Industry Liaison Officer - Visual Arts

Building bridges between artists, education, and industry!

EKC Group are seeking an Industry Liaison Officer to join our team at Canterbury College.

As an Industry Liaison Officer (ILO) at East Kent Colleges Group you would be responsible for securing and monitoring progress of work placements in varied vocational areas for students and to act as the main point of contact for employer relations for these areas. This can include supporting the planning and implementation of employer events for organising employer visits for students.

 You will:

• Work with students on a one-to-one basis as well as in small groups to identify employability skills gaps. 
• Support students to develop these skills in preparation for successful industry placements. 
• Ensure employers return all required documentation in a timely manner, in line with college guidelines and national requirements. 

Alongside our priority of excellent student experience, we also focus on our employees. Here are just some of our benefits when working for the East Kent Colleges Group:

A unique and exciting opportunity has arisen to join our ambitious and innovative department to support the ambitions of our students in gaining worthwhile placements in the Visual Art industries. You will bring your own professional practice in the field of Visual Arts to contribute to our students and staff.

We are seeking to appoint an Industry Liaison Officer who has excellent interpersonal skills and who possesses excellent communication skills both verbal and written. You will be highly organised and be able to prioritise work whilst applying a flexible and responsive approach to work demands.

• Demonstrate an inquisitive and analytical approach to work
• Show strong attention to detail
• Ability to work independently using your own initiative, as well as collaboratively as part of a team
• Hold a Level 3 qualification in a relevant subject (desirable), or have relevant sector experience with a willingness to work towards a Level 3 qualification
• Have experience of working in the field and a passion for sharing knowledge and expertise with the next generation

Outstanding Ofsted Provider

East Kent Colleges Group is an Ofsted Outstanding rated provider. It is proud to be the first General Further Education college organisation in the country to have received the Outstanding grade against each of the strands under the new Ofsted inspection framework. An inclusive provider, our colleagues place our students and the communities we serve at the heart of everything they do across EKC Group and this is illustrated in our ‘Strong’ skills grading by Ofsted.

Commitment to Safeguarding

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and we ensure that all staff are aware of their responsibilities for upholding these principles.

As a designated establishment, we are exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and therefore have an obligation to carry out checks to ensure that staff are suitable to work with children and vulnerable adults. These checks include conviction/caution self-declaration, Enhanced DBS check and obtaining sufficient referencing.

It is a criminal offence to apply for a post which involves engaging in regulated activity relevant to children if you are barred from doing so.

If you are successful in being shortlisted to interview, your suitability to work with children and vulnerable adults will be explored as part of the interview process.

Commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

East Kent Colleges Group is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all members of our communities. We are particularly keen to increase the diversity of our staff body and encourage applications from candidates where there is underrepresentation in our workforce.

We are proud to hold the Positive About Disability Award and are a Disability Confident Employer. This confirms our commitment to interviewing all applicants who declare that they have a disability and who meet the essential criteria outlined in the person specification. With any successful candidate, we will explore any reasonable adjustments to a role due to a health needs or disability.

Similarly, we have a commitment to Care Leavers (Care Covenant Pledge) and to current or previous Armed Forces personnel (Armed Forces Covenant Pledge) with a commitment to interview applicants who meet the positions essential criteria and who have declared this on their application. 

We welcome applications from anyone wishing to work flexibly and those considering a return to work from a career break.

We do not engage with agencies for permanent staff and have an in-house recruitment team.