Front Desk Specialist (Eastland Prosperity Center)

Mid-Ohio Food Collective • Columbus, OH

4d

About The Position

The Front Desk Specialist is the Eastland Prosperity Center’s first point of contact, ensuring customers, visitors, and community partners receive a welcoming, respectful, and customer-centered experience. The role supports access to services through intake, navigation, referrals, and accurate recordkeeping.

The Eastland Prosperity Center is a 67,000-square-foot human services hub in southeast Columbus scheduled to open in 2026. Created by the Mid-Ohio Food Collective, it will bring together a free-choice food market, on-site health care, city services, workforce training, and other community supports. The Center is designed to serve at least 100,000 people annually.

The position involves balancing walk-ins, appointments, and phone inquiries; maintaining calm, confidential, solutions-focused interactions; updating records; coordinating with on-site partners; organizing customer flow; communicating service availability; and sharing emerging needs or barriers with the team. The job description notes that duties may change with organizational needs and that employees may be asked to perform other job-related activities or functions, subject to reasonable accommodation.

Requirements

• High school diploma or GED.
• At least 1 year of customer service experience; experience by phone, online, and in person is preferred.
• Basic computer skills, including Microsoft applications.
• Ability to work with challenging personalities using empathy, boundaries, and professionalism.

Responsibilities

• Greet and direct customers, visitors, and community partners.
• Complete basic intake and identify customer needs.
• Provide warm handoffs to internal teams and partner organizations.
• Support check-in, registration, appointments, and forms.
• Answer and route phone inquiries.
• Coordinate customer flow and communicate wait-time updates.
• Escalate specialized needs appropriately.
• Maintain up-to-date knowledge of programs and referral processes.
• Enter service and outcome data and maintain accurate records.
• Follow privacy, safety, and data security procedures.
• Prepare the front desk area and review partner schedules.
• Keep the waiting area organized and communicate service availability.
• Flag emerging needs or barriers to the team.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level
• Education Level: High school or GED