About Us: Since its inception in 1941, Outward Bound has remained committed to our mission: changing lives through challenge and discovery. The outdoors is our classroom, and our curriculum emphasizes individual growth through authentic adventure, with facilitated activities focused on reflection and learning. Outward Bound USA has more than 1,000,000 alumni and serves more than 50,000 young people and adults each year.
Outward Bound Services Group (OBSG) is one of two national Outward Bound entities in the United States (the other being OBUSA). OBSG is a member-owned extension of Outward Bound, acting as a digital marketing, creative, and customer experience agency for eight Outward Bound schools (our members), with the primary purpose of enrolling students on backcountry expeditions.
We are responsible for providing a range of marketing and enrollment services including:
• Developing national marketing strategies for Open Enrollment programs
• Designing and executing marketing campaigns to generate leads
• Providing analytic expertise to plan, measure, & adjust campaign impacts
• Managing the national call center to answer inquiries and initiate enrollments
• Coordinating with national scholarship partners to enroll their participants
Company Culture: We love what we do! It is the people who work here that make Outward Bound the powerful change agent that it is – and has been, for over 60 years. We are passionate about personal and professional growth, committed to serving students and our member Schools. We teach to and work by our cornerstone values of compassion, integrity, excellence, inclusion and diversity.
We are committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce and supporting a vision of equity for the future. We are a historically white-led organization engaged in the process of recognizing the way social inequality profoundly impacts our staff and students. Outward Bound is committed to equity, inclusion, and diversity as a necessary element of achieving our mission. This work can be challenging. We are committed to having the tough conversations and taking the necessary actions to create an inclusive environment for our staff and our students.
This organization does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender, gender expression, gender identity, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, military status, marital status, age, citizenship, or any other basis prohibited by law.
Contribution
The ideal candidate is a strong project manager who is rooted in partner, community and student engagement approaches. They can work with people across a diversity of thoughts, backgrounds and perspectives. They are committed to deepening and growing Outward Bound’s diversity, inclusion and equity efforts. By providing excellent customer service and displaying expertise in assisting customers with course selection, create a positive brand image in the marketplace that generates positive feedback and conversation about our stellar customer service.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities
The OBSG Outreach Manager role is to establish and nurture relationships with organizations and individuals that support enrollment on Outward Bound’s long (30+ day) courses. They are responsible for executing an outreach strategy focused on driving enrollment to our Semester, Pathfinder, Outdoor Educator and Intercept Program lines. For each target audience, or group of influencers, this position is responsible for developing a pipeline of national prospects and regularly and rigorously reporting progress. It is expected that they will support outreach work by either attending National/Regional targeted events and conferences as the primary contact and/or coordinating and training other individuals to attend these events in their stead. Success for this person will be defined by growth in revenue through increased enrollment on our long course program lines. Core duties are as follows:
Open Enrollment Sales & Outreach (40% time)
- Participate and assist Marketing Director in developing national sales and marketing strategy for Open Enrollment program lines of business across multiple media platforms.
- Execute the strategy for growing OE sales with emphasis on Semester, Pathfinder, Outdoor Educator, and Intercept program lines of business.
- Prospects leads from web and social media channels
- Build relationships with influencers (For example: School counselors, colleges & universities, therapy programs, professional associations etc.) to cultivate a strong enrollment pipeline
- Evaluate and report on return on investment of sales & outreach activity 3 times per year; provide verbal reports as requested
- Monitor, track and report on outreach efforts, event participation and success
- Track progress and/or implement corrective actions on variances in order to assure results
- Travel as necessary to establishing and maintaining influencer network and support OBSG sales and outreach efforts
Management & Co-Ordination of Events (25% time)
- Develop and maintain an annual calendar of outreach events and conferences; manage registration and coordination of event collateral
- Point person for coordination and delivery of virtual/hybrid recruitment events
- Contribute and assist in the development of digital and print marketing and communications collateral such as video, flyers, social media, email campaigns and blogs
- Manage and maintain presentations, displays used in recruitment and outreach efforts
- Coordinate Outward Bound presence at events and conferences; serve as a conduit/facilitator between National/Regional recruitment efforts
- Travel as necessary to attend sales and outreach events
- Train and/or mentor regional contacts who attend events
- Manage & nurture leads captured at events and conferences
Additional Duties (25%)
- Support National Admission Office (NAO) by:
- Responding to inquiries in a timely and professional manner (email, event, voicemail etc.)
- Use CRM to track and log recruitment efforts
- Assist prospective students and their families in course selection and enrollment on course
- Execute highly accurate data entry in accordance with Outward Bound enrollment procedures
- Provide knowledgeable, accurate, and accommodating customer service at all times
- Other duties as assigned
Management Relationships (10%)
- Support and develop relationships with our 8 member Schools to foster a sense of teamwork and collaboration
- Support and develop relationships between our 529 College Savings Plans providers and OBSG; assist with building provider pool
- Manage program membership and compliance with Gap Year Association
- Long course student post-course follow-up as appropriate and able; course experience, feedback
Required Qualifications & Skills
- 2+ years experience in customer service, sales or marketing (in Higher Education or Admissions, preferred) OR experience in a role focused on relationship building/professional networking
- Expertise with Microsoft Suite and other communication software (Zoom, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams)
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
- Strong facilitation skills; including ability to present information to a wide variety of audiences
- Proven ability to work independently and with a team
Preferred Qualifications & Skills
- Outward Bound or other wilderness expeditionary experience (OB, NOLS, multi-day course or equivalent) preferred.
- Familiarity with activities and course areas system wide.
- Experience using CRM (Salesforce) for recruitment and admissions
- Cross-cultural sensitivity and cross-cultural communication skills
- Well organized with attention to detail.
- Able to problem solve, prioritize, and manage multiple tasks successfully
Work Environment/Physical Demands/Schedule
- Environment is office/home office or event center
- While performing the duties of this position, the employee is frequently required to sit for extended periods and may be required to stand for an extended period.
- Employee must be able to effectively communicate with other people.
- Noise level in the work environment is usually quiet but could be moderate to loud at events.
- In addition to the travel needed to support outreach, the employee may be required to visit other office locations, wilderness basecamps etc. At these times, travel accommodations may be rustic, with limited shower, kitchen, and internet access.
- The employee may be occasionally exposed to outdoor weather conditions and may be expected to walk up to 1 mile at a time in an outdoor, rustic setting.
- The employee may occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds
- Due to in-person nature of some job responsibilities, must have proof of up-to-date vaccination status or receive and be approved for an accommodation
- Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the position.
Location
- Ability to work remotely; must live in proximity to major airport to facilitate travel
- M-F schedule with the occasional need for evening or weekend work
- Hours worked are flexible but must have availability to meet between the hours of 10am EST and 2pm EST for collaboration at least once per week
- Must meet work from home criteria, including but not limited to maintaining your own internet and cell phone. Other technical equipment (laptop etc.) provided by the company
- We have hubs in Asheville, NC and Arvada, CO. Preference given to applicants who reside in the state of CO, NC, TN or VA.
Compensation
- Full-Time (37.5hrs per week), Hourly, Non-Exempt position. Benefits eligible.
- Benefits include medical, dental, vision, 401k with company match, sick and vacation plus paid holidays, STD, Life, HSA
- Base: 42-48k + Commission
- Commission is capped at 30k
- Opportunities for professional development and training
- Outward Bound course tuition benefit
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