Box Office Assistant

Closing date 10:00 Monday 15 April 2024
Interview date: Monday 6 and Tuesday 7 May 2024
Start date: Thursday 25 July 2024
End date: Monday 26 August 2024
Location: Office based, central Edinburgh

Background

The idea at the heart of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe is simple: anyone with a desire to perform and a venue willing to host them is welcome. No individual or committee determines who can or cannot perform at the Fringe.
It all began in 1947 with eight companies – six of them from Scotland – taking a risk, turning up uninvited and performing on the ‘fringe’ of the inaugural Edinburgh International Festival. Over 75 years later, the Fringe has grown to become one of the greatest platforms for creative freedom in the world, second only to the Olympics in terms of global ticketed events. In 2023, 3,553 shows took place in 288 venues across Edinburgh.
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society was founded by artists to nurture and uphold the Fringe's values of inclusivity, experimentation and imagination. We exist to support, advise and encourage everyone who wants to participate in the Fringe, provide information and assistance to audiences, and celebrate the Fringe and what it stands for all over the world.

The primary responsibility of the Box Office Assistants is to sell tickets and deal with basic customer services enquires, both in person at the Fringe Box Office and over the phone in our dedicated call centre. Ideal candidates would be personable, enthusiastic and capable of providing a high level of customer service. This position reports to the Box Office Operations Manager.

Role and responsibilities

The successful candidate will perform a wide range of duties, including but not limited to:

• Selling tickets on a computerised ticketing system in person and by phone
• Dealing with general enquiries from customers regarding the festival
• Assisting the Customer Service Team with basic customer service tasks
• Following Fringe Box Office policies, procedures, and processes at all times
• Assisting with queue management to ensure the flow of customers through public facing areas of the Fringe Box Office is smooth and efficient
• Cash handling and reconciliation of till balances
• Becoming familiar with edfringe.com and the edfringe app to assist customers with queries relating to those ticket sales channels.

Person specification

Essential

• Excellent customer service skills when dealing with members of the public
• The ability to work in a team as well as using your own initiative
• The ability to work productively and consistently in a busy environment under pressure while responding to a variety of demands from customers and colleagues
• Good computer skills
• Good cash handling skills

Desirable

• Previous experience of working in a festival environment
• Previous Box Office experience.

Rate of pay and benefits

The rate of pay for this post is £12.00 per hour.

There are three contract options available for this role:

Contract 1:

• 35 hours worked over 5 days.
• Normal working pattern an 8-hour shift between 09:45 to 18:15, Monday to Sunday with a one-hour unpaid lunch break with 2 variable days off.

Contract 2:

• 21 hours over 3 days.
• Normal working pattern an 8-hour shift between 09:45 to 18:15, Monday to Sunday with a one-hour unpaid lunch break with set 4 days off.

Contract 3:

• 25 hours over 5 days.
• Normal working pattern is a 5-hour shift between 9:45 to 15:15, Monday to Sunday with 2 variable days off.

We use positive action under section 159 of the Equality Act in relation to disability or race. This means that if we have two candidates of equal merit in our process, we will seek to take forward the D/deaf, disabled, Black, Asian or ethnically diverse candidate in order to diversify our staff team.

Apply now

The Fringe have identified six pillars of commitment around the sustainable delivery of their work, are active members of the Festivals Edinburgh Sustainability Working group and include climate action as one of the headline targets in the Fringe development goals. As part of the commitments of this work, all Fringe staff members are expected to assist with the Fringe Society’s environmental goals and consider these in all elements of your work.

We are an equal opportunity employer and welcome applications from all sectors of the community. We are also proud to be a Disability Confident Employer and aim to successfully employ and retain disabled people and those with health conditions. We expect employees to support these commitments and to assist in their realisation.

Application deadline: 15th April, 2024