Address
Form of work
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The University
At Durham University we are proud of our people. A globally outstanding centre of educational excellence, a collegiate community of extraordinary people, a unique and historic setting – Durham is a university like no other.
Across the University we have a huge variety of roles and career opportunities, which together make us a large and successful community, which is a key hub of activity within our region and nationally. Whether you are at the very start, middle or end of your career, there is a role for you. We believe everyone has their own unique skills to offer.
We would be thrilled if you would consider joining our thriving University. Further information about the University can be found here
The Role and Department
This is a great opportunity to work in our amazing museums and UNESCO World Heritage Site buildings. Our Customer Services Coordinators (Visitor Attractions) are essential to ensuring our visitors are provided with an excellent, memorable visitor experience and managing our Visitor Services Assistants and volunteers. You will be customer focused and confident speaking with people, sharing information and answering enquiries. Activities will include visitor experience, retail operations, social media, scheduling, event booking, recruitment, data reporting, events and activities.
You will be proactive in ensuring the safety and security of our visitors, collections and our buildings in which we work. You will support events such as exhibition openings, school visits and community engagement activities. You will have responsibility for recruiting, training, scheduling, monitoring and supervising our staff and volunteers to ensure excellent service delivery. You will be part of the front-line service team, and spend regular time on the Welcome Desks, as well as responding to email and online enquiries.
You will work across our different venues and sites; primarily at the Oriental Museum and Palace Green Library, which is home to the World Heritage Site visitor centre, Cosin’s Library, the Museum of Archaeology and the Castle. As part of the Customer Services team, you will work collaboratively and support wider Customer Services operations as needed, including the University Library.
Visitor Services is part of the Customer Services team within the University Library and Collections (ULC) department, leading on customer experience across our libraries and Visitor Attractions. ULC provide spaces, collections, expertise and services (in person and online) across our collections, museums, libraries and archives; supporting education, research, the wider student experience, cultural, engagement and educational outreach.
This is a full-time, all year post. There is some opportunity for hybrid working, although the expectation is for the greater part of your work to be onsite. Your contract will be to work 5 days in 7, with a regular weekend day. Your core working hours will be c.8.30/9am to 4.30/5pm. Flexibility to work occasional evenings to support week late night opening and evenings is required. Some Bank Holiday working will be expected.
Further information about the role and the responsibilities is at the bottom of this job description.
A competitive salary is only one part of the many fantastic benefits you will receive if you join the University: you will also receive access to the following fantastic benefits:
- 27 Days annual leave per year in addition to 8 public holidays and 4 customary days per year – a total of 39 days per year.
- No matter how you travel to work, we have you covered. We have parking across campus, a cycle to work scheme which helps you to buy a bike and discount with local bus and train companies.
- Lots of support for health and wellbeing including discounted membership for our state of the art sport and gym facilities and access to a 24-7 Employee Assistance Programme.
- On site nursery is available and access to holiday camps for children aged 5-16 throughout the year.
- Family friendly policies, including maternity and adoption leave, which are among the most generous in the higher education sector (and likely above and beyond many employers).
- There is a genuine commitment to developing our colleagues professionally and personally. There is a comprehensive range of development courses, apprenticeships and access to qualifications and routes to develop your career in the University. All staff have dedicated annual time to concentrate on their personal development opportunities.
- The opportunity to take part in staff volunteering activities to make a difference in the local community
- Discounts are available via our benefits portal including; money off at supermarkets, high street retailers, IT products such as Apple, the cinema and days out at various attractions.
- We offer generous pension schemes.
Durham University is committed to equality, diversity and inclusion
Our collective aim is to create an open and inclusive environment where everyone can reach their full potential and we believe our staff should reflect the diversity of the global community in which we work. As a University equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) are a key part of the University’s Strategy and a central part of everything we do. We also live by our values and our Staff Code of Conduct. At Durham we actively work towards providing an environment where our staff and students can study, work and live in a community which is supportive and inclusive. It’s important to us that all of our colleagues are aligned to both our values and commitment to EDI.
We welcome and encourage applications from members of groups who are under-represented in our work force including people with disabilities, women and black, Asian and minority ethnic communities. If you have taken time out of your career, and you feel it relevant, let us know about it in your application. If you are a candidate with a disability, we are committed to ensuring fair treatment throughout the recruitment process. We will make adjustments to support the interview process wherever it is reasonable to do so and, where successful, reasonable adjustments will be made to support people within their role.
What you need to demonstrate when you apply/Person Specification
When you apply it is important that you let us know what skills/experience you have from a similar role and/or what skills/experience you have which would make you right for this role. Further information about the role and responsibilities is at the end of this job description. Where a criteria has an asterisk* next to it, it may be given additional weighting when your application is considered.
Your application should cover the following criteria:
Essential Criteria
Qualifications/Experience
Skills/Abilities/Knowledge
Desirable Criteria
1. Experience of service delivery in a visitor attraction environment
2. Experience of working with and/or supervising volunteers.
3. Experience of generating social media content and using social media in a work environment
How to apply
To progress to the assessment stage, candidates must evidence each of the essential criteria required for the role in the person specification above. Where there are desirable criteria we would also urge you to provide any relevant evidence. Please don’t forget to check if there is any weighted criteria (see above).
While some criteria will be considered at the shortlisting stage, other criteria may be considered later in the assessment process, such as questions at interview.
Submitting your application
We prefer to receive applications online. We will update you about your application at various points during the process, via automated emails from our e-recruitment system. Please check your spam/junk folder periodically to ensure you receive all emails
What you are required to submit:
- A CV
- A supporting statement which shows examples of how you meet all of the criteria within the Person Specification and why you are interested in this post
Contact details
If you would like to have a chat or ask any questions about the role, Rob Harrison, Assistant Customer Services Manager – Visitor Attractions would be happy to speak to you. mail Rob at robert.a.harrison@durham.ac.uk
Typical Role Requirements
Service Delivery
- Show a commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion and the University’s values.
- Supervise the implementation of changes to procedures and practices relating to your service area.
- Respond to queries and provide information/advice, while raising more specialist or complex queries with more experienced team members.
- Use your experience and problem-solving skills to investigate and resolve issues relevant to your role such as failure of booking systems, statistic gathering, operational processes, and make recommendations based on your findings.
- Enhance Durham University’s reputation by providing support to the planning and running of internal and external outreach activities/events.
- Monitor and analyse data to ensure efficiency and effectiveness (eg staffing levels, equipment, retail sales, social media) and report your findings to senior colleagues.
- Continually review what is required from visitors, colleagues and other stakeholders to make sure the best possible service is provided.
- Ensure that information used to analyse of visitor services is accurate and provide reports and analysis to senior colleagues.
- Ensure that data and information is accurate and share reports with internal networks.
Planning and Organising
- Plan and organise own workload and the activities of other team members to deliver the role.
- Organise and schedule assigned resources, activities and events, including staff and volunteer rotas.
- Contribute to planning the operational priorities of your team and make suggestions to senior colleagues on how to improve the service.
- Monitor processes and activities to ensure team priorities are met.
- Help manage and coordinate audience data collection, retail operations, social media, communications, events (eg World Heritage Day) and other activities.
Teamwork and Team Development
- Coordinate, supervise and delegate tasks to other members of the team, including volunteers and make sure that they are completed.
- Explain systems and procedures to new starters and provide specialist advice and guidance (including any training) to help less experienced team members and volunteers carry out their role.
- Contribute to performance review processes by providing feedback on individual and team objectives and expectations and considering any development needs.
- Provide specialist support and advice to team members on areas of expertise including visitor services procedures, operations and functions, attraction history and knowledge, ensuring accuracy of information passed onto visitors.
- Implement agreed changes to the services provided by your team in discussion with other team members.
- Identify opportunities and contribute to decisions on how to improve services being delivered by the team.
- Seek feedback from visitors, students, staff, volunteers and external monitoring bodies on their requirements from your service and recommend improvements to senior colleagues.
Communications/Liaison
- Update and apply changes to processes and procedures.
- Use your knowledge and expertise to provide advice and guidance to resolve problems and respond to a wide range of queries.
- Create good working relationships with other team members, stakeholders and anyone else that you come across as part of your role to work together on joint activities.
- Liaise with colleagues across teams to ensure that services are being delivered in an efficient and collaborative way
- Record information such health and safety reporting, booking for events, activities taking place, change in service operations and share with internal partners.
- Create good working relationships with internal and external partners and suppliers to work together on joint initiatives.
- Build relationships with contacts to share good practice and exchange information.
- Use creative and engaging ways to communicate and promote information about services, events and offer to visitors, prospective visitors and stake holders using multiple channels and opportunities.
- Develop and provide tours, activities and inductions for visitors, staff and contractors as required.
- Any other reasonable duties.
Please note that in submitting your application Durham University will be processing your data. We would ask you to consider the relevant University Privacy Statement Privacy Notices - Durham University which provides information on the collation, storing and use of data.
When appointing to this role the University must ensure that it meets any applicable immigration requirements, including salary thresholds which are applicable to some visas.
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