Match Support Specialist

The mission of Big Brothers Big Sisters is to create and support mentoring relationships that ignite the power and promise of youth. Mentorship meets kids where they are, helping them grow into confident, successful individuals. It boosts school performance, opens new paths, and creates lasting opportunities. Since 1995, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northwest Arkansas has created and supported thousands of high-quality, meaningful one-to-one mentoring relationships between youth (Littles) and volunteer mentors (Bigs) in Benton and Washington Counties.

Job Summary:

The Match Support Specialist is responsible for providing quality, customized, professional support and case management to ensure youth safety, positive impacts for youth, constructive and satisfying relationships between youth and volunteer mentors, and a strong sense of customer satisfaction.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities:

• Case Management & Support: Provide professional, personalized support to youth, volunteers, and families through regular communication via in-person meetings, phone, and virtual check-ins.
• Mentor & Mentee Development: Offer resources, guidance, and training to ensure meaningful mentorship experiences, addressing individual needs and challenges as they arise.
• Risk Management & Youth Safety: Monitor mentorship matches for safety and quality, identifying and addressing potential concerns early while maintaining compliance with BBBS safety policies.
• Match Engagement & Activities: Plan and promote events that foster relationship-building and engagement, providing opportunities for mentors and mentees to connect in group settings.
• Goal Achievement & Impact Measurement: Track match success and program impact using surveys, assessments, and strategic interventions to strengthen relationships.
• Community Engagement: Cultivate partnerships with schools, businesses, and community organizations to enhance resources and opportunities for program participants.

Education & Related Work Experience:

A bachelor's degree in social work, human services, education, or related field is preferred. Applicants must have a minimum of an associate's degree with two years of relevant experience.

Applicants will ideally have experience working with both youth and adult populations and have a history of good customer service. Must have car, valid driver's license, and meet state required automobile insurance minimums.

Required Skills and Knowledge:

• Proficiency in Google Suite, Microsoft Office and Google Classroom.
• Experience with developing curriculum is required.
• Must have excellent time management skills.
• Must have proven successful interpersonal relationship skills to maintain effective and satisfactory working relationships with staff, vendors, clients, community partners, visitors, and others.
• Ability to follow oral and written instructions with ability to read, interpret, and present information efficiently and effectively.
• Must be able to accurately audit records and ensure compliance with written or oral guidelines.
• Maintain confidentiality of clients with tact, respect, and discretion.
• Ability to effectively collaborate with other volunteer match staff.
• Ability to use time effectively.
• Ability to focus on details.
• Ability to collect meaningful data and draw solid conclusions.

Preferred Skills and Knowledge:

Bilingual and/or knowledge of the various communities within Northwest Arkansas, experience working with teenagers and young adults, and/or experience working with volunteers. This candidate will be facilitating our workplace mentoring program with high school students and business professionals.

Travel Requirements:

Regular local travel within Benton and Washington County. Local mileage reimbursed at federal rate.

Core Competencies & High Performance Indicators:

• Resilience & Flexibility - able to interpret situations and information objectively when stressed; remain calm and professional in potentially difficult or emotionally charged interpersonal interactions; maintain high productivity in stressful situations; maintain high performance in the face of setbacks or changing circumstances; view failures objectively and rebound quickly; work to clarify situations where information or objectives are ambiguous.
• Communication - Able to practice active and attentive listening skills to verify understanding; adapt communication content and delivery to individual needs; proactively inform others about developments relevant to the team; openly and diplomatically express opinion, even when different from that of others; translate what is heard, observed or assessed into documentation that is accurate, concise, and clearly communicates key information to others with a need to know.
• Decisiveness & Judgment - Able to demonstrate good and ethical judgment in routine, day-to-day decisions; independently make decisions and take action, even in non-routine situations; consider impact of various options when making decisions; use good judgment in deciding whether to make a decision or escalate it to a supervisor for additional consultation; use an awareness of formal and informal decision-making channels to achieve desired results.
• Results-Driven - Able to demonstrate high personal work standards, balancing quality and quantity with a sense of urgency about results; do everything possible to meet goals and deadlines; persist in the face of repeated challenges; accept responsibility for improving the quality, efficiency and outcomes of own work.
• Customer Focus - Able to build strong working relationships with internal and external customers; identify unexpressed customer needs and potential services to meet those needs; independently anticipate and personalize communication/approach to fit different perspectives, backgrounds or styles of individuals; prioritize work in alignment with the needs of the customer; use customer knowledge and feedback to improve own work results.
• Problem Solving & Analysis - Able to gather appropriate data and diagnose a situation before taking action; separate causes from symptoms; apply lessons learned from others who encountered similar problems or challenges; anticipate problems and develop contingency plans to deal with them; develop and evaluate alternative courses of action.
• Strategic Alignment - Able to align own work objectives with the organization's strategic plan or objectives; take organizational priorities into consideration when making choices and trade-offs in own work; act with an understanding of how the community affects the business and how own actions and decisions affect other jobs or outcomes; maintain perspective between the overall picture and tactical details.
• Valuing Diversity - Able to seek out and work effectively with others who have diverse perspectives, talents, backgrounds, and/or styles; contribute to a team climate in which differences are valued and supported; challenge any stereotyping or offensive comments; seek and respond to feedback from others about his/her own behavior that might be perceived as biased.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northwest Arkansas provides equal employment opportunities to all qualified individuals without regard to race, creed, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, marital status, veteran status, or non-disqualifying physical or mental handicap or disability.

Americans with Disabilities Act

Applicants as well as employees who are or become disabled must be able to perform the essential duties & responsibilities either unaided or with reasonable accommodation. The organization shall determine reasonable accommodation on a case-by-case basis in accordance with applicable law.

Job Responsibilities

The above statements reflect the general duties, responsibilities and competencies considered necessary to perform the essential duties & responsibilities of the job and should not be considered as a detailed description of all the work requirements of the position. Specific job duties may change with or without prior notice based on the needs of the organization.

Job Type: Full-time

Pay: From $41,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• Dental insurance
• Flexible schedule
• Health insurance
• Paid time off
• Professional development assistance
• Retirement plan
• Vision insurance

Work Location: Hybrid remote in Fayetteville, AR 72703