Research & Student Outreach Virtual Assistant

Job Description This is a remote position. Role Overview Benjamin is developing an early-stage academic publishing and social networking platform for college students . The platform allows students to turn their coursework and academic work into a professional and academic portfolio, helping them build their academic reputation, showcase their work, discover other students' research, and potentially use their work as writing samples for future academic and professional opportunities. The immediate priority is to help build the platform's initial user base by identifying high-quality, current college/undergraduate student prospects , researching relevant contact information, and supporting targeted outbound outreach. The ideal VA will be highly resourceful, intelligent, detail-oriented, and comfortable with research, data harvesting, lead generation, email outreach, and LinkedIn prospecting . The person should also be able to understand the platform's value proposition and communicate it effectively to students. Primary Responsibilities 1. Student Research & Lead Generation Research colleges, universities, undergraduate programs, departments, student organizations, research journals, and other relevant sources to identify potential student users. Find fresh and relevant undergraduate/student prospects who are likely to benefit from the platform. Prioritize current students and avoid outdated contacts, particularly students who may have already graduated. Research and collect: Student name University/school Student email address or appropriately sourced contact information Other relevant information needed to qualify the lead Identify high-quality sources for student contacts and continuously develop new research methods and sources. Research undergraduate researchers and students involved in academic publishing/research who may be strong early adopters. Identify students who have published academic work, abstracts, research papers, or other coursework that may make them strong candidates for the platform's ambassador/scholarly program. 2. Contact Verification & Data Quality Verify that contact information is accurate, current, and relevant before adding it to the database. Check whether students are likely to still be enrolled at the university. Avoid relying solely on old databases or outdated contact lists. Cross-check information using appropriate public sources. Maintain high standards for data accuracy and minimize bounced, invalid, outdated, or irrelevant contacts. Document the source and/or verification method where appropriate. Follow applicable privacy, data protection, and outreach requirements when collecting and using contact information. 3. Data Organization & Database Management Maintain an organized prospect/contact database. Keep track of: Name School/university Email/contact information Research area or academic context, where relevant Source of the contact Verification status Outreach status Follow-up status Response/engagement Regularly clean and update the database. Identify and remove duplicate, outdated, or inaccurate contacts. 4. Outbound Email Outreach Support targeted outbound email campaigns to qualified student prospects. Use existing email messaging/content provided by the client. Personalize outreach when appropriate. Communicate the platform's value proposition clearly and compellingly. Encourage students to: Learn about the platform Register Upload their academic work Participate in the platform's community Consider joining the ambassador/scholarly program Track outreach activity, responses, registrations, and engagement. Conduct follow-ups according to the client's outreach strategy. 5. LinkedIn Research & Outreach Research relevant students, undergraduate researchers, academic communities, and potentially student organizations on LinkedIn. Identify prospects who fit the target audience. Support LinkedIn connection/following and messaging activities in accordance with the client's instructions and platform rules. Use LinkedIn as an additional channel for generating awareness and engagement. 6. Ambassador / Scholarly Program Support The client is developing an ambassador/scholarly program for early adopters . The VA may assist with: Identifying promising student ambassadors. Finding undergraduate researchers and academically active students. Researching published undergraduate abstracts and research work. Creating or organizing prospect profiles based on information provided by the client. Conducting outreach to encourage students to join and contribute their work. Identifying students who demonstrate strong potential to communicate the platform's value proposition to their classmates. 7. Community Growth & Engagement The ultimate goal is not simply to collect email addresses but to help create a critical mass of active student users . The VA should therefore help track: Number of qualified prospects identified Number of verified contacts Outreach volume Response rate Registration rate Student engagement Follow-ups Ambassador prospects Other meaningful growth indicators The VA should be proactive in identifying which research and outreach methods are producing the best results. Key Objective of the Role The client's biggest challenge currently is apathy and lack of engagement . The VA should help increase: Research volume → Quality prospects → Outreach → Attention → Registrations → Engagement → Community growth The successful VA will not simply perform repetitive data entry. They should be able to identify better sources, improve the quality of the prospect pool, test different approaches, and recognize which prospects are most likely to care about the platform. Required Skills & Qualifications Essential Strong internet research and data research skills Experience with lead generation/prospect research Experience finding and verifying contact information Strong attention to detail Excellent data accuracy Ability to identify current vs. outdated information Strong written English Ability to conduct professional email outreach Comfortable with LinkedIn research and outreach Highly organized and systematic Self-motivated and proactive Able to work independently Strong analytical and problem-solving skills Quick learner who can understand a new product and its target market Comfortable working with large amounts of information Able to recognize high-quality prospects rather than simply maximizing volume Strongly Preferred Previous experience in: Lead generation B2B/B2C outreach Academic research Student/university research Data enrichment Contact verification Email marketing LinkedIn outreach Market research Sales development Experience using lead generation/data research tools Experience with CRM or spreadsheet-based prospect management Experience working with startups or early-stage companies Experience promoting technology, education, SaaS, publishing, or social networking products Personality & Work Style The client specifically emphasized that apathy is the biggest challenge . Therefore, the ideal VA should be: Proactive — doesn't wait for every task to be assigned. Curious — enjoys finding new sources and research techniques. Resourceful — can figure out where and how to find difficult-to-locate information. Persistent — comfortable with outreach and follow-up. Intelligent and analytical — able to assess whether a lead is actually valuable. Detail-oriented — understands that inaccurate contact data reduces the effectiveness of the campaign. Results-oriented — focused on registrations and engagement, not just activity volume. Comfortable with repetitive research while maintaining quality. Adaptable — the product is still early-stage, so responsibilities and strategies may evolve. Commercially minded — able to understand and communicate "Why should a student care?" Independent — capable of working with limited supervision. Communicative — proactively reports challenges, findings, and opportunities. Tools No specific tools were mandated by the client yet. The client is open to determining the most effective tools based on the VA's research techniques and the accuracy of the results. The VA should ideally be comfortable learning and using tools such as: Google Sheets / Microsoft Excel Google Search and advanced search operators LinkedIn Email platforms CRM/database tools Contact research and verification platforms Data enrichment tools Research databases University websites and online directories Important: Tool selection should be based on the quality, accuracy, recency, and appropriate sourcing of the data—not simply the ability to generate a large volume of contacts Schedule: Flexible The VA does not need to work specifically on Chicago/US hours .