Support Specialist

About Youth Guidance

Youth Guidance creates and implements school-based programs that enable children to overcome obstacles, focus on their education, and ultimately, to succeed in school and in life.  We believe that no matter what challenges a young person faces, they are more likely to succeed when they have caring adults in their lives. Our highly trained staff guides kids to overcome the life and academic challenges facing the youth. We meet kids where they are — physically and emotionally — to help them focus on their education, make positive choices, and remain on the right path toward life success.

Founded in 1924 and celebrating 100 years of impact this year, Youth Guidance is a leading provider of outcomes-driven programs serving more than 18,000 youth around the country.  For more information, visit www.youth-guidance.org.

Position Summary: Responsible for receiving and resolving InfoTech support requests to organization’s staff using sanctioned agency communication channels and providing excellent customer service. Travel to programming or event sites to resolve technical issues or provide on-site support.

THIS POSITION IS HYBRID REMOTE IN CHICAGO, IL

Essential Duties/Responsibilities:

·       Identify, isolate, troubleshoot, and resolve InfoTech issues documenting interactions and resolutions via the ticketing system.

·       Participate in continual service improvement process for all systems.

·       Participate in service design process.

·       Install, deploy, troubleshoot, patch, upgrade, refresh and maintain InfoTech hardware and software systems as well as ancillary equipment.

·       Provision & maintenance of user accounts under the resource allocation matrix, business impact analyses or documented use cases.

·       Coordinate timely repair of equipment covered under 3rd party maintenance agreements.

·       Recognize and escalate high-level issues to Engineering Team, consultants, or vendors as appropriate.

·       Perform preventative maintenance on systems as directed.

·       Provide technology training for staff appropriate to their needs, including employee orientation and other specialized training.

·       Provide support for mobile devices, including provisioning, refreshes, sidegrades and upgrades.

·       Provision up-to-date solutions and training materials for staff via the agency knowledge base.

·       Participate as a resource in short- and long-term technology projects.

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·       Maintain orderly, up-to-date records, documentation, and files, using approved practices and record-keeping systems, including inventory.

·       Other duties as assigned

Minimum Qualifications

Education/Experience/Training

·       Associates degree or higher in Computer Technology or relevant work experience.

·       Certifications are a plus.

·       Minimum of two years of technical/customer service experience.

·       Must to be familiar with Microsoft Office 365 platform, MacOS/iOS, Android/Apple Mobile Devices, applications, and  networking.

·       Prior experience installing software and hardware components in a Microsoft Windows environment required.

Skills/Abilities

·       Must be committed to the continuous improvement of service quality and the organization’s mission.

·       Experience troubleshooting both local and wide area network issues.

·       Must have excellent verbal and written communication skills.

·       Must have very strong experience troubleshooting, supporting, installing and maintaining the Microsoft suite of products.

·       Must function well in group and team settings.

·       Must possess interpersonal skills that excel in cultural sensitivity and respect for differences.

·       Must possess excellent customer service skills.

·       Able to work with staff of various technical skill levels.

Core Competencies

• Communication:Uses effective written and oral communication with internal staff, teams, and community served; demonstrates empathy and listening
• Client orientation:Recognizes needs of diverse stakeholders and approaches relationships with a service orientation, to ultimately maximize the impact
• Equity mindset:Understands and is committed to goals of equity, consistently brings an equity mindset to the organization’s work and workplace
• Growth mindset:Views growth as important for personal and professional development; seeks out opportunities to expand skills, even if the change is required, demonstrates curiosity and eagerness to learn
• Ownership and quality of work:Effectively manages own work, and work of the team to ensure delivery of high-quality work
• Supervisory skills:Effectively manages and develops others
• Mission drive:Demonstrates commitment to the missing of the organization as a whole and alignment with organization values

Leadership Core Competencies (Supervisor & above roles)

• Continuous improvement-minded:  Takes initiative to identify and execute strategies and processes to continuously improve one’s leadership to strengthen organization’s overall impact.​
• Develops and motivates others: Motivates others and supports their development through strong coaching and mentoring. Effectively stewards self and others through both small and large scale change. ​
• External representation and relationship building: Represents the organization among external stakeholders, and builds strong, trusting relationships with stakeholders​
• Leads with vision: Has an inspiring vision for the future of the organization, beyond the status quo, and communicates it effectively; leads with courage and willingness to take risks in service of impact​
• Manages with data: Understands data; analyzes data and identifies insights and implications​
• Strategic thinking and resource management:  Considers the future of the organization proactively and responsively; weighs diverse inputs to inform strategies; identifies innovative opportunities when relevant; makes and communicates decisions that effectively balance tradeoffs between financial sustainability and impact​
• Team building: Builds strong relationships with teams and colleagues; fosters effective teams and collaborative interactions​

Physical Demands

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions

Work Environment

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• This job operates in a professional office environment, school setting, and working with the public
• Occasional local and national travel

What Youth Guidance Offers:

We offer a robust package for eligible candidates including:

• Hiring Range of $48,186- $69,388
• Youth Guidance offers a competitive benefit package for eligible full-time employees including the option to participate in medical, dental, and vision plans as well as short-term disability, life insurance, flex spending accounts, pet insurance, 401k, a wellness program and more. You may also quality for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF). 

 DEIB Statement

At Youth Guidance, we understand that diversity, equity, inclusion and Belonging (DEI&B) are fundamental to realizing our vision of bright and successful futures for all young people. We celebrate the diversity of youth and staff and recognize them as empowered leaders, problem-solvers, and experts of their own experiences. At the same time, we acknowledge that many systems and institutions meant to support youth and staff are inequitable and unjust.

As such, we are committed to advancing DEIB through our words and our actions, both internally and externally, by:

• Strengthening cultural competence as well as policies, practices, and organizational structures that foster belonging and leverage the unique backgrounds and talents of staff;
• Offering youth-centered programs that are accessible and responsive to people from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds, abilities, sexual identity, gender identity and expression, language, and cultural and religious beliefs and practices;
• Influencing systems that youth, their families, staff, and communities are impacted by, such as schools, organizational networks, governmental bodies, researchers, and the funding community, to apply approaches that embrace DEIB in addressing the needs and supporting the aspirations of young people and those around them.

Youth Guidance is an equal opportunity employer and proudly values diversity, equity, inclusivity, and belonging. Youth Guidance does not discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, veteran status, marital status, sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law and is committed to creating a dynamic work environment that values diversity along all of these lines. People of all backgrounds are encouraged to apply.

EEO/M/F/D/V/SO

Salary : $48,186 - $69,388