About Connect First. Connect First Inc. was founded in 2005 and is a privately held company based in Boulder, Colorado. Geoff Mina and Richard Manulkin founded Connect First as a way to revolutionize the contact center industry around the primary mission of providing exceptional customer experiences and cutting edge technology. Today we have over 500 clients worldwide and boast a 97% customer retention rate. With the energy of a startup, but stability of an established business, Connect First is on a roll and looking for great people to help us reach the next stage of success.

Connect First offers competitive salaries, comprehensive benefits, high matching 401k, wellness benefits, generous Paid Time Off, and a casual yet demanding and fast-paced work environment. Best of all we are a dog friendly company! We find time to get outside and enjoy the best of what Boulder has to offer. Our “pay-for-performance” programs healthily reward rock-star achievements and intellect. We also pay for relevant continuing education, conferences, and skills development.

What it’s like to work with us. To understand who, how and why we work, check out our Technical Solutions Team’s Statement of Values: The Technical Solutions Team is responsible for all customer-facing concerns as they relate to the technical aspects of the platform. This includes frequently asked questions, troubleshooting, interdepartmental escalations, internal support, and customer communications. The Technical Solutions Team’s first priority is always customer satisfaction.  Customers reach out to us when they have questions or run into issues with our services, and at the end of every interaction our first concern is if we helped the customer to a solution.

About the role.  Provides support and a central point of contact for all Connect First Customers. Responds to inquiries and requests for assistance with Connect First applications. Identifies, analyzes, troubleshoots and resolves problems with the aim of satisfying the customer’s need, eliminating recurrences and by reducing calls and support tickets to the Help Desk. Coordinates with other departments to resolve problems if necessary.

Duties and Responsibilities.

• Problem analysis and resolution
  • Tier 1 support of Connect First’s custom applications.
  • Logs all help desk calls or email requests into the Online Support System and updates problem profiles.
  • Analyzes and resolves problems with a goal of First Call Resolution and single agent resolution.
• Direct Help Desk Requests
  • Processes Toll Free RespOrg Transfers.
  • Processes Letter of Authorizations for telephone numbers.
• Problem prevention
  • Investigates causes and tests solutions to reduce calls and tickets to the help desk.
  • Works to eliminate recurring problems and reasons to call.
  • Promotes effective use of technology.
  • Watches for trends that indicate potential problems and then eliminates the problems before they happen.
• Customer Service
  • Thinks of the customer as the most important part of the job.
  • Involves dealing with and/or responding positively to complaints, problems, and sometimes negative and emotional behavior.
  • Promotes a professional help desk image and sells the value of the help desk.
  • Understanding help desk priorities and objectives and taking an active role in accomplishing these objectives.
• Participates with other Connect First groups
  • Reviews upcoming changes with the goal of knowing what is going into production.
  • Passes feedback from customers on to the Development group.
• Communication
  • Keeps peers and customers informed of significant problems, unexpected delays and anything new in the environment.
  • Keeps customers informed of global problems, scheduled downtime or anything that affects the application environment.
  • Keeps customers informed of progress on problems that cannot be resolved on first call.
• Training
  • Keeps current on all applications used in the environment supported.
  • Takes training that continues to develop interpersonal skills.

Required Qualifications.

Experience/Skills.They must have one-year work experience in a technical support function that is customer service oriented. Candidate must demonstrate knowledge and abilities in the following:

• Focus – The ability to remain focused on what is important to the business despite distractions. Commitment to team/department/company; understanding the help desk’s role in the company.
• Problem Solving – The ability to identify and resolve problems quickly and effectively. Understands entire process from logging to informing customer solution is in place; knows when to escalate.
• Proactive Thinking – The ability to take initiative to make improvements. Anticipate customer needs; looks for ways to make things better for the customer, to eliminate recurring problems, calls, is constantly learning.
• Communication – Speaks clearly and persuasively in positive or negative situations. Listens and gets clarification of requests. Responds well to questions. Ability to interact and communicate clearly in English with people over the telephone, often in stressful situations. Writes clearly and informatively. Edits work for spelling and grammar.
• Customer Skills – The ability to interact with customers in a polite and professional manner. Regards customer as most important part of job; respectful of customers and manages difficult or emotional customer situations. Responds promptly to customer needs and requests for service and assistance.
• Professionalism – Uses time efficiently. Approaches others in a tactful manner. Treats others with respect and consideration regardless of their status or position. Accepts responsibility for own actions.
• Teamwork - Contributes skills and capabilities to achieve the team’s goals. Is receptive to new ideas, builds strong working relationships and values diversity. Encourages and gives credit to others for their contributions and puts the attainment of team goals ahead of individual objectives.
• Flexibility - Performs tasks, responding to changes in direction and priorities. Accepts new challenges, responsibilities and assignments.
• Team/Company Fit – Always on time; enjoys working in a very casual environment in terms of relationships and communication; willing to work over time.
• Technical – The ability to learn technical product information quickly and accurately.

Physical Demands.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is required to sit and stand; lift up to 50 pounds; use hands to type on keyboard and use a mouse; reach with hands and arms; talk and hear. Specific vision abilities required by the job include close vision, distance vision, and the ability to adjust focus. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Work Environment.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee will have a cubical exposed to normal noise level in the work environment.

Work Hours**.

A 40 hour work week is scheduled. Support hours for the help desk are currently between 6:00 AM and 7:00 PM MST.  The current schedule is 8x5 shifts with the possibility of that including weekends worked with two weekdays off in the future.

Support team members are required to be on call after their 90-day training period. This involves a rotating evening, overnight and weekend schedules.

** Support hours and shifts will evolve as Customer needs require. A minimum of two weeks’ notice will be given to allow for schedule changes.

Area Security Access.

A security clearance is not required.

Application process. Please apply by sending your resume & a cover letter. In your email please tell us your favorite or most satisfying experience solving a problem - either personally or professionally. This can be short and sweet. Submissions without this simple little anecdote will be passed to the back.  We look forward to hearing from you!  The Connect First Crew