Museum Assistant

Job Introduction

Role Purpose

Would you like to join the Front of House team at the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum?

The Front of House team run the public facing side of the museum on a daily basis, taking responsibility for customer care, cleaning and security. We are a busy, friendly team. We combine practical skills with our interest in providing excellent experiences for our visitors and our love of working in an historic house.

You will welcome visitors, process admission, sell shop items, as well as clean behind the scenes and in the museum. You will be adaptable, and happy to balance the physical task of cleaning with great customer service skills.

We are open six days a week, and the Front of House team works shifts to cover each day. This is a casual role, with no guarantee of hours, but we would anticipate approximately 10 hours per week to start with including Sundays. Availability of hours will fluctuate throughout the year. 

This role is all about creating exceptional, unforgettable experiences for every one of our visitors – it can be a busy and physical job, but a very rewarding one.

Main Responsibilities

Provide a warm welcome to all our visitors at the welcome desk assisting with enquiries and helping to ensure the visitor experience meets expectations

Sell admissions and memberships through the electronic till, whilst providing orientation information at the welcome desk

Undertake cleaning in the historic house and wider museum areas to the museum standard

Process advance bookings by email and phone and undertake reception duties, directing phone calls and messages

Undertake retail duties at the welcome desk, making sales, up-selling, re-stocking and cashing up at the end of the day

Help generate income for the charity through actively seeking gift-aided donations and participating in fundraising initiatives

Assist the Visitor Services Assistant with museum security through monitoring CCTV, patrolling and by following museum security protocols to ensure the security of the building

Help conserve the historic house and collections through good conservation practices including encouraging visitors to leave large bags and wet coats at reception

To assist visitors with special access requirements and to welcome all our diverse visitors

To be aware of the Health and Safety issues and to assist with fire evacuation

Assist with the handling and porterage of all deliveries to the museum and to assist with porterage of museum collections as directed

Help provide sickness, emergency or absence cover for the roster, particularly weekends, and to be available to carry out evening duties for functions and events held at the museum and on a pre-arranged basis

The Ideal Candidate

The ideal candidate will demonstrate the following: 

Proven experience of working directly with the public, with excellent customer care and communication skills

Knowledge of Health and Safety practices at Work

Ability to work alone yet to be a positive team player within the Front of House team

Cash handling skills

Ability to carry out simple administrative duties, including basic computer skills and retail duties

Ability to carry out regular cleaning duties to a high standard and working with fragile objects, to climb stairs, to be on one’s feet for long periods of time and to lift heavy items

Ability to be flexible and adaptable in responding to different job demands, and to work different work patterns including evening work, bank holidays and regular weekends

Attention to appearance and standard of uniform

Passionate and motivated to be part of a team that looks after a unique historic house and collection

For an informal discussion about this role, please contact Ruaidhri O'Mahony at ruaidhri.o'mahony@bcpcouncil.gov.uk 

About BCP Council

BCP Council provides services to a diverse community of 400,000 residents and employs more than 5,000 people. Our area includes over 15 miles of beautiful world-renowned coastline. We can offer career defining roles to transform and improve services. By working with us, you can help deliver a vision of a thriving, word-class, prosperous and inclusive place for generations to come.

Our Benefits

We offer an excellent benefits package to colleagues. Find out more on our website

As a result of the creation of BCP Council in 2019, we are working on simplifying our terms and conditions of service and will be creating a single pay structure which is to be applicable for all employees. It is important to us that we offer benefits that our colleagues value as part of their total employment package and we are reviewing these to make sure we have it right. We have been in a process of collective bargaining since 2019 and have positively worked forward to reach an agreed position with the unions for the new contractual offer. This has taken longer than we hoped and therefore we are having to consider all alternative avenues available to enable us to remove inequality in the organisation as a result of bringing together 3 councils. 

We are in the process of establishing a timescale for implementation, and all colleagues joining us will be included in these changes. We want to reassure everyone that whichever route is taken to reach the new terms and conditions, we can honour continuous service and there will not be any job reduction as a result of the implementation of Pay and Reward.  If you have any questions at all about this process, please feel free to raise this with the hiring manager.