Meet Melissa Anderson.
Melissa joined Rivetica in 2019 and oversees Rivetica’s admissions and enrollment consulting services, including admissions training and professional development, admissions support, mentoring and coaching for admissions leaders, content development, and more.
A veteran marketer and recruiter, Melissa works with clients across the country to improve adult/graduate/online admissions and enrollment outcomes through training and professional development with admissions staff. Rivetica’s two-step approach to training allows Melissa the opportunity to develop relationships with admissions teams in person through a multi-day training session followed by 10 months of continuing professional development, both in group and individual settings. “When this opportunity with Rivetica presented itself, I knew this was destined to be the next chapter of my career in higher education. I have the privilege of training and developing admissions professionals as well as playing a role in the educational journeys of adult learners, but now I am able to do those things I love for clients all across the country. Rivetica’s philosophy is about focusing on results that matter for our clients and truly becoming a partner in every sense of the word. From acquiring quality inquiries and applicants for an institution, to ensuring those inquiries and applicants lead to enrollments through nurturing efforts from marketing and admissions staff, we make it our mission to see an inquiry through from the initial request all the way to enrollment. This type of commitment to client needs is exactly what I was looking for in a higher ed marketing firm, both as a client and as an employee, and I couldn’t imagine working for a better organization.”
When not spending time with admissions teams across the country, Melissa can be found enjoying the outdoors with her family or in the stands at a baseball field or BMX track cheering for her sons. Since beginning her career in admissions, Melissa has welcomed four boys into the world, and says she uses the active listening skills she learned in admissions on a daily basis, as well as “those invaluable multi-tasking skills learned when working a lead base with a thousand adult learner inquiries and hundreds of applicants.” Most recently, Melissa and her husband have had to juggle the challenging responsibilities of homeschooling, working full-time, and keeping everyone happy during a pandemic. “I’ve never multi-tasked more in my life, and I can’t say this has been easy. However, we’ve found a few resources and activities that have been helpful for us as we navigate staying at home with our kids. From online tutorials and book readings from famous artists and authors like Mo Willems and James Dean, to virtual tours and wildlife webcams from the Georgia Aquarium and Cincinnati Zoo, to classic favorites like puzzles and board games, we’ve done our best to keep the kids active and happy. I’m so thankful for a career in higher ed that has afforded me the opportunity to focus on others’ needs while multitasking. So many of those skills translate to parenting multiple children, especially during this unique time we are living in.”
Melissa is looking forward to meeting with new admissions teams and continuing to help clients enhance adult learner enrollment initiatives. Empathy, active listening, and developing strong rapport have never been more important in higher ed admissions, and with the current uncertainty many colleges and universities are facing, this type of recruiting can truly set an institution apart and help bring in much needed enrollments. “There is a huge difference between acting as an ‘order-taker’ versus being a true recruiter. The institutions who recognize the invaluable importance of the latter and invest in training and developing their admissions staff will see better results in terms of enrollment outcomes.”
If your institution could use some help with admissions training and professional development, or any one of Rivetica’s marketing, admissions, or academic solutions, we’ll be standing by.