Columbia University is hiring: Administrative Assistant in New York

Position Summary

The Columbia University School of General Studies (GS) is the finest liberal arts college in the United States dedicated to making Ivy League education accessible to nontraditional students. GS was founded in 1947 on the mission of expanding access to elite higher education, and it remains the most diverse college in the Ivy League, with many transfer, first-generation, and international students. GS students are fully integrated with Columbia's broader undergraduate population and are taught by Columbia's celebrated faculty.

The Administrative Assistant provides operational and clerical support to the Enrollment Management Team for the School of General Studies.

Responsibilities

Front Desk Responsibilities:

• The incumbent provides operational and clerical support as an office front desk administrative assistant.
• Maintains inventory of all collateral materials including Admissions, Educational Financing, and the Dean's Office; Answering and screening a high volume of incoming telephone calls, retrieving and delivering messages, screen and/or directing visitors; manages administrative spaces and office calendars; maintains the schedules of the officers in Admissions, Educational Financing, and Dean's Offices.
• Provides production support; produces mailing lists and labels for projects in Admission, Educational Financing, and Dean's Offices; downloads online applications and associated materials, corresponds with prospects, applicants, students via email, provides data entry and scanning/indexing support to Admissions, Educational Financing; pick-up and distribute office mail, proctors Online GSAE and covers evening or weekend information sessions.
• Prioritizes tasks, identifies issues, and recommends solutions to improve processes or services and escalates concerns to management for resolution in a timely fashion.
• Book on-campus rooms for events.
• Responsibility to open the office promptly at the start of business.
• Flexibility regarding schedule when needed for special events and ad-hoc coverage needs.
• Handles deliveries and runs errands.
• Compile admissions packets and create labels for mailing.
• Mandatory overtime.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Customer Service:

• Greet all visitors. Conveys an extremely positive attitude and excellent demeanor, ability to work in an extremely fast-paced, demand-driven environment.
• Must be able to juggle tasks, instill a welcoming and enjoyable experience for visitors to the office, over the phone and in all digital communications.

Program Information Dissemination:

• Must stay up to date on program offerings and details which are constantly changing to effectively guide prospective and current students.
• Self-directed approach to continuous learning as questions or situations arise that would equip them with better knowledge to help future students - create documentation/resources to convey routine and complex information on Columbia University policies, procedures, and program information, address problems for prospects, applicants, and students.

Teamwork:

• Balance and share information and duties with other members of the front desk and broader operations and information systems team.

Minimum Qualifications

• High School or the equivalent required, some college preferred.
• Proficiency in office software (i.e., Microsoft Office) expected. Demonstrated ability to learn new software/database applications.
• Ability to handle a variety of simultaneous activities, attention to detail, and ability to follow through are a must.
• Excellent interpersonal, organizational, and communication skills with a positive attitude are a must.
• Familiarity with Columbia University and the policies of the School of General Studies is highly desirable.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced and stressful environment is a must.
• Experience in hospitality or other fast-paced, highly customer-centric environments is a must.

Equal Opportunity Employer / Disability / Veteran

Columbia University is committed to the hiring of qualified local residents.