Front-of-House Visitor Assistants

Volunteer ready to welcome visitors

Summary of the Role

Are you interested in heritage, history or London's waterways? Or looking to learn more?
Would you like the opportunity to meet new people, keep active, and share your enthusiasm for the history and waterways of London with thousands of visitors a year?
Would you like to develop your skills in customer service, team work, communication and other key workplace skills?
Or perhaps you'd like experience of working in the tourism or heritage sectors, engaging with visitors and exhibitions?

You'll be able to gain all of this and more by volunteering at London Canal Museum.

Our Front of House volunteers welcome visitors, look after the museum building and bring the stories of London's canals and the people who worked on them alive to make visiting the museum a memorable experience for all visitors.

If you are outgoing, proactive and reliable and can spare one or two regular days (9.45am-4.45pm) a month for at least 6 months, we would love to hear from you. We are especially looking for people with availability on Fridays, Saturdays or Sundays.

We provide lunch and travel expenses, as well as volunteer socials, discounted entry to the museum and its events, and induction and training.

Our museum is accessible to individuals who have limited mobility and we are very happy to make all reasonable adjustments to ensure that someone can volunteer with us. We enthusiastically welcome volunteers from all backgrounds.

See also: Front-of-house role description (PDF)

As a Front-of-House Volunteer you would:

Staff the reception desk, welcoming visitors and collecting admission charges
Staff the shop, selling books and souvenirs to adults and accompanied children
Keep the shop and exhibitions tidy during the day
Make tea/coffee for groups of adults when required
Deal with a wide range of customer and public enquiries, passing them on to others in the team where appropriate.

To be successful in the role you will need to be:

A team player, able to work with a variety of colleagues
A person of smart appearance, an ambassador for the museum
A person who has the maturity, motivation, and capability to take on the responsibility of ensuring that the museum is open on time for our visitors
A person who can take a proactive approach to their role

You will also have:

Interpersonal skills for dealing with people
Ability to work accurately with cash
Ability to learn and use a simple computer-based till system and other building services
Good verbal communication skills (in English), including pleasant telephone manner. Note that although the role offers a good opportunity to practice English language skills, we do not offer language training.

An interest in museums, canals, or industrial heritage is a distinct advantage

Training will be provided in following areas:

Museum opening and closing procedures
How to use the till and banking procedures
Our emergency procedures, e.g. how to wind a lift if it is stuck
Health Safety, and safeguarding

Additional opportunities

There are also additional opportunities to get involved with other activities which happen in the museum, for example:

Be trained to give short talks to adult groups
Take part in special events, such as Museum at Night, Halloween and Canalway Cavalcade canal festival

What could you get out of volunteering with us:

Different people want to get different things out of volunteering at the museum. Some of the benefits of volunteering at the museum are:

Contributing something to the community by helping in the work of the museum
Helping to keep a part of our heritage for future generations
Enjoying meeting a wide variety of visitors from all over the world
Gaining experience and building confidence
We provide initial and on-going training
Retired volunteers keep active and enjoy new experience

What are the hours and length of commitment?

Ideally you will be able to volunteer for at least one regular day per fortnight.
The museum needs to be open by 1000 and therefore, we require a volunteer to be at the museum by 0945 at the latest
The museum closes to visitors at 1630 and volunteers usually leave between 1645 and 1700, depending on how long it takes them to close down the museum correctly and securely.
The only day we are closed (but not unstaffed) is Monday
We are also looking for relief staff who will not have a regular day but who will fill in on a flexible basis to cover for holidays, sickness etc. We try and operate as flexibly as possible, and shifts are planned to suit both our volunteers and the museum needs.
It is difficult for us to accommodate volunteers who only wish to volunteer for a couple of weeks or for a couple of hours per week.

If you are interested in volunteering at the museum, please contact the Volunteering and Training Manager: volunteering@canalmuseum.org.uk, stating which role you are interested in and why you wish to volunteer with us, along with your CV and details of your availability.