Job title: Visitor Services and Volunteer Co-ordinator
Grade/salary band: £22,000 – 26,000, dependent on experience
Hours: 37.5 hours per week, Tuesday to Saturday (min 3 Saturdays per month)
plus some Bank Holidays & occasional evenings & Sundays
Accountable to: Huguenot Museum Director
Location: Huguenot Museum, 95 High Street, Rochester ME1 1LX
Closing Date: Sunday 23 August, midnight.
JOB SUMMARY
Are you passionate about providing a great visitor experience? In this key role, you will be responsible for ensuring all our visitors receive a warm welcome and enjoy an outstanding visitor experience at the Huguenot Museum. The Museum tells the story of Britain’s first refugees (French Protestants who fled persecution). We make connections with the experience of refugees today and celebrate the legacy of Huguenot craftsmanship.
You will co-ordinate our great team of volunteers and manage our Front of House operations as daily duty manager. This includes maximising the profits from ticket sales and our shop, and supporting activities such as group tours and room hires. You will need an eye for detail and excellent organisational skills, enjoy working as a part of team and motivating volunteers.
A passion for excellent customer service is vital, as is enthusiasm for history and engaging the public with the Museum’s stories and exhibitions.
The Museum is usually open Wednesday to Saturday, 10.00am-5.00pm, though the current pandemic situation means that we have temporarily restricted opening hours. With the Director, Learning & Community Engagement Co-ordinator and a team of volunteers, you will ensure the Museum is fully staffed to enable smooth operations during our opening hours.
The Huguenot Museum opened with NLHF funding in 2015 and is the only Museum of Huguenot history in Britain. It is in the heart of Rochester, a historic city full of heritage and independent shops on the River Medway. It is well networked by rail to stations across London, including the High Speed which takes only 35 minutes from London St. Pancras. The core of the collection comes from The French Hospital, almshouses established in 1718 to care for Huguenot refugees in need, and their descendants. They still exist today just a few doors down from the Museum, on Rochester High Street.
Aims and Outcomes
- To ensure that every visit to the Huguenot Museum is a positive and enjoyable experience.
- To run the Museum’s visitor operations (including Reception Desk) and Museum shop in an efficient, engaging and friendly manner.
- To be responsible for maximising income from admissions income and shop sales and to work with other staff to maximise income from group tours, venue hires and events.
- To assist in the marketing of the Museum and its programmes.
Main duties and responsibilities
To take responsibility for the smooth running of front of house operations by ensuring that you:
Visitor services
- Co-ordinate the volunteer team to cover the Reception Desk during opening hours and support the Museum’s programme.
- Supervise Front of House volunteers, ensuring they are trained in the requirements of their role, including our Health and Safety procedures.
- Support the recruitment, training and appraisal of volunteers.
- Organise the programme of social activities for volunteers.
- Deal with public enquiries in person and via phone and email in a friendly manner.
- Monitor the galleries and the security of objects on display using our CCTV cameras and screen and by liaising with volunteer gallery stewards.
- Co-ordinate our family history service, including our volunteer research team.
- Develop a good understanding of Huguenot history to be able to engage visitors with the Museum’s stories.
Retail and admissions
- Carry out ticket sales.
- Process bookings and payments for our programme of events, schools visits and organised tour groups.
- Run our gift shop, making sure our stock is priced and attractively displayed, maintain stock levels, and work with the Director to develop new stock lines that enhance the visitor experience.
- Record and manage stock levels.
- Develop connections with local, regional and national makers to supply quality craft items for our shop.
- Be responsible for cashing up and banking.
- Keep a clear record of all income from tickets, events and shop sales (cash and card payments) and to liaise with the Museum accountant to keep this up to date, including gift aid.
- Work with the Director to increase spend per head.
- Supervise volunteers in the collection and collation of visitor data.
- Analyse and report on visitor data to the Director.
Marketing
- Assist with the promotion and marketing of the Museum and co-ordinate volunteers to assist in this task.
- Play a proactive role in keeping the Museum’s website up to date and support the development of our new website.
Other Duties
- Act as a key holder for the Museum.
- Actively support the Museum’s policies and procedures, andcomply with all Health and Safety at work requirements as laid down by the employer.
- Undertake such other duties as may be required by the Director.
PERSON SPECIFICATION
Qualifications
- A good level of secondary education is essential.
Essential skills and/or experience:
- Experience of delivering excellent customer service in a customer-facing role. This does not need to have been acquired in a museum or heritage environment.
- Experience of working in a team
- Good level of competence in Excel and Word
- Good keyboard skills
- Clear, accurate written English
- Good numeracy skills
PLUS EITHER
- Experience of working in a retail environment in a managerial role
OR
- Experience of managing volunteers or staff
Desirable
- Experience of retail selling and stock management
- Experience of developing merchandise ranges
- Experience of cash handling and basic accounting
- Experience of gathering and analysing visitor data
Essential attributes
- Engaging, warm and friendly individual
- Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to communicate with a diverse range of visitors in person and in writing.
- Highly organised and attentive to detail
- Ability to be self-motivated and work unsupervised
- Ability to work as part of a team
- Ability to think strategically
- Enthusiasm for history and visual culture
Probationary period
This post is subject to the requirements of a three-month probationary scheme.
Annual leave
The annual leave entitlement for this post is 25 days. The person in this post will share cover for Bank Holidays and out of hours events, for which leave in lieu will be given.
Confidentiality
All information concerning volunteers, employees and visitors must be treated as strictly confidential at all times.
Equal opportunities
It is the aim of Huguenot Museum to ensure that no job/role applicant or employee receives less favourable treatment on the grounds of age, sex, race, colour, religion, marital status, sexuality or disability; or, is not placed at a disadvantage by conditions or requirements which cannot be shown to be justifiable. Each employee/volunteer must adhere to the equal opportunities policy and ensure that diversity is valued in the workplace.
Health an safety
Employees must be aware of the responsibilities placed on them under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, and to ensure that agreed safety procedures are carried out and to maintain a safe environment for volunteers, employees and visitors.
Review of this job description
This job description is intended as an outline indicator of general areas of activity and will be amended in the light of the changing needs of the Huguenot Museum. This job description is to be reviewed in conjunction with the post holder on an annual basis as part of the appraisal process. It is expected that the post holder will be as positive and flexible as possible using this document as a framework.
Application Process
Please send:
A CV of no more than 2 A4 sides.
A covering letter outlining your relevant experience, qualifications and suitability for the post. In your letter please refer to each point in the Person Specification.
Sent to:director@huguenotmuseum.org by midnight on Sunday 23 August 2020.
In addition, please send the names and contact details of two referees, one to be your current employer.
Applications which do not comply with these requirements will not be considered. Please don’t send a CV longer than 2 sides and please refer to the Person Specification in your covering letter. No applications after this date will be considered. The interview date will be Monday 7 September.
If you would like an informal conversation about this role please contact the Director, Dr Dinah Winch on director@huguenotmuseum.org.