Lead Admissions Counselor - (Student Service Professional III, Range I) - Undergraduate Admissions and Recruitment

San Francisco State University•San Francisco, CA

8d•Onsite

About The Position

San Francisco State University is seeking a Lead Admissions Counselor to serve as a lead student advisor in the Office of Undergraduate Admissions and Recruitment. This role involves providing complex and multifaceted admissions advising and coordination for the admission evaluation of both transfer and first-year applicants. The incumbent will offer a secondary level of advising to new students, requiring more nuanced and creative approaches than a standard admissions counselor. This position also involves lead work in admissions, including staffing, training, and planning for SSP II Admission Counselors. The role requires a strong understanding of California Title V, CSU eligibility requirements, and SFSU policies to provide specialized training on admissions and transfer credit policies and procedures, and to handle challenging interactions with students, parents, staff, and faculty. The incumbent will support the Director in processing special action admission requests and provide in-depth guidance to CSU ineligible applicants to help them become eligible. A key aspect of the role is student-focused customer service and staff leadership, demonstrated through effective listening, availability, and timely responses. In collaboration with the Director, business analysts, and other leads, the incumbent will consult on optimizing existing procedures within the Cal State Apply student application system and the PeopleSoft Campus Solutions student records database to drive admission decisions, send communications, and monitor application processing. The incumbent will also communicate with the Director regarding resource allocations, distribute work schedules, and manage schedule changes. Training new and current staff, and participating in the selection and onboarding of new staff are also core responsibilities. The role involves collaboration with Academic Advising, the Registrar's Office, and Academic Departments, and direct work with new students on complex admission-related matters.

Requirements

Thorough knowledge of the principles of individual and group behavior.
General knowledge of the principles, practices and trends of the Student Services field as well as general knowledge of the policies, procedures and practices of the program area to which assigned.
General knowledge of individual counseling techniques.
General knowledge, or the ability to rapidly acquire such knowledge, of the organizational procedures and activities of the specific campus to which the position is assigned.
Working knowledge of student services programs outside the program to which immediately assigned.
Ability to analyze complex situations accurately and adopt effective courses of action.
Ability to advise students individually and in groups on complex student-related matters.
Ability to determine appropriate courses of action and proper techniques to utilize while engaged with individuals in personal interactions of an argumentative or sensitive nature.
Ability to interpret and evaluate descriptions and explanations of problems brought forward by individuals or student organizations, analyze and define the problem, draw valid conclusions and project consequences of various alternative courses of action.
Ability to carry out a variety of professionally complex assignments without detailed instructions.
Ability to establish and maintain cooperative working relationships with a variety of individuals.
Equivalent to three years of progressively responsible professional student services work experience.
One year in the program area to which assigned may be preferred but is not required.
A master’s degree in Counseling, Clinical Psychology, Social Work, or a directly related field may be substituted for one year of experience.
A doctorate degree and the appropriate internship or clinical training in counseling or guidance may be substituted for the three years of experience for positions with a major responsibility for professional career or personal counseling.
Equivalent to graduation from a four-year college or university in a related field.
3 years of professional student services related field, including or supplemented by upper division or graduate course work in counseling techniques, interviewing, and conflict resolution where such are job-related.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree.
Particular knowledge of California and the CSU higher education environment.
Experience with undergraduate admissions and transfer credit policies and processes.
Experience providing excellent customer service in higher education.
Must be able to assist and advocate for students and parents, helping them navigate through the undergraduate admission processes.
Ability to integrate the use of a variety of technological systems used in workload planning and in transmission and retrieval of student information from databases, word processing software, spreadsheets, and messaging applications.
Ability to interpret academic publications, Title 5, SFSU and CSU policies, and bulletin information.
Ability to adapt to frequent changes/upgrades to procedures involving PeopleSoft Campus Solutions and to help optimize procedures with available software tools.
Ability to apply specific procedures to retrieve and upload documents to On Base, the optical archive of educational records.
Ability to utilize search functions and setup features in the Cal State Apply Control site, the CSU online application system. Use Cal State Apply information to direct applicants approved to apply under exceptional circumstances.
Ability to identify documents and to use PeopleSoft Campus Solutions to match documents to student records.
Ability to respond to complex and/or sensitive student inquiries which may include appeals on the basis of disability or extenuating circumstances.
Incumbent must be able to respond tactfully in challenging customer interactions and to remain focused on the issue at hand.
Demonstrated experience with a variety of technological systems used in resource allocation including staffing, room scheduling, and ordering supplies or equipment.
Ability to recognize the value of alternate problem-solving techniques and to develop effective solutions using incomplete or ambiguous information.
Demonstrated experience supervising others.

Responsibilities

Provide oversight to the freshman and transfer admission decision processing and communication according to Title V, CSU, and SFSU policies.
Make admissions eligibility determinations using appropriate criteria, including knowledge and experience of records, transcripts, and official documents.
Manage requests for late applications and other exceptions or appeals.
Manage impacted major decision processing.
Provide advisement to applicants, families, and high school and college counselors on complex admissions-related matters.
In collaboration with key campus partners, ensure that referrals for new applicants to support programs, like the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP), Veterans, Metro Academies, Athletics, Project Rebound, and Impacted Major programs are fully addressed.
Ensure that processes meet all goals for providing timely admission decisions.
Collaborate in the development and maintenance of training and procedural material for admissions staff.
Assist in hiring, manage the training, and contribute to the review of admissions counselor performance.
Assist in the coordination of the recruitment, training, and leadership of a team of (5-7) student workers who will assist with answering general phone inquiries and One Stop coverage. This includes scheduling work hours and completing timesheets.
As the lead applicant advisor, research, analyze, consult, and advise applicants, students, staff and faculty on complex admissions and transfer credit problems, including in situations where few precedents or guidelines exist.
Plan, document, and administer staff training relating to admissions; and respond to/make recommendations on both routine and complicated inquiries relating to application procedures and deadlines.
Based on the needs assessed from the incumbent’s daily advising activities with applicants, collaborate with the Director regarding the set-up and development of a wide range of admission solutions for the identification, tracking, monitoring and communication of applicants throughout the admission process.
Advise students regarding residency policies, including how to establish California residency.
Assess initial residency status for tuition purposes for applicants.
Review and decide on appeals and changes of residency status for new and continuing students.
Assist students in the appeal process to the Office of General Counsel.
Collaborate with the Dream Resource Center and the Office of Financial Aid on AB540 students.
Ensure that transfer credit is assessed and correctly applied in coordination with the transfer credit team’s activities.
Assist applicants and new students with understanding their transfer credit reports.
Assist new students during summer freshman and transfer orientations.
Ensure that student records are properly updated.
Other duties as assigned