The Vision Rehabilitation Specialist (VRS) are professionals who are trained to support visually impaired adults, enabling, and empowering them to live the life they choose. They support individuals to develop and maintain the independence and confidence they need to progress in the home, at work, socially and help them to adjust to new situations.

Through personalisation, the VRS work directly with individuals to holistically assess their needs and develop and deliver a bespoke programme of training in skills, wellbeing and coping strategies to empower people to live independently.

For this role you’ll be working 35 hours per week, worked predominantly 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday, there will be occasional requirement to work outside of these core hours. 

This role will involve travel across Wiltshire, Hampshire, Dorset, Isle of White and Channel Islands on a weekly basis and on a home-start arrangement. The nominated office is Southampton. 

We offer a generous pension scheme, annual leave, life assurance and enhanced pay for parenting and sickness leave. In addition, we provide an Employee Assistance Programme, flexible benefits package and discounts and cashback scheme to care for our people.

For an informal conversation please contact Chris Crouch on chris.crouch@guidedogs.org.uk or 07795611441.

More details can be found in the attached candidate pack and job description.

We reserve the right to close adverts earlier than the closing date.

Interviews will be conducted 12th November 2024.

Diversity
Guide Dogs welcomes applications from all sections of the community and actively encourages diversity to maximise achievements, creativity, and good practice. We positively welcome and seek to ensure we achieve diversity in our workforce and that all job applicants and employees receive equal and fair treatment, regardless of age, race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, disability, or nationality.

We encourage applications from people with disabilities as they are currently under-represented in the organisation and guarantee an invitation to interview for all applicants with disabilities who demonstrate, within their application form, sufficient evidence to meet the essential criteria for the job.

Safeguarding
Guide Dogs is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all children, young people and adults at risk of harm with whom we work. We expect all our employees and volunteers to fully share this commitment.

To be able to fulfil this role, the skills and experience we are looking for in a potential candidate include;

Essential

• Qualification as either a Mobility Instructor or Rehabilitation Worker e.g. Dip HE Rehabilitation Work (Visual Impairment) or equivalent international qualification.
• Able to meet the travel requirements of the role. This may be through holding a valid full UK driving licence or alternative arrangements such as Access to Work support or public transport, if suitable for the role location.
• Able to undertake physical demands of the role, including walking long distances daily for extended periods of time, in all weather conditions. Be able to handle equipment and specialist resource required for the role.
• Proven post qualification experience of working with people who are blind and partially sighted.
• Has proven skills and approaches to work with people who have additional needs.
• Demonstrable knowledge of range of resources and equipment available to visually impaired people.
• Can evidence a thorough understanding of the Rehabilitation profession and interest and motivation to develop it.
• Demonstrable understanding of legislation which supports and protects vulnerable adults and their disability. Including the certification and Registration process.
• Demonstrable knowledge of the different stages of acceptance to sight loss and impact to adjust.
• Proven ability to establish effective working relationships with a variety of people using Person-Centred Planning.
• Ability to build rapport with and obtain information from clients using person centred planning.
• Takes responsibility for own performance and development.                     
• Can manage own workload and able to prioritise effectively to meet deadlines.

For the complete list of essential and desirable criteria necessary to be successful in this role please see the Person Specification within the Job Description below.

If you are successful, evidence of your right to work in the UK is required. We cannot provide sponsorship.

How to apply
If you have any accessibility issues, please contact our Recruitment Team on 0118 3540345 or TATeam@guidedogs.org.uk

As part of your application ensure you provide evidence and examples of how your skills & experience meet the criteria as set out in the attached job description.

The system has a one-hour time limit. We advise you to prepare your answers separately and then copy and paste into the online form once finalised.

Guide Dogs follow Safer Recruitment practices to ensure we are safeguarding the vulnerable people we work with. As part of this, we require a full work history with any gaps accounted for & a minimum of 2 professional referee details fully covering the past 5 years. If there is not enough space in your application form to provide this information, please ensure you upload additional documentation containing the additional detail.