The Position

Title: Student Support Specialist 3 

Position Type: Full time

Requisition No: 24551

Category: Classified

Supervisor: Dean of Student Journey or designee 

Last Updated: March 2024

Job Purpose: Provide elevated support to prospective and current Calbright College students through the scaffolding of technical needs and/or analyzing data and feedback to supply timely outreach and resources through the student journey.

Location: Remote, various locations throughout California

Salary Range: The beginning salary range for this position is Range CL-17, (Steps 1-3) $64,171.91 - $70,761.57. 

The first review of applications shall occur on approximately May 16, 2024.

Position Overview

Reporting to the Dean of Student Journey or designee, the Student Support Specialists – Tier 3 will provide elevated and persistent support to current students in order to ensure they progress through the academic, career, and skill development opportunities in the student journey. Additionally, they will perform a full range of technical and support duties for a diverse and varied population in an online environment to assist our students. This position will work closely with administration, faculty, management, external entities, staff, and students. Student Support Specialists are responsible for providing assistance and direction for all inquiries including application and student onboarding, basic technology troubleshooting, and real time referrals to other units in the College for maximized student success. Student Support Specialists perform varied administrative/clerical and technical program support and/or specialized functions related to the area of assignment, program, department, or office.

Possible additional duties also include reporting on findings found from collected data on student and staff records, as well as past outreach efforts to improve overall persistence efforts. Additionally, this position may collaborate with Information Services, Information Technology, and Product Development to improve the experience for our students and applicants. 

Student Support Specialists must be flexible with schedules, as hours may include evenings and weekends.

Essential Job Duties and Responsibilities 

The duties below are representative of the role and are not intended to cover all of the duties performed within the scope of work.

• Assists current and prospective students with various needs related to the assigned program; provides necessary information, troubleshoots issues and concerns and assists students with accurate completion of required program documentation.
• Responds to student, faculty, staff and/or community inquiries; resolves complaints and various issues; provides direction to appropriate personnel/departments to assist with resolution, if necessary; provides information and available resources to students with the aim of resolving most issues within the first contact.
• Researches, responds and resolves routine student program issues; referring issues of more complex areas of concern to the appropriate manager and/or administrator for consultation. Makes recommendations for mutually acceptable resolutions.
• Provides support to administrators, faculty, counselors, and managers to facilitate urgent and non urgent student and general public communication.
• Works closely with Student Services, Academic Success Counseling, Instructional Faculty, and other departments across the college to ensure cohesive and collaborative student service.
• Provides one-on-one assistance to students, instructors, counselors, and others.
• Assists students in navigating technical and difficult platforms and processes.
• Maintains relevant confidential student information in student database and files, and/or special program databases, and/or additional corresponding reporting systems.
• Monitors and responds to requests for service, and refers/schedules student appointments for program services, as needed; maintains records related to student changes and/or needs.
• Required to abide by all college policies and procedures.
• May create and analyze reports centered on student data in order to determine trends with relation to student retention, persistence, and completion. 
• May organize, execute, and monitor data for “in-reach” campaigns for regular student communications regarding student persistence. 
• May be responsible for succinctly messaging and reporting outcomes of persistence efforts. 
• May analyze data to determine student pain points and areas that could be proactively addressed. 
• May create plans or suggestions for further “in reach” processes based on data acquired. 
• May case manage special groups requiring additional confidentiality 
• May serve as a lead capacity for the team. 
• May train other student support specialists both at onboarding as well as through continued professional development and support. 
• May maintain confidentiality when reviewing team member’s analytics in order to ensure departmental metrics are met. 
• Collaborates with Instruction, Enrollment, Student Support, Information Services, Information Technology, Product Development and other teams.
• Required to abide by all college policies and procedures.
• Stays up to date with technical issues, resources, and tools. 
• Tracks, maintains, and communicates technical issues to supervisors.

• Perform other related duties as assigned that support the objective of the position.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Requires basic knowledge of and use of communication tools, and technologies with accurate documentation of inquiries and follow-through on next steps.
• Requires knowledge of program support principles and practices.
• Requires proficient knowledge of computer applications including common office productivity software, internet, and software applications and platforms supporting academic and higher education in general.
• Requires proficient knowledge of specialized, program-specific computer applications or reporting databases.
• Requires sufficient English language and writing skills sufficient to prepare materials and reports.
• Requires well-developed oral communication skills to convey concepts in individual and group settings
• Requires intercultural communication skills and cultural competency to work cooperatively with a diverse population of students and service providers.
• Demonstrated commitment to improving outcomes for all students, particularly disproportionately impacted populations.
• Requires the ability to perform the essential responsibilities and functions of the position.
• Requires the ability to be flexible and adaptable in a fast paced environment.
• Requires the ability to work independently and remotely with minimal supervision.
• Requires the ability to work cooperatively with students, faculty and staff, as well as external service providers, families, community organizations, and other agencies.
• Requires the ability to develop and maintain active advocacy relationships with students.
• Requires the ability to organize and prioritize work, manage time, and meet program deadlines.
• Requires the ability to communicate in a professional manner, orally and in writing, in both formal and informal settings with students, faculty, staff, managers, and others involved with the program.
• Requires the ability to maintain confidentiality.

• Demonstrate understanding of, sensitivity to, and respect for the diverse academic, socio-economic, ethnic, religious, and cultural backgrounds, disability, and sexual orientation of community college students, staff and faculty.

Minimum Qualifications

• The position requires an associate degree or equivalent experience and at least two years of experience in an educational environment or in a customer support capacity involving frequent customer contact and data analytics.

Desired Qualifications

• Experience with Salesforce or other customer relationship management software. 
• Experience with investigating and resolving technical issues for students or customers. Familiarity with managing large spreadsheets and making recommendations regarding data collected. 

Working Conditions and Travel

• Calbright College is a statewide online college where all instruction and support are done via various online technologies both in person and remotely. Calbright College has administrative offices in Sacramento available for use. When working remotely, employees should be able and willing to use digital communication tools as used by the college, and have the ability to work on a computer for extended periods of time.
• Regular attendance is considered an essential job function; the inability to meet attendance requirements may preclude the employee from retaining employment.
• The person holding this position is considered a mandated reporter under the California Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act and is required to comply with the requirements set forth in Calbright College policies, procedures, and Title IX.
• Calbright College celebrates all forms of diversity and is deeply committed to fostering an inclusive environment within which students, staff, administrators, and faculty thrive. Individuals interested in advancing Calbright College’s strategic diversity goals are strongly encouraged to apply. Reasonable accommodations will be provided for qualified applicants with disabilities who self-disclose.
• Requires the ability to function in a remote online instructional environment performing work of primarily a sedentary nature. Requires the ability to use hearing and speech to make presentations to groups and carry on conversations over the phone and in-person. Requires speaking skills to communicate with staff and students in one-on-one and small group settings, on the phone, and to distinguish sound prompts from various types of equipment. Requires near visual acuity to read printed materials and computer screens. Requires sufficient hand/arm/finger dexterity to retrieve work materials, operate a personal computer keyboard, and operate standard office equipment. Requires the ability to lift and/or move up to 25 pounds.
• Work is performed indoors where minimal safety considerations exist.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Calbright College provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, age, veteran status, disability or genetics. In addition to federal law requirements, Calbright College complies with applicable state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment.

Who We Are

Calbright College is one of California’s newest community colleges – the first statewide, online campus designed to bridge the gap between employers with unfilled positions and students who don’t have either the time or money to attend a traditional school. Our mission is to increase economic mobility and close equity gaps for working adults who lack easy access to traditional forms of higher education by offering online, flexible, affordable skills-based programs that provide tangible economic value for both working adults and hiring managers.