Conference Coordinator

San José State University • San Jose, CA

1d

About The Position

The Conference Coordinator performs duties under general supervision and works
independently to oversee the Conference Housing Program, a comprehensive program
providing summer and academic year student, conference group and guest housing
services for approximately 5,000 to 7,500 individuals annually. The Conference
and Coordinator also assists with S2 Access management and is part of the UHS
Access Team, as well as oversees the SJSU Cares Housing program and academic
year overnight guest housing. This position includes on call responsibilities
and some weekday after hours and weekend work with significant weekday after
hours and weekend work during the summer months (June, July, August), peak
Conference season.

Requirements

• Knowledge in operations and systems analysis, statistical and research methods, and the ability to interpret and evaluate results to develop sound conclusions and recommend new or revised policies.
• Ability to understand, interpret, and apply policies and regulations in specific situations to analyze and solve organizational and operating problems related to student and residential community housing needs.
• Ability to perform complex tasks involving independent judgment and ability to plan, coordinate, and initiate actions necessary to implement administrative or group decisions or recommendations.
• Ability to analyze data and make accurate projections using business mathematics and basic statistical techniques.
• Thorough Knowledge of word processing, spreadsheet, database software, and computerized accounting systems.
• Demonstrated ability to perform complex tasks involving independent judgment, accuracy and speed.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to train others on new skills and procedures and provide work lead direction.
• Ability to be flexible to changes, frequent interruptions, and manage multiple tasks at one time.
• Ability to clearly answer questions and explain procedures and policies to students and the public in an efficient and courteous manner; apply judgment, discretion and initiative in performing a variety of tasks.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and be able to handle a high degree of customer contact surrounding potentially emotional/controversial issues and deal with conflict while maintaining a sense of perspective and professionalism.
• Ability to respond to emergency situations.
• Ability to maintain confidentiality and appropriately handle sensitive communications for students, staff, and external agencies
• Knowledge of how a database interacts with business practices, and financial operations of a typical business.
• Ability to work with database systems to pull fields or records for reporting or transferring data to other databases.
• Ability to handle multiple work priorities, organize and plan work and projects.
• Ability to compose and appropriately format correspondence and business reports using appropriate English grammar, punctuation and spelling.
• Ability to exercise appropriate judgment and perform duties and responsibilities in the absence of close supervision.
• Thorough knowledge of office systems and ability to use broader range of technology, systems, and packages.
• Ability to display a strong sense of commitment to customer needs, and possess excellent customer service and public relations skills.
• Ability to understand roles and responsibilities of student and staff members and to provide guidance for staff members in a functional unit.
• Equivalent to a bachelor's degree in a related field.
• Two years of relevant experience. Additional experience which demonstrates acquired and successfully applied knowledge and abilities shown above may be substituted for the required education on a year-for-year basis. An advanced degree in a related field may be substituted for the required education on a year-for-year basis.

Nice To Haves

• Bachelor’s Degree in Education, Hospitality Management, Business Administration, or a related field.
• Experience with conference or event planning, and/or hospitality management.
• Experience supervising professional or student staff.
• Experience coordinating an administrative process.
• Experience in an educational and/or residential setting.
• Customer Service experience.

Responsibilities

• Provides leadership of and oversight of the day-to-day operations of the academic year and summer Conference Housing Program including guest housing and conference groups.
• Negotiates contracts and schedules, use of guest rooms, meeting spaces and other housing facilities for 40 to 60 summer programs, including campus frosh orientation, and academic year groups.
• Works directly in collaboration with representatives of each conference group to identify event and guest needs, develops plans, and determines services needed.
• Serves as contact person for inquiries, requests and reservations from campus and outside communities regarding academic year and summer conference housing services. Maintains collaborative relationship with campus departments to facilitate requested services (including Dining and Classroom space, athletic fields, Aquatic Center and Student Union).
• Administers and set ups conference module in the database system including setting up the application, payments, reservation systems and producing reports
• Works directly with multiple UHS units (Facilities Operations, Administrative & Financial Operations, and Residential Life) to fulfill contract requirements.
• Provides regular and after hours crisis intervention by utilizing training to provide crisis response to campus housing students and guests, which can range from making a referral to intervening in a life-threatening situation.
• Remains accessible and able to respond appropriately, in person or otherwise, to urgent or emergency situations that arise on weekdays, weekends, holidays and after business hours.
• Develops policies, procedures and regulations for the Conference Housing program in coordination with the Conference Review Team.
• Reviews methods of training annually in order to prepare staff most effectively.
• Develops and updates staff manual for all conference assistants, lead positions, interns and administrative assistants.
• Manages daily check-in and checkout for overnight guests, and SJSU Cares residents, including issuing keys, receiving payment and notifying guests of UHS policies.
• Maintains monthly inventory of supplies and amenities and order replacements when necessary.
• Audits and reconciles guest accounts regularly and follows up on outstanding payments due.
• Leads marketing efforts including independently developing and implementing marketing initiatives and a full conference marketing plan
• Pursues prospects on a community, state, regional, national and international levels to increase conference business; develops proposals and bids for securing conferences, camps and events.
• Identifies prospective clients, prepares marketing sales proposals to meet their needs, and aggressively pursue these prospective clients in order to secure their business; including site visits and cold calling.
• Solely responsible for preparing, developing, updating and maintaining the conference brochures and materials, including social media.
• Creates and maintains partnership with Hospitality, Recreation and Tourism Management Department on campus to attract clients and staff.
• Creates and maintains social media platforms to market the conference program.
• Responds to requests for building, room, and parking access needs.
• Provides input to performance and operational issues.
• Develops and implements survey tools to assess and evaluate overall program effectiveness and customer satisfaction with assistance from the Organization and Planning staff.
• Implements changes with support of Conference Review Team and Senior Assistant Director of Residential Administrative Services based on assessment and evaluation data.
• Collaborates with Facilities area to support the Conferences and Administrative Services Coordinator in executing duties with access cards and keys.
• Maintains contact with customers and solicits feedback for improved services.

Benefits

• San José State University offers employees a comprehensive benefits package typically worth 30-35% of your base salary. For more information on programs available, please see the Employee Benefits Summary [https://www.calstate.edu/csu-system/careers/benefits].

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level
• Number of Employees: 11-50 employees