Everyone is welcome at Handshake. We know diverse teams build better products and we are committed to creating an inclusive culture built on a foundation of respect for all individuals. We strongly encourage candidates from non-traditional backgrounds, historically marginalized or underrepresented groups to apply.
Location: Remote (U.S. Only - AZ, DC, CA, CO, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, NC, NM, NV, NJ, NY, OR, PA, SD, TN, TX, VA, WA, WI)
Hours: Monday through Friday, 8am - 5pm in your time zone (unless otherwise noted in hiring process).
Your impact:
Handshake is looking to bring on a Support Specialist, Contractor to provide support to our employer, student, and career services users. This role is a 6 month contract with the possibility of contract extension or conversion to our permanent Support Specialist role upon evaluation of fit for the role and company needs. If you are resourceful and attuned to detail, love digging into a complex and technical product, building strong relationships with customers and team members, and solving a wide variety of questions, bugs, and workflow needs - this is the role for you!
You will work closely with our Support Team to provide efficient and effective support and contribute to an overall seamless experience for users. You will help unblock our users, share trends and learnings with the Support Team, and continue to improve the customer experience and our team operations. As an advocate for our career centers, students, and employer users, you’ll improve the Handshake user experience and make an impact on our mission to democratize opportunity.
Your role:
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Contribute 40 hours per week during our business hours, Monday through Friday. Provide amazing email and phone support to Handshake customers via internal ticketing systems. Your day-to-day will consist of:
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90%: resolving questions, bugs, feedback, and general inquiries. See daily averages below:
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Ticket Volume: ~20 - 30 email tickets per day
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Phone Volume: ~10 calls over a 4 hour daily phone shift
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5%: attending team meetings (1-3 per week)
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5%: completing administrative tasks (emails, checking daily announcements, training, etc.)
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Note: email and phone tickets will involve highly technical troubleshooting and workflows, building and troubleshooting custom reports, and making sure to provide tailored, personal responses while building relationships
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Use app demo environments, troubleshooting tools, help center, team communication channels, and internal documentation systems to find the quality answer for a wide range of users
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Maintain a standard level of excellence in regards to response times, resolution times, equal share of queue, and the quality of the customer support experience
- Be both a support specialist and an experienced consultant for users of the Handshake platform
Utilize internal tools to manage issues between Customer Support, Customer Success, Product, and Engineering
Your experience:
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Location: if working from home, you must be located in AZ, DC, CA, CO, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, NC, NM, NV, NJ, NY, OR, PA, SD, TN, TX, VA, WA, or WI.
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Technical Aptitude: Ability to learn technical tools and concepts quickly
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Resilience: Comfort with change and ambiguity. We’re a growing startup and always refining processes, tools, etc!
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Teamwork: Connects with teammates and actively builds a sense of community on Support and with other teams. Collaborates with manager and team on daily or weekly guidance on ticket workflows and prioritization.
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Communication: Excellent verbal and written communication skills with a clear ability to communicate complex topics with simple language.
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Results oriented and ownership: Ability to maintain or exceed ticket and quality goals. High level of self accountability and integrity for processes and metrics.
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Passion for the problem: Desire to help give people the chance to build the career they want, no matter where they're from or what school they attend
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EQ: A strong sense of empathy with users of our products and cross functional partners
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Critical Thinking: High attention to detail and ability to troubleshoot with limited information and a clear plan of action.
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Expertise and Curiosity: Retains knowledge, shows ability to partially solve issues independently, and asks questions to increase personal knowledge. Isn’t afraid to do independent research on third party tools and systems to find answers.
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Growth Mindset: Positive, eager to learn, utilizes resources, takes and gives feedback, connects with support team and key cross team stakeholders.
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Diversity and Inclusion: Eagerness to contribute to and help build a diverse and inclusive team and exhibit these values internally and externally with customers or users.
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Coverage: Can provide a regular schedule to provide consistent assistance to users. Based in the U.S. and is not a current student.
Bonus areas of expertise:
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ZenDesk experience
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Programming, IT, data analysis or computer science courses, major or certifications
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EdTech or Higher Edu, customer service, leadership background, majors, courses, certifications
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Previous experience working in an Enterprise SaaS Customer Support team at a fast-paced startup or hypergrowth tech company, or customer focused position involving technical knowledge of a company's products and services
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Relevant experience in cross - functional communication or close partnerships with various teams (Success, Sales, Product etc)
Compensation range:
Remote: $25 per hour
For cash compensation, we set standard ranges for all U.S.-based roles based on function, level, and geographic location, benchmarked against similar stage growth companies. In order to be compliant with local legislation, as well as to provide greater transparency to candidates, we share salary ranges on all job postings regardless of desired hiring location. Final offer amounts are determined by multiple factors, including geographic location as well as candidate experience and expertise, and may vary from the amounts listed above.
About us
Handshake is the #1 place to launch a career with no connections, experience, or luck required. The platform connects up-and-coming talent with 750,000+ employers - from Fortune 500 companies like Google, Nike, and Target to thousands of public school districts, healthcare systems, and nonprofits. In 2022 we announced our $200M Series F funding round. This Series F fundraise and valuation of $3.5B will fuel Handshake’s next phase of growth and propel our mission to help more people start, restart, and jumpstart their careers.
When it comes to our workforce strategy, we’ve thought deeply about how work-life should look at Handshake. With our hybrid-work model, employees benefit from collaboration and shared team experiences three days per week in our vibrant offices, and enjoy the flexibility of remote work two days per week. Handshake is headquartered in San Francisco, with offices in New York, London, and Berlin.
What we offer
At Handshake, we'll give you the tools to feel healthy, happy and secure.
Benefits below apply to employees in full-time positions.
- 💰 Equity and ownership in a fast-growing company.
- 🍼 16 Weeks of paid parental leave for birth giving parents & 10 weeks of paid parental leave for non-birth giving parents.
- 💝 Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision policies including LGTBQ+ Coverage. We also provide resources for Mental Health Assistance, Employee Assistance Programs and counseling support.
- 💻 Handshake offers $500/£360 home office stipend for you to spend during your first 3 months to create a productive and comfortable workspace at home.
- 📚 Generous learning & development opportunities and an annual $2,000/£1,500/€1,850 stipend for you to grow your skills and career.
- 💰 Financial coaching through Origin to help you through your financial journey.
- 🛜 Monthly internet stipend and a brand new MacBook to allow you to do your best work.
- 🚃 Monthly commuter stipend for you to expense your travel to the office (for office-based employees).
- 🥗 Free lunch provided twice a week across all offices.
- 🤝 Referral bonus to reward you when you bring great talent to Handshake.
(US-specific benefits, in addition to the first section)
- 🏦 401k Match: Handshake offers a dollar-for-dollar match on 1% of deferred salary, up to a maximum of $1,200 per year.
- 🏝 All full-time US-based Handshakers are eligible for our flexible time off policy to get out and see the world. In addition, we offer 8 standardized holidays, and 2 additional days of flexible holiday time off. Lastly, we have a Winter #ShakeBreak, a one-week period of Collective Time Off.
- 🍼 Family support: We partner with Milk Stork to provide comprehensive 100% employer-sponsored lactation support to traveling parents and guardians. Parental leave coaching and support provided by Parentaly.
(UK-specific benefits, in addition to the first section)
- 🏦 Pension Scheme: Handshake will provide you with a workplace pension, where you will make contributions based on 5% of your salary. Handshake will pay the equivalent of 3% towards your pension plan, subject to qualifying earnings limits.
- 🏝 Up to 25 days of vacation to encourage people to reset, recharge, and refresh, in addition to 8 bank holidays throughout the year.
- 🤝 Regular offsites each year to bring the team together + opportunity to travel to our HQ in San Francisco.
- 🛍️ Discounts across various high street retailers, cinemas and other social activities exclusively for Handshake UK employees.
(Germany-specific benefits, in addition to the first section)
- 🏝 25 days of annual leave + 5 days of a winter #ShakeBreak, a one-week period of Collective Time Off across the company.
- 🤝 Regular offsites each year to bring the team together + opportunity to travel to our HQ in San Francisco once a year.
- 🧘 Urban sports club membership offering access to a diverse network of fitness and wellness facilities.
- 🛍️ Discounts across various high street retailers, cinemas and other social activities exclusively for Handshake Germany employees.
Looking for more? Explore our mission, values and comprehensive US benefits at joinhandshake.com/careers.
Handshake is committed to providing reasonable accommodations in our recruitment processes for candidates with disabilities, sincerely held religious beliefs or other reasons protected by applicable laws. If you need assistance or reasonable accommodation, please reach out to us at [email protected].
What We Do
Handshake is the #1 place to launch a career with no connections, experience, or luck required. The platform connects up-and-coming talent with 650,000+ employers - from Fortune 500 companies like Google, Nike, and Target to thousands of public school districts, healthcare systems, and nonprofits. Earlier this year, we announced our $200M Series F funding round. This Series F fundraise and new valuation of $3.5B will fuel Handshake’s next phase of growth and propel our mission to help more people start, restart, and jumpstart their careers.
Why Work With Us
How someone builds their career is foundational. We believe in working with the higher education community to help students build meaningful careers. We are at the nexus of universities, students and employers— and we’re able to connect the very best pieces of each side. We’re proud to create a community where students can be more successful.
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