About the role:

This is a dynamic and varied job requiring you to promote, set-up, establish and facilitate weekly Get Into Reading  groups in order to promote well-being and good mental health for a range of community members in both Liverpool and Wirral.   Client groups include  Carers, people living in Care Homes, people with a range of physical or mental health problems, and members of the general population who might enjoy  shared reading.

You will be responsible for choosing and presenting a wide range of reading material, including poetry, and for generating free-flowing conversation as well as for addressing literary questions group members may have. In addition to well-developed literary skills, excellent social skills are necessary for dealing with group dynamics which can often be complex. You also need the confidence and enthusiasm to sell the reading for pleasure project to people for whom that may be a new and strange idea.

The work will take place within libraries, community centres, social housing projects and other locations.

It’s not enough to just ‘like’ reading: we are seeking someone with a strong academic English background: probably with a good 2:1 or 1^st class degree, or, if without an English degree, someone who is able to demonstrate a powerful personal reading history. We are looking for someone who will be comfortable with George Eliot, Shakespeare and Wordsworth – or at least glad to be in their company – and who is also able to wholeheartedly recommend ‘The Five People You Meet In Heaven’ to a group of people who may be completely new to books. If you can see why this matters, apply!

Key Responsibilities:

• Plan and deliver group reading sessions with identified client groups
• Deliver group reading sessions
• Develop new groups/new locations for delivery
• Keep up to date records and write regular project reports
• Develop publicity materials for Get Into Reading projects, such as leaflets and posters, and make written contributions for The Reader Organisation website, newsletter and other publications
• Attend and contribute to staff meetings, feeding back useful information
• Be an effective team member, participating in personal supervision, personal and professional development and team meetings
• Other duties as designated by line manager

Person Specification:

 Essential

• A degree in English, or ability to demonstrate wide range of personal reading,  including poetry, and the ability to talk about it in an engaging manner
• Able to demonstrate why literature is important to you
• Excellent at reading aloud
• Committed to The Reader Organisation’s ethos of a Reading Revolution
• A good communicator with great speaking, listening and writing skills
• Able to make and maintain appropriate relationships with community members
• Able to deal with potentially distressing situations in a careful and calm manner
• Self-motivated and able to work unsupervised
• Able to work in a peripatetic style

Desirable

• Previous experience of working with community groups/experience of community education
• Personal knowledge of need for Get Into Reading
• Experience of community projects
• Understanding of the problems of engaging people who think books are not for them

You must be willing to undergo a fully enhanced CRB check.

Training and supervision in Get Into Reading practice will be provided.

How to apply:

Please send a CV and a covering letter explaining how you fit the person specification and could fulfil the role (not more than 3 sides of A4 please) to the Director, Jane Davis (janedavis@thereader.org.uk). Email applications are preferred.

Your letter will explain what you could bring to the job, referring to your own reading journey, and you will want to mention some works of literature that you think might be particularly relevant.

Deadline for applications: 5.00pm Wednesday 17^th February. Please note: applications arriving after this deadline will not be considered.

We will shortlist by Monday 22^nd February.  Please make sure your contact details include a phone number by which we can contact you if you are called for interview.

Interviews will take place on Friday 26 February at The Reader Organisation offices, 19 Abercromby Square, Liverpool, L69 7ZG.

The appointed person will start work as soon as possible.