Samaritans Launch Samaritans Training School

Job Adverts

• Head of Samaritans Training School
• Recruitment Manager
• Recruitment Administrator
• Recruiter (2 vacancies available)
• Trainer (2 vacancies available)

About Samaritans Training School

We are embarking on an essential and ambitious programme of activity focused on recruiting and training more volunteers to expand our service and grow the number of listening volunteers in our organisation, helping us to be there for more callers.

Samaritans has launched a new 5 year strategy with five new priority areas: access, reach, impact, capacity, and sustainability. A brand new ‘Samaritans Training School’ (STS) has been created to build a ‘One Samaritans’ culture by supporting hubs and branches through all stages of the volunteer development journey. STS will enable Samaritans to recruit and train more volunteers to expand our service and grow the number of listening volunteers in our organisation, helping us to be there for more callers.

Samaritans’ strategy focuses on the aim of becoming one team of valued, diverse, and skilled people. STS is a centralised volunteer recruitment & training school that compliments the branch-led programme, to meet the demand for our service. STS enables Samaritans to expand our service quickly, alongside service expansion plans, and support branches to reduce their volunteer waiting lists. STS will offer interviews, deliver Core Development training and work alongside Hub and Branch Directors to ensure a positive onboarding experience for new listening volunteers. The programme also aims to increase diverse representation in our people.

What does this mean in practical terms? Staff will interleave with volunteers in a truly collaborative structure. Staff, with support from volunteers, will undertake interviews for new Listening Volunteers, staff Trainers will collaborate with volunteer skills practice Trainers to deliver training, and all STS staff will work together with Hub volunteers to ensure a high-quality experience for new Listening Volunteers. In addition, STS will also pilot new ways of carrying out volunteer recruitment and training, to help inform best practices for Samaritans’ branches in the future.

This programme of work requires us to expand the staff team, with 7 new roles.

Our Culture

We are a fun, friendly and supportive organisation whose focus is to build a ‘One Samaritans’ culture where volunteers and staff work side by side to achieve our vision. The team sits within the new People and Culture Directorate, with the Head of STS reporting to the Executive Director of People and Culture. The structure is split into recruitment and training teams, each working closely with branches and central Recruitment, Volunteering and Learning & Development teams.

Between us and the volunteers that work alongside us, we support recruitment and training across 201 branches and over 20,000 amazing volunteers across the UK and ROI.

Why Samaritans

• We are embarking on an exciting period of growth as we implement our new 5 year strategy.
• We are a truly flexible organisation and are passionate about employee wellbeing.
• We are embarking on an exciting period of growth as we implement our new 5 year strategy.

Currently volunteer or work for Samaritans? We would love to hear from you

Previous experience of volunteering or working for Samaritans is highly desirable for all these roles. A knowledge of Samaritans’ services and how we can grow the number of listening volunteers, will be of great benefit to help us achieve success with this programme of work. We welcome applications from past or current volunteers for these roles.

Specifically for our Trainer vacancies, experience of delivering Samaritans Listening Service is essential (past or current). We are looking for people who have proven experience of delivering training in a professional/ educational/ volunteer setting, especially those who may have delivered or supported Samaritans Core and Embedding training.

Want to know more about our new organisational strategy? Further information is here

To Apply

Samaritans is wholly committed to inclusion and diversity and to building a culture and environment where everyone is appreciated for the unique person they are. We warmly welcome applications from a diverse range of backgrounds and experiences.

Click on the individual job titles above to access the job advert and job descriptions. Click ‘apply for this job’ and you will be asked to submit a CV and complete some application questions. Shortlisted applicants will be invited to undergo a two-stage video interview process.

The closing date for applications is 6 November 2022