Trainer – Career, Portfolio & Employer Readiness

Summary

Creative Space Beirut (CSB) is an independent design school committed to widening access to high-quality design education. CSB provides a tuition-free three-year fashion design program and supports students and alumni through hands-on learning, mentorship and pathways into the fashion and creative industries.

CSB is launching Beyond the Studio – Fashion Practice and Professional Growth Masterclasses, a continuing education program for young creatives. This program is implemented by Creative Space Beirut, in partnership with Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and the Lebanese Ministry of Social Affairs (MoSA), commissioned by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The program aims to increase employment and income opportunities for young creatives by strengthening technical skills, career readiness, and employer engagement.

Central to this approach is a series of applied, participatory masterclasses delivered by experienced practitioners and facilitators. Each masterclass focuses on a specific, practical competency participants need in real workplace situations, built around applied exercises, real scenarios and direct feedback, so participants leave with concrete tools they can use immediately. Trainers are asked to bring both subject-matter expertise and strong facilitation skills, translating their own professional experience into structured, accessible learning for a diverse cohort of emerging designers and creatives.

Dependency / Stakeholders

CSB Program Coordination Team, participating cohort learners (~22–25 per cohort), and, for the final clinic, up to approximately five industry practitioners per cohort contributing mock interviews and portfolio reviews where feasible, arranged by CSB.

Employment Type

Consultancy – core masterclass trainer; approximately 6 contact hours per cohort, repeated across core cohorts, with an employer-facing clinic encouraged. Availability to deliver multiple cohort runs is strongly preferred; exact session format co-developed with CSB.

Remuneration

Up to €1,350 for the full agreed scope of work, including preparation, delivery across multiple cohort runs, coordination, review and participant feedback. Final fee will reflect the confirmed scope and number of cohort runs agreed with CSB.

Scope

The Trainer is responsible for delivering the Career, Portfolio & Employer Readiness masterclass – a core working-brief module under CSB’s Career & Opportunity Readiness track within the Beyond the Studio program.

The role includes helping participants present their professional profile and work credibly, and make targeted approaches to employers, clients, collaborators and opportunities, answering the core professional competency: can the participant clearly present their professional profile/work and make a credible, targeted approach to an employer, client, collaborator or opportunity?

The position requires strong applied facilitation skills across professional positioning, CV essentials, portfolio selection and presentation, targeted outreach/application logic, and basic interview and pitch readiness, co-developing the final session structure with CSB within the agreed program framework.

This role does not include full portfolio redesign, extensive one-on-one career coaching, detailed LinkedIn training, or long-term mentoring that belongs in employability follow-up.

Responsibilities

1. Session Design and Delivery

• Design and facilitate applied sessions covering professional positioning, CV essentials, portfolio selection and presentation, targeted outreach/application logic, and basic interview and pitch readiness.
• Guide participants toward a revised CV/framework, a concise professional bio, a portfolio extract/revision plan, a targeted outreach message, and a short pitch as session output.
• Deliver the agreed contact hours per cohort, repeated across core cohorts, with availability across multiple cohort runs strongly preferred, with the employer-facing clinic encouraged.
• Integrate digital portfolio platforms, online applications, LinkedIn/professional presence, file sharing and remote interview readiness into session content.
• Advise CSB/Program Coordination on the practitioners needed for the final clinic (up to five per cohort), and help integrate their mock interviews and portfolio reviews into the learning once CSB has arranged their participation.
• Work with participants who bring existing work/project evidence, building session content around that material.

2. Proposal, Coordination and Reporting

• Propose recommended contact hours and session rhythm within the working course model.
• Propose participant pre-work and prerequisites.
• Propose applied exercises and the final output/evidence participants will produce.
• Propose a feedback/critique approach and any between-session work.
• Propose required materials, software, equipment or venue conditions.
• Flag accessibility/support considerations and realistic group-size limits.
• Co-develop and confirm the final session structure with CSB within the agreed program framework.

Uphold Governance Principles

• Transparency: make goals and methods of achieving them clear to all affected by the business
• Integrity: perform duties honestly and with moral principles
• Reliance: seek guidance from management, legal counsel and other trusted advisors.
• Legal compliance: remains within the law – follow rules and regulations, and demonstrate social responsibility
• Equity: treat all stakeholders fairly and equitably
• Independence: minimize conflicts and conflicts of interest
• Security: Keep non-public information secure and confidential

Minimum Requirements & Skills

Core Competencies

• Career-development, recruitment, portfolio, communication or creative-industry employability specialist with strong facilitation skills.
• Ability to translate professional practice into an applied, participatory masterclass format.
• Skilled in structuring feedback/critique on CVs, portfolios and pitches.
• Clear written and verbal communication.
• Comfortable facilitating groups of ~22–25 participants.
• Flexible, collaborative approach to co-developing session structure with CSB.
• Professional conduct that reflects CSB’s values.

Technical Qualifications

• Fashion experience useful but not mandatory if CSB provides sector grounding.
• Comfortable with digital portfolios, online applications, LinkedIn/professional presence, file sharing and remote interview tools.
• Experience contributing to employer-facing clinics or mock-interview/portfolio-review sessions is an asset.
• Available to deliver sessions in Beirut, online or hybrid format, with the clinic in person or mixed, and availability across multiple cohort runs strongly preferred.

CV + short statement of relevant professional and teaching/facilitation experience + any relevant course/work examples. Please also indicate your availability across the program period.