Part-Time Customer Experience Specialist

It's a Saturday afternoon. You've got three prospective residents touring back-to-back, two resident emails waiting on responses, and a package room that looks like it absorbed a small shipping warehouse. That's a normal shift here, and if that description makes you lean in rather than lean away, keep reading.

What This Role Actually Involves

Cottonwood Residential is hiring a part-time Customer Experience Specialist at Alkire Glen Apartments in Columbus, Ohio. The work centers on two things: helping prospective residents figure out whether this community is the right fit for them, and making sure current residents feel taken care of once they're home. That means you're on the phone, on email, on text, and in person, often switching between all of them within the same hour.

The schedule requires flexibility, including weekends and evenings. That's not a footnote. It's core to the role, so if your availability doesn't stretch that far, this one isn't the right match.

Day-to-day, you'll walk the property regularly, checking vacant units, the tour path, amenities, and anything that needs attention before a prospect or a new move-in sees it. You'll know the current availability cold, including pricing, so you can answer questions without fumbling. You'll help coordinate community events and contribute to social media efforts. You'll keep the package room organized as deliveries come in, which sounds minor until you've worked a community where it isn't managed well.

Cottonwood was an early adopter of Self-Guided Tours, which shifted how prospects interact with the property before they ever talk to a leasing team member. You'll support that experience and help refine it over time.

What Strong Candidates Bring

• Genuine comfort talking to people who are stressed, excited, or both at once (apartment hunting is often all three)
• Clear, prompt written communication across phone, email, and text
• Attention to the physical condition of the property, not just the office experience
• Weekend and evening availability, consistently
• Some interest in growing into a management track over time

What separates a good candidate from an average one here is composure when the desk gets busy and the instinct to follow through without being reminded. Plenty of people can be friendly at the front desk. Fewer can handle a full Saturday, stay organized, and still make the last prospect of the day feel like the first one.

This is a part-time role, but Cottonwood has signaled it as a real entry point into property management. Leasing experience translates directly into assistant manager and eventually property manager positions, especially at companies that promote from within. If you're early in your PM career and looking for a place to build the foundation, the customer-facing side of leasing is where it starts.