Academic Advisor

American Public University System•Charles Town, WV

36d•Remote

About The Position

Academic Advisors serve to guide, encourage, and inform students of recommended academic options to progress through their academic programs at APUS. Academic Advisors interact with students through a variety of remote means - email, phone, chat, and others to help students identify and meet their educational goals. Professional Academic Advisors, who form the majority of the APUS Academic Advising Department, are critical-thinking student services professionals who use exceptional communication and analytical skills to guide, influence and encourage students through their academic journeys at APUS. Advisors are quick-thinking multitaskers who must excel in a variety of roles on a daily basis - analyst, cheerleader, diplomat, clerical specialist, subject matter expert, and above all, effective communicator. The role requires a daily willingness to review students' individual situations to determine optimal solutions and to adjudicate student's requests to waive policy. This requires the advisor to have the ability to counsel students against a particular course of action, even if doing so will not always be well received by the student. Advisors participate within the University and across industry in multiple ways (e.g., Committees, technical task forces, authors and presenters for the National Academic Advising Association [NACADA]). APUS encourages continuing professional development and education for all advising staff. Must be able to work the following shift: Monday - Thursday, 11:30am -8:00pm ET and Friday, 8:00am - 4:30pm, ET

Requirements

Candidates must hold a conferred Bachelor's degree from an accredited institution.
Excellent oral and written communication skills
Effective interpersonal skills - influencing, persuasion, elicitation, and listening
Understanding of student development theory
Excellent student and customer service skills
Ability to effectively advise in ambiguous and unstructured scenarios
Demonstrated ability to manage multiple tasks under tight deadlines with minimal supervision
Rational and objective decision making
Ability to navigate multiple systems and adjust quickly to ongoing technology changes
Optimism and positivity
Creativity
Critical Thinking
Problem Solving
Ability to adjust quickly to changes
One year of professional office experience, preferably in a collegiate or academic advising setting.

Nice To Haves

Bilingual English/Spanish highly preferred
Competitive candidates will typically have impeccable representational skills, knowledge of undergraduate and graduate student development theory, and knowledge of theory and best practices in academic advising.
Demonstrated experience in influencing, informing, and persuading students on complex academic matters are pluses.
Also desirable is prior experience working with students from a wide variety of cultural, socioeconomic and academic backgrounds.

Responsibilities

Friendly and helpful student communication and outreach
Effectively build relationships with prospective, current, and/or returning students by representing the university through email, chat, phone, representative landing pages, live webinars, training videos, recruitment/welcome videos, social media, and/or other means of communication.
Initiate and respond to student communications concerning academic advising, academic programs, APUS policies, campus and form navigation, and other student questions/concerns.
Communicate with students remotely, primarily via phone, chat, and email, at any point during their enrollment cycle at APUS.
Conduct student outreach aimed at providing friendly and helpful advice/directive on next steps.
Clearly document all student interactions.
Warm, high quality, and friendly communication, removes obstacles, and work with other departments on the student's behalf.
Timely and accurate processing of degree changes and program adds
Review student degree plan change requests to assess credit impact, time to completion, student planning, and other relevant factors to determine and advise a recommended path in each case.
Utilize different academic advising strategies as appropriate, to include inquisitive, appreciative, development, and prescriptive advising.
Keep supervisor and peers abreast of notable trends in student behavior, in order to assess and design targeted outreach initiatives or changes to current processes as needed.
Maintain knowledge of and provide advising for distinct populations or programs.
Encourage, motivate, and guide students towards the successful completion of their program or academic goals.
Meet department expectations and service level agreements around delivering adequate and timely service to students
Continuously reviews processes and policies and recommends improvements or changes when necessary.
Continuously engage in professional development activities as needed.
Participation in department committees, task forces, university organizations, or industry organizations (NACADA).
Interact with other University departments on behalf of students.
Meet department level expectations as outlined in the Academic Advisor Expectations documents.
Other duties as assigned.