Columbia College Chicago is an acclaimed undergraduate and graduate institution that provides a comprehensive education in the arts, communications and public relations. We constantly aim to reach our full potential as an educational innovator, incubator of new creative practice and generator of real-world success for young creatives. We are located in the heart of Chicago, across the street from historic Grant Park, and housed in some of the most iconic buildings in the South Loop.

Columbia College Chicago a private urban institution of over 6,000 undergraduate and graduate students, four-year College offering a distinctive curriculum that blends liberal arts, creative and media arts and business is currently searching for an Associate Director of Columbia Central.

Position Summary

Under the direction of the Director of the Columbia Central, the Associate Director is responsible for ensuring that Columbia Central provides exceptional customer service to students, their families members, and other constituencies. The Associate Director will manage the customer experience with the service counter, phones, email, social media, and online chat services. The Associate Director will be responsible for managing the office schedule, managing the relationship with the call center, and ensuring that all Columbia Central websites and publications are accurate and up-to-date. The Associate Director will provide supervision to Counselors and student employees.

Duties & Responsibilities

• Manage and lead assigned staff; conduct performance management, provide training, recommend professional development and evaluate performance.
• Manage the front-line customer service experience of Columbia Central, including the service counter, phones and voicemail, email, social media, and chat services. Serve as the primary manager on duty for escalated student issues, ensuring that escalated student issues are resolved to the greatest extent possible.
• Manage the office schedule to ensure adequate staffing of all functions and recruitment events in which Columbia Central participates.
• Manage the relationship to the call center, including quality assurance activities, training and the review and assigning of tickets to the Counselors.
• Manage, develop, and implement strategic communication campaigns and initiatives designed to raise awareness of program and services offered by Columbia Central.
• Ensure the website and publications are up-to-date and accurate; serve as a liaison to Strategic Marketing and Communications.
• Develop and support efforts to provide financial literacy education to Columbia’s student.
• Assign caseloads of students for customer service follow-up by Counselors.
• Manage a caseload of students for proactive outreach campaigns and assist with direct customer service.
• Lead Columbia Central in the Director’s absence.
• Actively participate in all professional development activities such as trainings, project teams, and other opportunities.
• Perform other duties and/or responsibilities as assigned or required.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution in a related field required, master’s degree strongly preferred.
• Five years of higher education customer service operations experience with at least three years of supervisory experience in a Student Financial Services, Registrar, Academic Advising, or One-Stop setting.
• Knowledge of financial aid, registration and student records, and/or academic advising and willingness to work with those areas to ensure compliance with policies and maintain strong and engaged partnerships to assess processes.
• Experience in developing and executing student outreach campaigns.
• Proficient in working with student database systems; demonstrated ability to integrate technology into workflows to communicate clearly and track cases to resolution.
• Effective use of interpersonal and communication skills including tact and diplomacy, customer service skills.
• Cultural awareness, problem-solving and analytical abilities, decisiveness, and professional discretion required.
• Flexibility in adapting to changing conditions.
• Ability to work as a team and independently as required.
• Ability to think creatively and apply innovative solutions to work environment and partner with other constituents to accomplish tasks.

This job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties, or responsibilities required of the employee and is subject to change based on the needs of the department and/or college.

At Columbia, we offer a rewarding work environment for our faculty and staff. We take pride in offering competitive benefits with affordable health, dental and vision coverage; flexible spending accounts; commuter benefit program, life and accidental, death & dismemberment coverage; paid and unpaid leave options; work/life benefits; educational assistance programs; and retirement and financial planning benefits.

We invite you to join our talented faculty and staff and become part of our collective aspiration to ensure Columbia prepares students for success in their creative fields through innovation, engagement and real-world experiences.

Additional Information

• Position subject to a background screening.
• This is a non-union position.
• This position is ineligible for overtime.
• Qualified candidates of diverse backgrounds are encouraged to apply.

Columbia College Chicago is an equal opportunity employer and complies with all local, state, and federal laws and regulations concerning civil rights. The college does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national or ethnic origin, age, disability, protected veteran status, genetic information, or other protected classes under the law.