Please provide us with a 500 word description of a recent project you have lead. Include time line, your responsibilities and that of others, and difficulties you encountered.
I currently work at Touro College at the Helpdesk. At the helpdesk, students, employees and faculty members send us emails regarding any issue that they have. On Monday, July 10th, 2017, my boss noticed that we have been receiving double the number of emails and phone calls that we usually do. We usually receive 200 emails a day. My boss asked me to figure out why are we receiving so many phone calls and emails. Also, she wanted me to come up with suggestions to fix the issue by Tuesday, July 18th.
I called a meeting with everyone that works in my department on Monday, July 10th and explained to them that I am doing a project to figure out why we are receiving so many emails and phone calls. I asked them to send me an email stating if they enjoy working with students, faculty members, or staff members better. It was important for me to ask my co-workers which section they wanted to work on because I wanted everyone to feel comfortable showing off their strengths. However, there were three people that enjoyed working with students, but I wanted two people working on each category. So i asked my co- worker that has been there longer to work on the issues that the faculty members have. I informed my co workers that they have by Friday, July 14th to give me their observations.
My two workers that were assigned to "Students" noticed that students were reaching out because they needed assistance with filling out their FAFSA and they wanted to know when they will be receiving their refund. I created an memo to show my boss to have the student's Financial Aid advisor reach out to the students as they receive their FAFSA stating the requirements that needs to be submitted. Also, i created a memo stating to the Bursar that they need to reach out to students as they see they are packaged to send a general email to the students stating how they can enroll in direct deposit or if the students wants a paper check. My co workers that viewing emails from the faculty members realized that the faculty members needed assistance with entering grades. i suggested that the Registrar email the faculty members explaining to them how to enter grades at the end of the semester. finally, my co workers that were working on the employees realized that they need assistance with filling out their timesheet. my suggest was for HR to contact employees that they noticed did not fill out their time sheet from the previous pay period.
it was difficult to for me to critique different departments and to tell them what they need to better. it was difficult to make sure my co workers stayed on task and look for accurate observations.