerts and we’ll notify you when we have one in your community.

We’re looking for member pioneers to join Co-op, in communities across the country. In this unique role you’ll be focused on bringing people together to make a difference in your community. That means talking to Co-op members, colleagues in stores and funeral homes, and representatives of the many local causes we support. By building relationships with and connecting these people you’ll be the catalyst for new ideas, initiatives and projects that will make our communities better places to live.

We plan to have a member pioneer dedicated to each of our communities and you’ll be a part of this ambitious plan for a better future. Everything you do will contribute to our community plan, making sure we make the biggest impact possible across the UK by increasing community co-operation. It’s an opportunity to make a visible difference where you live, supported by an organisation with nearly 70,000 colleagues.

What you’ll do:

• develop an action plan to improve community wellbeing, aligned to key themes
• establish and run a local community forum, or make connections with one that already exists
• build a strong group of contacts locally, making use of social media platforms to help with listening to and getting involved in community conversation
• get activities off the ground and encourage lots of involvement from members in your community
• prioritise your time, making your hours count and focusing on opportunities to make the biggest difference

This role would suit someone who:

• has lots of enthusiasm with the ability to get things moving
• is interested in all things community focussed
• can inspire and motivate people through their communication style
• loves working with and connecting people
• can prioritise their time and remain focussed on a long term goal
• is confident using social media
• has good basic IT skills (ideally with experience using collaborative tools like the Google suite or Skype)
• is both committed and dedicated
• lives within or very close to the community you’ll support, detailed above

Why Co-op?

As a member pioneer you’ll have the chance to support local communities, making a visible difference by encouraging people to work together. As a Co-op colleague you’ll also receive a competitive salary and a wide range of benefits including:

• 24 days holiday (rising to 30 with service)
• discounts on all kinds of Co-op products and services
• a pension with up to 10% employer contributions

Building an inclusive work environment

We’re actively building diverse teams and welcome applications from everyone. But simply having a diverse workforce is not enough. We want to build an inclusive environment, where everyone can develop to their full potential. We celebrate our differences, and recognise the importance of teams reflecting the communities they serve.

We can make adjustments to the interview process according to your needs. And we offer a flexible working environment so you can adjust your hours to suit your personal circumstances. You can find out more about Co-op people policies at coop.co.uk/peoplepolicies

As part of your application you’ll need to complete an online assessment. It will take you around 12 minutes to complete this test.