The role of student outreach and engagement (SOE) specialist is crucial to higher education institutions and prospective students alike. These professionals provide a bridge between the student and the university, and their performance in their duties can be a make-or-break factor in a student’s choice of college.
SOE specialists are a first point of contact for prospects, who typically fill out a form with little or no prior communication with anyone from the institution. These specialists must be highly knowledgeable, experienced communicators and listeners who are ready to field whatever comes their way, addressing questions and issues or directing inquiries to the right person.
In this article, you’ll meet a member of Apollidon Learning’s student outreach and engagement team and get a glimpse of her daily responsibilities. Student outreach and engagement specialists provide an invaluable service on behalf of Apollidon’s university partners by ensuring that their prospective students’ initial experience is smooth, professional, and informative.
Background and General Duties
A great student outreach and engagement specialist must have an intuitive understanding of prospective students’ needs and a clear grasp of the inner workings of the universities they serve. This particular student outreach and engagement specialists’ educational background provided both, preparing her for success at Apollidon:
“For undergrad I went to Aurora University in Aurora, Illinois, and my major was business administration. And then for grad school I went to University of Central Florida and majored in educational leadership. I come from a higher ed background, so I’ve always enjoyed being the support aspect.”
“I was a first-generation college student, and I didn’t have the support. I didn’t know what questions to ask. I feel like I’m able to relate a little bit more and have that patience when I’m being asked the same question for the thirtieth time.”
She manages leads for online programs from two universities. Her efforts are complemented by SOE team members who oversee additional programs for these and other institutions.
“I support the efforts of getting prospects from leads to enrollment,” she explains. “When prospects show interest in any of the programs that I cover, I get that information.”
A Day in the Life
9 a.m.: Checking Messages
She begins her day by sorting through messages received since yesterday’s close of business, organizing them by urgency and type. She typically responds to leads within 24 business hours.
“The first thing I’ll do any morning is open my email and Salesforce, where I get the text messages. I have my contact forms, which generally means the prospects went to the university’s website and submitted an email before completing an RMI [request for more information] or MDAP [mandatory department application] form. So I have my contact forms, my email boxes for two universities, and then I have my text messages.”
“I’ll go through the contact forms email to see if there’s anything I need to forward to the student outreach and engagement director because she handles other programs for the same university. Sometimes I’ll get her contact forms, and see if there’s anything that’s pressing, like, an emergency.
“Prospects indicate how they want me to reach out to them. After they submit an RMI or MDAP form, if they indicate that they want to be texted, we send an auto-generated text message out, and then they can reply to that.
“With some universities, they can indicate that they want a call. I’ll give them a call and say, ‘Hey, the system indicated you requested a call, so I’m just reaching out to you.’”
9:21 a.m.: Initiating Student Outreach
“I usually start with the text messages just because people tend to expect a response quicker when they send a text message. I’ll kind of do a scan: Is there anything that’s absolutely pressing that needs to be at the top of the list? And once I get that all cleared up, then I just work on responding to those leads.”
10:44 a.m.: Responding to Emails
“Then I’ll go to the emails [from the previous day] and just try to respond in the order they were received and work my way through there.”
Today, a lead asks via email whether a graduate degree or certificate program would be better for them. She writes back that since they don’t yet have a degree in a field applicable to their stated career ambitions, the degree program is probably their best choice.
12:00 p.m.: Hosting a Virtual Open House
She facilitates a virtual open house during which prospective students can have their questions answered by the program directors.
1:30 p.m.: Attending an SOE Team Meeting
She attends a regularly scheduled SOE meeting, which enables members to touch base and share any concerns relevant to the entire team.
2:35 p.m.: Making Phone Calls
As she returns calls to students who have requested a response by phone, she speaks with a lead who wants to know the status of their application: a question she often hears from prospects of every institution and program. She explains to the grateful individual that they should expect an admission decision within two weeks of submitting their application.
5 p.m.: Wrapping Up
She reviews her inboxes and calendar before logging out for the day.
“When I leave, my email box is empty. My text messages are read. I don’t like leaving people hanging.”
To prepare for the next day, she completes one final task:
“I check my appointments for the next day and see if there’s any appointments scheduled that I’m not going to be able to help with because they’re asking about a program that I don’t work with or if there’s any spam that I can identify. I read the information they’ve put in just to make sure everything looks legit and I’m not going to get caught off guard by anything.”
Any Given Time of Day
She may receive new messages, including those intended for a different SOE team member. In such cases, she’ll immediately forward that message to the appropriate person.
She may also briefly set aside lead follow-ups for a scheduled phone appointment with a prospective student. These individuals can schedule appointments themselves on her Calendly page, available via each university’s website or in links embedded in Apollidon’s email campaigns.
We look forward to introducing you to more of our departments and the talented individuals who contribute to their success in future Apollidon Playbook feature articles. For more information about Student Outreach and Engagement or any aspect of Apollidon’s services, contact us today!