AddressSummary
Historic England are working with partners Shropshire Council to bring Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings, home of the world’s first iron framed building, back in to use for a third century. A grant of £20.7 million from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, as well as funding from the Marches Local Enterprise Partnership via its Growth Deal with Government, has enabled the second stage of the project to progress and the site opened to the public on 10 September 2022. The visitor attraction is run by Historic England (Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings) Ltd, a trading company which Historic England has set up to manage the visitor operations, volunteer activity and to deliver the Activity Plan, which focuses on engaging the local community with the site.
We are offering two site-based work placements to help support the visitor experience at Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings. Participants will have the opportunity to be part of Historic England’s flagship project, working with the Flaxmill Maltings Project Team. These roles are supported through The National Lottery Heritage Fund thanks to National Lottery players.
We are looking for applicants who have great communication and team-working skills and an interest in visitor operations within a heritage context. If that sounds like you, this placement will be a brilliant opportunity to gain experience in visitor services and working with volunteers on an industrial heritage site. Along with valuable experience there will be training in health & safety, heritage interpretation, collections management, historic research and marketing as well as opportunities for personal development. Training will be carried out with site operational staff and Historic England specialist employees.
The work placement will be part time, working 4 days in 7 including regular weekend or evening work.
The placement opportunities will run for 24 weeks starting in the Spring of 2024. A bursary will be paid to the successful candidates.
You may need a DBS check, and you’ll need to demonstrate your right to work in the UK.
What you will be doing
This placement will offer the opportunity to:
- Carry out a variety of tasks to support the running of the visitor centre, including welcoming visitors, ticket sales, fire marshalling and acting as duty manager.
- Gain experience in a public-facing role, with some supervisory responsibilities.
- Gain experience of working with, co-ordinating and managing volunteers.
- Undertake training in health and safety, customer service, use of electronic point of sale (EPOS) and ticketing software, as well as further optional training to develop your skills.
- Undertake training in heritage interpretation both through work with the staff team on site and formal learning appropriate to your experience. Support ongoing development such as temporary exhibition, development of interpretative materials and text.
- Gain experience of collections management through working with the site team to support accession and cataloguing of the sites archive and wider collection. Carry out historic research on Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings, including archive visits to Shropshire Archives and the Soldiers of Shropshire Museum.
- Undertake training in marketing with the Arts Marketing Association and gain experience from working with the site staff team and Historic England marketing and comms team to manage marketing output including campaign planning, branding and digital media management.
- Through online training using iHasco there is also the opportunity to broaden your understanding of human resources and business compliance and personal development on topics like communication skills, emotional intelligence and mindfulness.
- Work closely with your placement supervisor and ensure that all work is undertaken in line with Historic England’s policies and rules.
- Be responsible for your own health and safety and that of others who may be affected.
- Be accountable for your own personal development by undertaking and completing required records, as outlined in the placement offer letter.
- You may be required to perform other duties or tasks as may be reasonably requested.
Who we are looking for
- Has good communication skills with a range of audiences
- Is comfortable taking on some supervisory responsibilities
- Can work calmly under pressure
- Has good IT skills and the ability to pick up new software
- Can work both independently and as part of a team
- Has an interest in the historic environment, museum or tourism sector
How to apply
Please read the work placement specification for further information. If you are interested in applying, please request an application form by contacting adrian.perks@shrewsburyflaxmillmaltings.co.uk
Applications must then be sent to adrian.perks@shrewsburyflaxmillmaltings.co.uk by 10am on Sunday 31 March 2024.
Please note you are not required to complete the Historic England Applied Recruitment forms.
Please follow the link for a full copy of the Heritage Assistant – Work Placement Specification
https://historicengland.org.uk/media/viepv11u/work-placement-specification-heritage-assistant.odt
Interviews are expected to be held during the week of 8 April 2024.
We are an equal opportunity employer which values diversity and inclusion. If you have a disability or neurodiversity, we would be happy to discuss reasonable adjustments to the job with you. Having just won the Gold Award from MIND, we also recognise the importance of a healthy work-life balance.
We particularly encourage applications from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic candidates and candidates with disabilities as they are underrepresented within Historic England at this level.
To ensure a fair and inclusive recruitment process for everyone the use of AI or automated tools is not permitted.
Job Types: Part-time, Temporary contract
Salary: £1.00 per hour
Work Location: In person
