Migrant Recruiter

Regional Migrant Recruiter

The function of the Regional Migrant Recruiter is to locate and recruit migrant workers and their families to the Migrant Education Program. The purpose of this position is to determine the location, number, and educational needs of qualifying migrant workers in the state so that services may be designed and coordinated to meet those needs. Responsibilities include extensive travel to farms, schools, home visits, individual counseling with children and parents, and coordination with service providers. The Regional Migrant Recruiter works with farmers, school staff, parents, and children.

Salary Grade: 13

As a land-grant university, MSU is proud to house the Mississippi Migrant Education Service Center, which serves agricultural families throughout the state. The Mississippi Migrant Education Service Center is a federal program that offers supplemental and supportive educational services to ensure that migrant children have access to all opportunities that a public education offers. The Mississippi Migrant Education Service Center is funded through the Mississippi Department of Education and is housed at Mississippi State University.

Essential duties and responsibilities include: attending state or local annual and ongoing recruitment training; actively locating prospective migrant children and youth and conducting family interviews; gathering and analyzing information given by prospective migrant families/youth; following all procedures and practices contained in the state's Identification and Recruitment Handbook and in any other directives issued by the State Education Agency; fully understanding and establishing proper eligibility determinations based on the guidelines outlined in the recruiter's manual, the Non-Regulatory Guidance, and the statutes governing the MEP; recording information accurately and in detail on the Certificate of Eligibility (COE); following proper procedures and protocol regarding the review of COEs; maintaining detailed work logs regarding all ID&R activities. Additional duties for recruiters may vary depending on the size of the region's migrant population and its geographical location. They may include, but are not limited to: serving as a home-school or community liaison for migrant children and youth; helping refer migrant parents to community agencies for needed services and providing student support services; certifying the eligibility of the children to participate in migrant education project activities, according to program eligibility criteria; informing families of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA); serving as a communication link between the central office and the schools, growers, agribusiness, and community agencies; determining the location of migrant labor camps and housing units in the school district; keeping in contact with growers and organizations using migrant labor for the purpose of identifying migrant children as they move into the school district; collecting data that is required to enroll eligible children in the state's student database system; serving as a home-school coordinator as requested by the local project director; assisting the migrant coordinator/parent advocate with the recruitment of parents for membership in the Parent Advisory Council and its activities; maintaining a recruitment network that includes school officials, businesses, and other service providers in the region that may assist in the proper and timely identification and recruitment of migrant children and their families; working with school districts to inform them of the services available to migrant children; maintaining a list of resources and services that are available for eligible and ineligible migrant children and their families.

Minimum qualifications include: a bachelor's degree OR any equivalent combination of related experience and/or education will be considered by the Department of Human Resources Management; English/Spanish bilingual; valid driver's license.

Preferred qualifications include: experience working with students, parents, teachers, and farmers; experience with migrant and minority populations.

Knowledge, skills, and abilities include: speaking Spanish fluently; knowledge of state agencies and community service organizations that serve migratory families; ability to travel extensively.

Working conditions and physical effort include: no unusual physical requirements; requires no heavy lifting; frequent - externally imposed deadlines; set and revised beyond one's control; interruptions influence priorities; difficult to anticipate the nature or volume of work with certainty beyond a few days; irregular hours may be anticipated; meeting deadlines and coordination of unrelated activities are key to the position; job frequently requires walking, sitting, reaching, talking, hearing, and handling objects with hands; job requires standing, stooping/kneeling/crouching/crawling, and lifting up to 10 pounds; vision requirements: ability to see information in print and/or electronically; hearing requirements: heavy telephone contact requires the ability to hear and respond to telephone conversations.

Instructions for applying include: complete the online application and include a resume, a cover letter, and a minimum of three references.

Position is contingent upon continued availability of funding.

Mississippi State University is an equal opportunity institution. Discrimination is prohibited in university employment, programs or activities based on race, color, ethnicity, sex, pregnancy, religion, national origin, disability, age, sexual orientation, genetic information, status as a U.S. veteran, or any other status to the extent protected by applicable law.

In compliance with the ADA Amendments Act (ADA), if you have a disability and would like to request an accommodation in order to apply for a position with Mississippi State University, please contact the Department of Human Resources Management at tel: (662) 325-3713 or ada@hrm.msstate.edu.