Housing Services Specialist

Central Washington University is recruiting a Housing Services Specialist (Office Assistant 3) to join our Housing and Residence Life team in Ellensburg, Washington. This role is an important member of our team as they provide customer service to incoming and returning residential students for the University while balancing various tasks within our office. The role is a campus-based position, which means you get to see the lives you are impacting. We're offering a salary, depending on experience, from $36,072 - $46,596 annually plus the awesome CWU benefits.

Who we are:

We are a team of individuals committed to Changing Students' Lives. No matter what job, each of us plays a part in supporting and empowering our students to fulfill their dreams.

Working in higher education provides career growth and career choice. Think of a university campus like a mini city, operating across 380 acres. You'll find diverse academics, libraries, athletics and sporting events, full service and quick serve dining, conferences and events from small to large, recreation centers, housing, health services, police and public safety for the campus population of ~10,000 students.

Central Washington University has been named a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program Top Producing Institution for the 2022-2023 academic year. In addition, for the seventh time in eight years, CWU is a recipient of the prestigious Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine. Come join us on our journey to encourage, inspire, and create spaces where all identities thrive on campus.

Tour our campus in Ellensburg here. .

What we offer:

Our investment in you begins the day you join our team, a healthy and successful future for you is important to us. We offer medical, dental, life and disability insurance, retirement and optional savings plans, tuition assistance for you and your dependents, discounts across town, an employee assistance program for individualized counseling, and a wellness incentive program. Learn more: Benefits, Perks, and Leave.

The Role:

The Housing Service Specialist's primary responsibilities are to provide customer support to residents, incoming students, and parents and to provide departmental office support to Housing Services. This position serves as the primary contact for the Housing Service Center managing the departmental email, phone, and walk in traffic. Additionally, the position coordinates complex administrative tasks such as housing processes, records management, and data management while providing support to the department leadership. The Housing Service Specialist's role also supports outreach events, marketing efforts, and the public facing components of Housing and Residence Life. All employees are expected to support CWU's commitment to diversity and to bring and support inclusion into the university environment.

Customer Service:
- Serves as reception, in person and on phone, to the Housing Service Center. Directs requests, resolves problems and responds to inquiries regarding the residential experience, regulations, policies, department procedures, and housing services.
- Maintains departmental email and web chat services with 100-400 daily contacts. Triages requests and refers to relevant staff member.
- In partnership with leadership of Housing Services, maintain and develop a culture of service in Housing and Residence Life that includes supporting the training, professional development, and exemplary care for residents and customers.

Office Support:
- Administrative support to director(s) including scheduling appointments, managing calendars, drafting correspondences, filing, reports, and special projects.
- Coordinates Housing Processes under the directors' responsibilities (examples may include first year live on exceptions, appeals, deposit deferrals, evictions). Reviews documents, records, or applications for completeness, accuracy, and compliance with rules; determines and explains action necessary to achieve compliance or approval.
- Maintains files and records in administrative area. Supervises tracking of dated material, correspondence and pending files and assists with record retention policies and public records requests.
- Performs complex word processing tasks such as merging and sorting, integrating text with graphics, spreadsheet, and data base files, and uploading/downloading; uses spreadsheet and data base software to develop and maintain records; uses graphics software and recommends appropriate display of information.
- Serve as administrative back up for Housing and Residence Life's Office Manager and Fiscal Analyst.

Outreach and Marketing:
- Represent Housing and Residence Life at events such as CWU Preview Days, Visitation Presentations, Todos Somos Familia (Spanish language orientation), Wildcat Days and Orientations sessions to share information and answer questions.
- Support Assistant Director of Housing Services in marketing efforts including print publications, signage, video, photo, website, and social media.

- Perform other duties as assigned.

• Increasingly responsible administrative/office experience OR an equivalent combination of experience, training and/or education which clearly demonstrates the ability to perform the essential functions of the job.
• Experience or training that demonstrates proficiency in Word, Excel, e-mail and/or similar software applications to produce written correspondence, create and maintain spreadsheets, receive, and respond to e-mail inquiries, tasks, etc.
• Excellent communication (oral and written), interpersonal and organizational skills.
• Ability to effectively organize multiple work assignments in a busy office setting, involve competing priorities to produce work products that are accurate, of a high quality and meet deadlines.
• Demonstrated willingness and/or experience working with students and/or co-workers from a wide range of abilities, backgrounds and experiences.
• OR applicable combination of education and/or experience which demonstrates the ability to perform the essential functions of the position.

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree.
• Bilingual: English/Spanish.
• University and/or housing related experience.
• Extensive customer service experience communicating effectively and diplomatically with a variety of internal and external clientele inclusive of handling difficult customer service situations and resolving conflict.
• Experience producing and/or coordinating marketing efforts inclusive of website content, desktop publishing, print material and social media.
• Demonstrated commitment to improving access to higher education for students through various activities.
• A record of promoting inclusivity in the work environment.

Competencies

• Accountability/Dependability: Accepts responsibility for quality of own work; acknowledges and corrects mistakes. Shows up on time, meets standards, deadlines and work schedules.
• Judgement: Makes timely, informed decisions. Analyzes options and determines appropriate course of action.
• Teamwork: Promotes cooperation and mutual support to achieve goals. Encourages participation and mutual support.
• Adaptability/Flexibility: Responds positively to changing business needs and responsibilities. Adapts approach and methods to achieve results; recovers quickly from setbacks and finds alternatives.
• Commitment to Diversity: Recognizes the value of diversity and helps create environment that supports and embraces diversity.

Don't meet every single requirement? At CWU we're dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace, so if you're excited about this role but your experience doesn't align perfectly with every requirement, we encourage you to apply anyway. This may be the job for you!

Salary: This position is based on the range 34 of the Washington State Classification Listing, which has a minimum annual salary of $35,280 and maximum annual salary of $46,596. In accordance with RCW 49.58.110, the above salary reflects the full salary range for this position. Individual placement within the range is based on the candidate's current experience, education, skills, and abilities related to the position.

Schedule/Appointment: Monday - Friday, 8:00am-5:00pm (1 hour lunch)

Working Conditions: Work is performed in an indoor office setting with frequent in-person interactions. It is essential to be able to remain at a desk/computer workstation for prolonged periods of time, perform extensive data entry and other computer-related tasks and create/maintain filing systems for departmental records. Some evening or weekend work and/or occasional travel may be required.

Benefits: CWU offers a comprehensive benefits package including medical and dental insurance, retirement and optional savings plans, life and disability insurance, along with vacation and sick leave plans depending on employment classification. For additional information please visit Benefits, Perks, and Leave.

An employee of CWU may be eligible for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program if the employee has student loans. To learn more, visit: https://ofm.wa.gov/state-human-resources/public-service-loan-forgiveness-program.