Attractions Assistant

Job Purpose

Attraction Assistant - Fixed Term until 31 March 2025

Working Hours: 37 hours per week Monday - Sunday rota.

Based: National Waterways Museum (Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, Cheshire CH65 4FW)

Did you know some episodes of Peaky Blinders were filmed at the National Waterways Museum in Ellesmere Port, as well as Tolkien's The Hobbit & The Antiques Roadshow?

This iconic venue is full of charm and wonder, but also houses a fascinating national collection of objects and archives not found anywhere else in the country. Amongst its many buildings, you will find working machines, recreated cottages, a working blacksmith, lots of boats, and a warm and cosy coffee shop. We are quite unique and are on a mission to ensure that all our visitors have a fantastic welcome and a memorable visit, and that is where the Attraction Assistants excel. We are looking to recruit two dynamic and welcoming colleagues into the team, to ensure that every visitor has a memorable experience.

As an Attraction Assistant you will be part of a team working across different departments of retail, food and beverage, as well as being that wonderful warm human being that welcomes everyone they see and tries at all costs to make sure that every visit is memorable. The role is incredibly diverse and may include welcoming tour groups, selling popular merchandise, assisting with events and activities, making a delicious cappuccino & tasty sausage butty, directing families around the site, 'workdays' with the team, selling ice cream, liaising with boaters, dressing up in traditional costume, assisting with demonstrations and working very closely with volunteers and the archives team... the list goes on. It can be very diverse but there are not many people that can say that they work is such an iconic site. We plan to run most days of the week throughout the season, so you'll be scheduled on a rota with the rest of your team.

Find out more about our National Waterways Museum (Ellesmere Port) here: National-waterways-museum

If you care about ensuring a memorable visitor experience at either location, we'd love to hear from you.

Please identify which attraction & specific role you are applying for as you apply.

The Canal & River Trust is one of the UK's largest charities, we maintain 2,000 miles of historic canals, rivers, docks and reservoirs, along with museums, archives and the country's third largest collection of protected historic buildings - preserving them for future generations. Find our more about us by visiting our website here https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/about-us

Knowledge, Skills/Qualifications & Experience

About the role

Shift rotas are scheduled and provided in advance. Weekend & bank holiday working should be expected. Full training & uniforms will be provided.

Responsibilities of the role will include:

• Provide a warm welcome and a positive customer experience whether this be serving in the café, providing expert knowledge about the attraction, selling retail items or supporting an activity at an event, ensuring every visitor feels welcomed and is keen to return after a memorable visit, through great engagement & service
• Ensure that customer excellence is a priority at all times - being approachable and helpful in responding quickly to questions and dealing with enquiries, particularly when on the welcome desk, or by phone/email
• Actively participate in the promotion and delivery of special events to continually aim to increase visitor numbers and their experience
• Flexible approach to the rota to work across departments involving café, retail and admissions/welcome desk & conferences.
• Work as a team to ensure retail and catering stock is kept up to date, replaced, recorded and help to prepare any stocktaking counts.
• Support the team with general administrative duties that arise throughout the day such as distributing post, receiving and recording general deliveries

About you

You'll know just how important an exciting and fun day out is for our visitors and for the success of our attraction. You'll understand how the role you play in every customer contact can really have an impact on their enjoyment of their visit to us - whether holiday, special event, educational day out or quick visit for with friends. You're able to commit to work to an agreed working pattern (part time) so that the team can plan and ensure we are there for our visitors each day, and you can offer some flexibility when needed from time to time. Opportunity to tap into your creativity and imagination may also arise when we are planning events and programmes together as a team, always looking for new ways to attract new and returning visitors, and to offer a great fun visit every time.

Skills & Experiences:

• You may have some relevant experience in a similar customer facing environment (e.g retail, hospitality), however more importantly, you can demonstrate you understand what a great customer experience is
• basic IT skills - using Microsoft Office email & Internet , and willing to learn our systems
• demonstrate excellent interpersonal skills - courteous and helpful
• ability to work well under pressure during busy periods and thrive on a busy working environment
• attention to detail
• ability to prioritise tasks and manage workload
• Level 2 Food Hygiene

We need strong and inclusive team players who value & support colleagues and our many volunteers - you will love to get involved whether it's a visitor activity, event or pulling together to meet a tight deadline.

If you'd love to work in a unique, fun and engaging busy visitor attraction with a pretty special iconic status, then we'd love to hear from you.

As multiple roles are available we will be interviewing candidates whilst vacancy is open.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to get in contact with one of the recruitment team at CRT.recruitment@canalrivertrust.org.uk . We look forward to hearing from you.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient suitable applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.

What We Offer

These are part time, fixed term positions, and your salary will be based on a full time equivalent annual rate of £23,260, to be paid pro-rata per actual hours worked, we offer a generous pension scheme and other benefits. Further details can be found here (https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/about-us/work-for-us/our-benefits).

At the Trust we care passionately for our waterways, and as importantly, for those who look after and use them. We strongly believe that a diverse workforce brings with it a diversity of ideas, thinking and ways of working which enhances what we do as a Trust. We are striving to represent the diverse communities that we are a part of. All candidates will be treated on the basis of their merits, skills and abilities and solely by being assessed against the requirements for the job. Many of our vacancies can be considered for people who wish to work flexibly, job share or part time.

Find out more about the work we do and opportunities we have on our website: https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/about-us

You will be working with a friendly caring team to deliver an very important service offering our customers across the waterway a positive experience and a desire to return. Get involved in organising and delivering great, fun events that spread knowledge and understanding of the Canal & River Trust and the great work we do.]]>