• Join the friendly team at one of Australia’s most successful Community Legal Centres
• Supportive culture with a strong focus on staff wellbeing
• Not for profit salary packaging and additional leave benefits
• Full-time permanent or part-time 12-month contract

We are:

Refugee Advice and Casework Service (RACS), one of Australia’s oldest and most successful dedicated community legal centres with a vision of justice and dignity for refugees and a world where those who seek Australia’s protection can live their lives with dignity, security, family unity and freedom.

RACS provides free, dedicated legal services to people seeking asylum and refugees. Through individual advice sessions, community education and public advocacy, RACS strives to ensure that individuals and families, at risk of persecution or other forms of significant harm, gain access to equal and fair representation before the law, and are granted protection by Australia, and opportunities to seek family unity, in accordance with Australia’s international obligations.

The Role:

The primary role of the Volunteer Coordinator is to engage and empower the team of volunteers to be effective in their roles. This is a key role, as volunteers are critical to the delivery of RACS’ intake services.

There is one full-time permanent and one part-time 12-month contract position based onsite in Randwick. The part time position can be worked either five mornings or three full days per week. Travel throughout metropolitan Sydney and work from our key locations in Parramatta and Auburn may be required from time to time.

You will:

• Coordinate the recruitment, interviewing and training of volunteers, interns and Practical Legal Trainees (PLTs)
• Onboard and induct all new volunteers, interns and PLTs
• Manage rosters to ensure sufficient volunteers and PLTs are available each day
• Coordinate and supervise a large team of legal volunteers, organisational volunteers and Practical Legal Trainees (PLT) daily
• Delegate daily tasks requested by the RACS legal team to volunteers and PLTs and provide support where required to ensure tasks are completed
• Attend external supervision and/or debriefing as arranged.
• Be alert to the danger of burnout, monitor your workload and be pro‐active in self-care. Monitor, through Better Impact, the wellbeing of volunteers daily
• Attend external supervision and/or debriefing as arranged and ensure Volunteers well-being sessions are scheduled.
• Be alert to the danger of burnout, monitor your workload and be pro‐active in self-care.
• Maintain and continue to develop RACS’ volunteer management platform (Better Impact)
• Assist in the development of a policies and procedures manual for the recruitment, induction and retention of volunteers
• Identify and action opportunities to strengthen volunteering partnerships & relationships, including with University partners
• Identify and action opportunities to increase volunteer engagement within the organisation
• Provide administration support to the organisation assisting with interpreters and other general office duties as required
• Manage Client surveys under the guidance of a Senior Supervising Solicitor

You are:

Highly organised and self-motivated and looking for an opportunity to use your exceptional people skills to make a difference to the lives of vulnerable people. The successful candidate will have the following:

Essential

• High-level communication and interpersonal skills, able to communicate with a wide range of stakeholders in a confident and a respectful manner.
• Ability to supervise and empower volunteers to be effective in their roles
• Ability to work under pressure, manage time and priorities effectively and meet strict deadlines.
• Ability to work independently and in a diverse team.
• A commitment to refugee and human rights issues.

Desirable

• Experience managing or coordinating large teams, particularly the professional and personal development of student volunteers
• Recruitment experience
• Experience working with people from a non-English speaking or a vulnerable background
• Experience or exposure to working in a Community Legal Centre or Migration practice and the ability to work in an environment with limited resources.
• Communications skills in a language other than English will be considered highly favourably.

Salary

The remuneration for the position is at the SCHADS Award rate Level 3 depending on the experience of the successful candidate, plus superannuation contribution and loadings. Salary packaging is available.

To Apply:

If you're ready to join our team, please submit your CV, together with a cover letter addressing the above selection criteria. Please indicate in your letter whether you are interested in the full time permanent or part-time contract role.

Interviews will be held in the fortnight following with a view to commence at RACS as soon as practical. To find out more, contact Kirsty Wood on (02) 8317 6537.

Please note, recruitment may commence earlier, and we may make decisions prior to the application close date should we find appropriate candidates.

RACS is committed to working together to achieve a more inclusive community. Our workplace strives to be one that embraces and celebrates diversity and the wide range of skills, expertise and experience we can all bring to strengthen our dynamic, collaborative, and responsive environment. RACS encourages people from all backgrounds to apply, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, people from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds, people that identify as belonging to the LGBTIQA+ community and people with disabilities.

RACS particularly welcomes applications from those with the lived experience of seeking asylum, including those on temporary visas with the relevant permission to work.