Museum Associate 2019 Job Description
The Museum Associate (MA) provides positive and friendly customer service for all visitors to the museum. This important role performs duties at the front desk, provides educational interaction with visitors throughout the museum, and supervises volunteers on duty. The MA facilitates safety and security in the museum at all times. This position reports to both the Education Coordinator.
DAILY ACTIVITIES
Responsible for daily activity of the museum: visitor relations, cash handling, and sales transactions; basic daily bookkeeping, gift shop sales, restocking supplies, animal care, and maintenance; general cleaning and maintenance of the museum, classrooms, and shared employee spaces; and daily inspection, routine maintenance, and resetting of exhibits.
- Facilitates a positive and educational experience for guests by maintaining cleanliness and a positive attitude.
- Facilitates safety and security. Reports and documents all incidents and accidents to the supervisors.
- Manages cash, checks, and credit card transactions in a fast-paced environment.
- Is knowledgeable about our camps, programs, membership, and policies.
- Maintains an accurate report on activities, program attendees, and completed MA tasks.
- Assists with field trips, birthday parties, programs, and events.
- Assists with summer camps and other educational programs as requested.
- Performs opening and closing duties when required. Secures all doors upon leaving.
- Participates in cleaning the museum and exhibit repairs, reporting as needed to the supervisor.
- Communicates messages, phone calls, emails, and/or visits accurately.
- Attends all staff meetings and assigned special events.
- Other duties as assigned.
KEY AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY
- Customer Service: Providing a friendly environment to the museum experience throughout the visit. Including greeting visitors, answering phone calls, cash handling, and helping guests with any questions they may have.
- Animal Care: Humane sanitary daily care of the resident animals, including feeding, daily cleaning, and weekly cleaning as assigned.
- Birthday Parties: Staffing and facilitating birthday parties, helping patrons and guests with the event. Delivering birthday party programming for the event.
- Field Trips: Leading educational field trips in the museum as assigned and trained.
- Chores: Completing daily chores for museum maintenance and documenting completion of all chores.
- Documentation: Accurate and thorough documentation of program registration activity, museum records, sales, and other internal files in print and electronically as needed.
- Special Events: Staffing special events as assigned both at and away from the Museum.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Prior experience educationally working with kids.
- Interest in science, education, the arts, and museum studies.
- Previous cash handling experience.
- Excellent communication skills and ability to interact positively with children, adults, and large groups.
- Ability to react positively to a rapidly changing environment and make good decisions under pressure.
- Ability to work with diverse staff and visitors.
- Basic skills in construction and maintenance.
The MA position starts at $9.25/hour. The time requirement is approximately 15 hours/week with opportunities for additional hours. Weekend availability required. Hire is contingent on a clean official background check. Please call the Orpheum Children’s Science Museum at (217) 352-5895 or email xander@orpheumkids.com for more information.