Business Adviser

This is an exciting time to join our Growth Hub Team!, This will include supporting clients through advice, provision of information, diagnostics and brokerage, referrals and introductions to other support organisations as appropriate. At any given time, you could be supporting businesses with securing external funding, contingency planning, marketing and commercialisation support, action planning growth ambitions, ambitions towards net zero, and staff and skills retention.

The South Midlands Growth Hub provides free business support and advice, access to grant funding, and an extensive resource library to businesses across Bedfordshire and Luton, Milton Keynes and Northamptonshire.

What will you be doing?

Working alongside our colleagues within the Growth Hub Team, you will be supporting businesses across the South East Midlands region by:

• Working with clients to understand their business in terms of its opportunities, its scalability and any barriers to growth. This will involve using one or more diagnostic tools and developing customised action plans which are 'owned' by the business and its management.


• Engaging and building relationships with clients to determine their business situation, stage, issues, challenges and objectives by conducting an interrogative diagnostic process to help highlight needs and subsequently prioritise the action to be taken.


• Providing the clients with information, advice and guidance they need as and where appropriate; work with clients to determine their priorities and the next steps/action to be taken and introduce clients to delivery partners according to their business stage and needs.


• Helping businesses with the region to be as resilient as possible and help them highlight any risks to their businesses and support them to take appropriate actions.


• Identifying and engaging with local business who could participate in Growth Hub projects.
  
  We are seeking an enthusiastic and self motivated Business Adviser for the South Midlands Growth Hub, to give support and advise to businesses across the South Midlands region (Bedfordshire and Luton, Milton Keynes and Northamptonshire)., You will have excellent communication skills and experience of building strong working relationships with a wide range of partners and businesses across the region.


Be able to demonstrate specialist business knowledge including business life cycle, financial management, marketing and sales, pricing and product/service validation, change/transformation management. As well as a strong understanding of the issues and opportunities businesses face including resilience, growth and investment.

You'll use your professional expertise and knowledge to support the delivery of the Growth Hub programmes including 1-1 business support, grant support, workshops and events and potential future support programmes.

You will need to have a solutions driven and adaptable approach to working, thrive in a busy environment and have a positive approach to challenges.

You will be able to smoothly manage processes and discussions whilst being able use your own initiative to 'think outside of the box' with solutions to support businesses.

At West Northants Council, it's about our people. People who thrive with ambition, bubble with new ideas, demand better ways of working, caring about every detail, and who never shy away from a challenge. Our culture is a gateway for new experiences. A place to forge new opportunities. To empower you in your career and unite you with like-minded people.

Our vision is 'to make West Northants a great place to live, work, visit and thrive'. We truly stand by this and work hard every day to make this a reality. Our corporate values, THRIVE, stand for: Trust, High Performance, Respect, Innovate and Empower, they underpin everything we do and how we deliver services.

Hear more from our Chief Executive, Anna Earnshaw, about what it's like to work at West Northants Council https://youtu.be/lV0EfeUF4aU

We are committed to ensuring diversity, equality, equity, and inclusion is woven into the fabric of WNC and everything we do, to enable all colleagues to develop and maximize their full potential. We are a disability confident employer, a member of the Armed Forces Covenant, and a Care Leaver Covenant partner

The following film was created by us to communicate our intentions - watch WNC colleagues explain what DEI means to us.

We offer a wide range of benefits to our employees, these include:

• Generous annual leave entitlement starting at 28 days annual leave per year, 29 days for senior managers (pro rata, depending on how many hours per week you work), plus bank holidays. An additional 5 days, linked to continuous service, and ability to purchase up to 6 weeks additional leave per year.


• Cycle to Work scheme.


• Local Government Pension Scheme plus immediate life cover (3 times your annual salary from day one) and ill-health protection.


• Employee discounts with local and national retailers, days out, finance, health and beauty, travel and eating out plus lots more.


• Car Lease scheme


• Payment of professional subscription / membership - If your job description requires that you are registered with or are a member of a professional body, WNC will pay for your professional subscription or membership fees.


• Employee Assistance Programme - We have an employee support programme run by Health Assured, an independent, external organisation. Health Assured is available for you and your immediate family members, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year and includes telephone counselling, legal advice, bereavement support and medical information.


• Ongoing training and development opportunities.


• A variety of flexible working options to support your work/life balance, including full or part time, term time, 9-day fortnight, etc. (subject to business needs).


• Our West Ways of Working - We want our workforce to thrive, and we equip our employees with the right technology to support hybrid and collaborative working, on or off site, depending on the role.


• Making a difference - If you want to use your skills and experience with an organisation that are genuinely invested in making a difference, are committed to improving people's lives, and whose success has a direct impact on the wellbeing of your family, friends and people in your local area, then West Northamptonshire Council is the place for you.