The Customer Service Assistant, Harvard Innovation Labs provides front line customer support to current and prospective i-lab community members who have questions, are seeking assistance, need information, or have an issue that needs to be resolved by/from the Harvard Innovation Labs. This role primarily interfaces with students, alumni, and our volunteer experts and mentors. The role ensures ... prospective and current participants are supported with in-person, virtual, and other forms of customer support. This includes assisting and troubleshooting application questions, providing access to various systems, and resolving scheduling and other issues with expert office hours. The role reports to the Director, Programs and Engagement, and coordinates with key stakeholders and teams across the Harvard Innovation Labs.
Programs Customer Support:
• Serves as an initial point of contact, front desk concierge service, and offers customer service support for Student i-lab teams, i-lab participants, and volunteers, such as industry experts who host office hours, mentors, and Experts-in-Residence. Handles routine as well as complex and specialized requests from Harvard Innovation Lab members, applicants, or volunteers.
• Provides customer service for walk-ins to the i-lab, over the phone, by email, or on the web.
• Assists with email and in-person customer service of the Student i-lab membership, including questions and support needs related to the application, my i-lab portal access, Slack access, events/workshops, and other customer service requests as needed.
• Manages, triages, assigns, and replies to inbound requests to various email inboxes. Provides follow-up and information for most requests and redirects other needs (e.g. external requests) to the relevant i-lab staff members.
Network Engagement Support:
• Supports the administration and scheduling of the industry expert office hour program. Troubleshoots and reschedules for those with conflicts or scheduling issues.
• Provides operational support for office hour expert program, like room bookings, setup of virtual rooms, and distribution of parking passes
• Addresses student cancellations, schedule changes, and other issues. Communicates changes to all parties involved to minimize confusion and ensure a high touch experience for i-lab volunteers.
Event Support:
• Supports virtual and in-person student & alumni programming, such as orientations, welcome events, end-of- term events, sub community sessions, lunches, dinners, workshops, programs, networking sessions, and other events as needed. Support includes setup, checking guests in, webinar management, microphone running, supporting speakers, presentation management, and breakdown.
• Provides support in a wide variety of campus settings, or at special events that are on or off campus, including Harvard activity fairs, information sessions, and other special events.
• Promotes attendance to Harvard Innovation Labs events, office hours, and workshops during customer service interactions, and builds a positive, open, and welcoming relationship with prospective and current i-lab members.
This role is also responsible for other duties as assigned.
Basic Qualifications:
• High school diploma, GED, or equivalent required.
• A minimum of 6 months to 1 year of experience in a customer service-oriented and/or administrative support role(s) or related experience is required.
• Positive attitude and desire to interact with students in our ecosystem. Must have a positive belief that the customer comes first, strong communication skills, and experience working with the public. Must be able to generate positive and professional interactions even in challenging situations, and remain calm, poised, and resilient.
• Education beyond high school may count toward experience.
• Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook) experience is a must.
• The role requires independent work and the judgment to know when to ask for clarification and/or support.
• Ability to work occasional extra hours and a flexible schedule, to meet deadlines and oversee and/or attend events is required.
Additional Qualifications and Skills:
• Bachelor's degree preferred
• Ability to work in a collaborative, fast-paced, and deadline-driven environment, while maintaining a keen attention to detail.
• High level of organization, proactiveness, and problem-solving skills.
• Skilled at troubleshooting and problem resolution.
• Maintain accuracy and security of confidential information.
• Strong willingness to learn about the services, programs, or operations of the Harvard Innovation Labs.
• Technical aptitude to learn new software applications as needed.
• Previous experience in a university setting is helpful, as is the ability to navigate the Harvard campus.
• Ability to adapt and manage shifting priorities and competing deadlines.
• Demonstrated customer service skills.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Comfort learning various technology systems quickly and the ability to think carefully about how to best utilize them.
• Comfortable learning university software and other systems, such as AirTable, Envoy, MIDAS, Salesforce, and SlideRoom is preferred.
Additional Information:
This is a 35-hour/week contract role where you will be employed and paid through a third party. You will be eligible for applicable benefits through the third party.
This is an 18-month contract from the date of hire.
This role is a contractor position and is offered as a hybrid (some combination of onsite and remote) where you are required to be onsite at our Boston, MA-based campus 3 days per week. To accommodate students' schedules, most of our events are hosted in the early evening. This role will require working hours between 10 am and 6 pm, with some (later) evenings and weekends required to support events. Specific days and schedule will be determined between you and your manager.
We may conduct candidate interviews virtually (via phone and/or via Zoom) and/or in-person for this role.
A cover letter is required to be considered for this opportunity.
Harvard Business School will not offer visa sponsorship for this opportunity.
Culture of Inclusion: The work and well-being of HBS is profoundly strengthened by the diversity of our network and our differences in background, culture, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, and life experiences. Explore more about HBS work culture here https://www.hbs.edu/employment
