Four Square Scotland is an Edinburgh charity working for more than 40 years to prevent homelessness and promote inclusion. We provide services directly to people who are homeless, or who are at risk of homelessness to overcome any barriers they may face in creating a stable life for themselves in their community. At the core of Four Square are the values on which the organisation is based. These are equally applied to the people we support, our colleagues and our partners and are: Integrity; Excellence; Dignity; Support.

We are driven by our mission to ensure everyone has the opportunity to have a home and a place in their community.

The role

We are recruiting a Night Practitioner for our young women's supported accommodation project in Edinburgh.

We are seeking a qualified and professional person who:

• Is proactive, highly organised, a problem solver, has a positive outlook, approachable, friendly, patient, and confident and has a flexible approach to supporting people;
• Is confident in loneworking;
• Has strong personal and professional values that align with our organisational values of integrity, excellence, dignity, and support;
• Can demonstrate they have excellent interpersonal skills with people who use our services, colleagues, and partners;
• Has an in-depth understanding of youth issues, homelessness, trauma, and adversity and how it impacts people's life outcomes;
• Can assist in support planning and work alongside people to help them achieve the goals they set;
• Is honest, trustworthy and respectful to colleagues, people they support, and all other stakeholders;
• Has a good standard of English and maths and is proficient with using IT systems and databases.

Reporting to:Operations Manager

Responsible for: Shop team and volunteers

Edinburgh Furniture Initiative is an established second-hand furniture store. Located in the centre of Edinburgh, EFI is one of Scotland’s largest re-use social enterprises.

Operating as part of Four Square, a charity supporting people who face homelessness, EFI provides an independent income stream for Four Square and operates with three main aims:

• to provide low cost, high quality furniture to people on low incomes;
• to provide employment and training opportunities for people who have been homeless or who are at risk of homelessness;
• and, to promote the re-use economy and prevent useable goods going into landfill.

Following a restructure as a result of changes to our business during Covid-19, we are looking for a creative, dynamic store manager who can combine good people and business skills with an eye for design and an entrepreneurial approach. We want to make EFI a flagship for the re-use economy and build a sustainable social enterprise that will integrate and support the wider charity as we progress towards our vision of supporting everyone to have a home and their place in the community.

The right person is someone who has the vision and capacity to plan the service; set and meet targets; and motivate and support a varied staff team; and work in partnership with likeminded organisations.

The person appointed will also be joining at an exciting time where we are planning a move to a new store and a large-scale refurbishment programme at our storage warehouse. You will have the opportunity to input into how the store looks and how it is set out and really see EFI grow into the business it can be.

The job

Day to day, you will manage the shop staff; office staff; shop warehouse team; and volunteers. You’ll work closely with your colleague the Team Leader in the warehouse to ensure the shop is filled with the right stock; and the collections are being managed well. You’ll oversee our team of volunteers; our sales team; warehouse staff; and phone team; as well as young people coming into the organisation through the Kickstart Jobs Scheme. Your team will be 4 full time staff across a weekday and a weekend; up to 4 young people; and up to 4 volunteers a day. The main functions of the role are:

1. Plan the work of the team to ensure the targets are met; the team are supported and provide excellent customer service and high performance
2. Be an ambassador for Four Square and build relationship with key external organisation including regulators and accreditors, partners, funders and the wider social enterprise community.
3. Oversee the stock, ensuring enough stock is coming into the store; is of high quality and sells well; and that stock is managed on the shop floor;
4. Oversee the collection and communication around Gift Aid donations and sales;
5. Maintain the look of the store ensuring it is inviting welcoming and displays our furniture and white goods encourage sales and make best use of the floor space;
6. Oversee our online sales, ensuring we offer high standards and have excellent procedures in place for communicating and delivering on eBay, Facebook, Instagram and other platforms;
7. Monitor and report on store performance to funders, regulators and to the Leadership Team;
8. Analyse and interpret performance information to support improvement and development;
9. Work closely with the Team Leader - Warehouse to take advantage of opportunities to increase stock donations and explore new suppliers;
10. Be responsible for the health and safety of the building and the staff;
11. Manage staff performance, rotas, duties, holidays and absences;
12. Work with external partners and colleagues to create opportunities within the store for volunteering and employment for people using our services;
13. Review systems, processes and procedures across the social enterprise including brining in a new till system;
14. Seek out new opportunities to improve the store; attract new donors; and create productive partnerships;
15. Be an active member of national membership organisations to ensure you keep in touch with new policies, developments and training;
16. Ensure our store meets the Revolve standards for the sale of re-use goods;
17. Create and up-date standard operating procedures;
18. Create a marketing plan for the store to encourage donations and shoppers;
19. Plan events in the store to increase the profile of EFI and to reach new shoppers and volunteers;
20. Participate in organisation wide managers meetings and improvement projects.

The person

If you are the right person you will:

1. Have values which complement our values as an organisation and you must demonstrate that you live them everyday;
2. Have the right experience: a solid background in retail is essential; a design background; experience of digital marketing and a knowledge of furniture sales would be a bonus.
3. Enjoy and be good at managing people: motivating, encouraging and having the difficult conversations;
4. Get all the compliance stuff right: attention to detail, reporting, gathering evidence and using it for improvement;
5. Be a leader: know what you want to do and take people with you;
6. Be a great team member and feel passionate about what you do;
7. Spot the gaps and come up with creative ways to fill them;
8. Be good at planning and help your team be good at planning;
9. Be good at relationships with people you agree with and people you don’t agree with;
10. Value attention to detail so that your procedures, processes and reporting are accurate, make sense and anyone can access them;
11. Know how to use technology to improve your work and help others to see the benefit.
12. Have an eye for strategy: working out how to improve the current set-up for future development and growth.

About us

Four Square Scotland is an Edinburgh charity working for more than 40 years to prevent homelessness and promote inclusion. We provide services directly to people who are homeless, or who are at risk of homelessness to overcome any barriers they may face in creating a stable life for themselves in their community. At the core of Four Square are the values on which the organisation is based. These are equally applied to the people we support, our colleagues and our partners and are: Integrity; Excellence; Dignity; Support.

Alongside our support services we have social enterprises, which provide independent income for our charity as well as volunteering and training opportunities for those who use our services.

Following a restructure and reimagination of how we will deliver housing support to people in the South West of Edinburgh we are looking for qualified, experienced, motivated people with a can-do attitude who have a commitment to using evidence based approaches to supporting people to join our team.

Sitting within our Visiting Support Service is our pilot project People First which we are delivering in collaboration with YPeople. This is a Lottery funded project that is trialing the use of a coaching model developed by the Mayday Trust in Scotland. More information of the model can be found at maydaytrust.org.uk/what-is-the-pts

Due to a vacancy opening up we are seeking a Housing Support Practitioner who can also temporarily fulfil the role of Asset Coach until the end of the funding period which is the 31st March 2022. The successful candidate will then work full time within the Housing Support team.

The Role:

South West Visiting Housing Support Service

The role of Housing Support Practitioner/ Asset Coach in our Housing Support Service and People First Project is vital to help us achieve our aim of ensuring everyone has a home, a place in their community and a network of positive relationships and interests that support them to build the life they want. We work from a person-led, strength based and trauma informed approach to help people realise their goals, recover, connect with their communities and enjoy life.

This Housing Support service is commissioned by the City of Edinburgh Council in the South West of Edinburgh with the aim of preventing homelessness or to move on from homelessness. The People First project is funded by the National Lottery. Housing Support Practitioners will be to complete a holistic assessment with the person that produces a collaborative support plan with the aim to help people recognise their strengths which will build their confidence, self-efficacy, resilience, and motivation. Practitioners will use the Homelessness Star to develop this collaborative support plan that, alongside identifying areas of strength, addresses other areas of their lives people want to improve or change. We offer in-house training to all our staff on the use of the tool.

A full Job Description and Person Specification is available for download below.

Four Square Scotland is an Edinburgh charity working for more than 40 years to prevent homelessness and promote inclusion. We provide services directly to people who are homeless, or who are at risk of homelessness to overcome any barriers they may face in creating a stable life for themselves in their community. At the core of Four Square are the values on which the organisation is based. These are equally applied to the people we support, our colleagues and our partners and are: Integrity; Excellence; Dignity; Support.

Alongside our support services we have social enterprises, which provide independent income for our charity as well as volunteering and training opportunities for those who use our services.

Following a restructure and reimagination of how we will deliver housing support to people in the South West of Edinburgh we are looking for qualified, experienced, motivated people with a can-do attitude and a commitment to using evidence based approaches to support people to join our team.

The Role:

The role of Housing Support Practitioner in our Housing Support Service is vital to help us achieve our aim of ensuring everyone has a home, a place in their community and a network of positive relationships and interests that support them to build the life they want. We work from a strength based and trauma informed approach to help people realise their goals, connect with their communities and enjoy life.

This service is commissioned by the City of Edinburgh Council in the South West of Edinburgh with the aim of preventing homelessness or to move on from homelessness. The role of Housing Support Practitioners will be to complete a holistic assessment with the person that produces a collaborative support plan with the aim to help people recognise their strengths which will build their confidence, self-efficacy, resilience, and motivation. Practitioners will use the Homelessness Star to develop this collaborative support plan that, alongside identifying areas of strength, addresses other areas of their lives people want to improve or change. We offer in-house training to all our staff on the use of the tool.

A full Job Description and Person Specification is available for download below.

Four Square Scotland is an Edinburgh charity working for more than 40 years to prevent homelessness and promote inclusion. We provide services directly to people who are homeless, or who are at risk of homelessness to overcome any barriers they may face in creating a stable life for themselves in their community. At the core of Four Square are the values on which the organisation is based. These are equally applied to the people we support, our colleagues and our partners and are: Integrity; Excellence; Dignity; Support.

We are driven by our mission to ensure everyone has the opportunity to have a home and a place in their community.

We have a full-time position as a Practitioner become available in our small supported accommodation project which supports young women aged 16-25 to develop the confidence, knowledge and skills they need to achieve their goals.

***Due to the nature and context of the work, there is an occupational requirement for all members of our staff within this service to be women.

The role

We are recruiting a Practitioner for our young women's supported accommodation project in Edinburgh. We are seeking a qualified and professional person who:

• Is proactive, highly organised, a problem solver, has a positive outlook, approachable, friendly, patient, and confident and has a flexible approach to supporting people;
• Is confident in loneworking;
• Committed to working collaboratively with colleagues to achieve the shared goal of the service and wider organisation;
• Has strong personal and professional values that align with our organisational values of integrity, excellence, dignity, and support and applies these in practice;
• Can demonstrate they have excellent interpersonal skills with people who use our services, colleagues, and partners;
• Has an in-depth understanding of youth issues, homelessness, trauma, gender-based violence and adversity and how it impacts young women's life outcomes;
• Works from a strengths based perspective;
• Confident in assessment and support planning and committed to working with young people collaboratively to help achieve the goals they set;
• Is honest, trustworthy and respectful to colleagues, people they support, and all other stakeholders;
• Has a good standard of English and math's and is proficient with using IT systems and databases.

Reporting to: Senior Practitioner