Museum & Tour Customer Services Supervisor

The All England Lawn Tennis Club and Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum wish to appoint a Museum & Tour Customer Services Supervisor.

The Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum is an award-winning sports museum of international importance. It possesses a rich collection of sporting equipment, tennis fashions and player memorabilia, trophies, decorative arts and fine art.  The acclaimed behind the scenes tour of the grounds is available to individuals and organised groups.

The Museum & Tour Customer Services Supervisor has day-to-day responsibility for ensuring visitors have the best possible Museum and Tour experience.  Duties include overseeing bookings, organising facilities and liaising with the public.

The ideal candidate will have worked in customer service and administrative roles, preferably with previous experience in the hospitality/tourism industry. 

The post is a one-year fixed-term contract.

How to apply

To apply, send your cv or application form and covering letter to: Kate Lynam, Personnel Department, The All England Lawn Tennis Club (Championships) Limited, Church Road, London, SW19 5AE.  Applications to be received by 22 February 2013. 

Download application form

The All England Lawn Tennis Club (Championships) Limited is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applicants from all sections of the community.  Appointments are made on merit.

Job description

Title                :           Museum & Tour Customer Services Supervisor

Reports to      :           Museum Commercial Manager

Job Purpose   :           Day to day responsibility for the smooth running of the Museum and Tour, including

• Acting as first-line contact between the Museum and the public
• Responding to, and resolving, situations as they arise
• Ensuring that all facilities required by the public are available and in a presentable condition
• Ensuring all parts of the ground used by the tour are cleaned, lit and safe
• Maintaining operational staffing at the correct level
• Striving to give the best possible visitor experience to Museum and Tour visitors

Main Responsibilities

1.      Operational Responsibility for the Museum and Tour

• Ensure that the Museum runs effectively on a day to day basis with the correct facilities available to the public and that the Tour runs efficiently and with maximum capacity
• Book and co-ordinate Guides, Tour Assistants, and welcome staff
• Liaise with all outside parties to ensure that facilities required by the public such as toilets, café, shop etc are cleaned to the appropriate standard and easily accessible to all visitors
• Facilitate the operational needs of the Museum at peak times including key weekends, and during the tournament
• Brief and co-ordinate temporary staff in the Museum during The Championships
• Organise and facilitate the smooth operation of corporate events in the Museum

2.      Guided Tours and Museum visits

• Manage the Blue Badge Guides on a daily basis
• Organise Blue Badge Guides’ rota for daily and group tours with the help of the designated Blue Badge Guide on a monthly basis to ensure there are no problems with availability
• Welcome Red Letter Day groups and private tours
• Recruit more guides when needed to train for the tour, in particular those with the necessary language skills
• Ensure that tour assistants carry out their roles effectively and supervise them as required
• Inform café in advance of group tour numbers
• Liaise with security and the gates for entry arrangements
• Arrange tours of the grounds for VIPs as appropriate
• Review operational levels daily so see if more Tours are required at short notice
• Assess tour trading in the longer term and forward plan the schedule as the business grows.
• Monitor the Winter weather route if required and co-ordinate its clearance with the Buildings & Services Department

3.      Wimbledon Shop at the Museum

• Work with shop staff to ensure the best possible visitor experience
• Liaise with shop managers and supervisors and review trading
• Discuss operational and service matters and work with shop staff to improve the customer experience
• When needed, welcome tours and facilitate their booking-in process

4.      Accounts

• Verify and pass for payment guides’ invoices

5.      General

• Supervise Museum & Tour Administrative Assistant
• Co-ordinate with the Administrative Assistant  to ensure adequate staffing
• Answer emails on a daily basis including the Museum account when the Administrative Assistant  is absent
• Keep and update a spreadsheet of daily tour numbers
• Distribute incoming post and frank all outgoing post in the absence of the Administrative Assistant
• Maintain a good filing system both manual and computerised
• General troubleshooting and issue resolving
• Arrange general and temporary signage

6.      Championships

• Day to day operational responsibility for ensuring the Museum runs smoothly during the tournament including ensuring early opening for film crews, and monitoring and controlling attendance levels particularly on wet days
• Extended working hours will be required over this period (13 days of The Championships) and additional days will also need to be worked

7.      Health and Safety and Accessibility

• Ensure health and safety policies and accessibility guidelines for disabled visitors are followed

8.      Work Requirements

• There is normally a five day, 35 hour week including every other weekend from April (or from Easter, if earlier) to September.  There will be some weekend or Saturday/Sunday working at other busy times of the year (eg half-term weekends)
• Some evening work will be required when corporate events take place in the Museum
• Any other activity requested by the Museum Commercial Manager or Museum Curator within the scope of the job

Person specification

TITLE:                      Museum & Tour Customer Services Supervisor

REPORTS TO:         Museum Commercial Manager

• A level standard of education
• Fluent in English 
• Foreign language skills an advantage
• Relevant qualification related to hospitality/tourism industry

Previous Experience

• Customer service role – professionally answering queries and resolving problems on the phone, by e-mail and face-to-face
• Relevant tourism or hospitality industry experience 
• Experience of dealing with people who do not have English as a first language

Abilities, Skills, Knowledge

• Excellent administrative and organisational skills
• Numerate
• Fast and efficient processing of tasks, including filing once completed
• High level of competence in Microsoft Word, Excel and Outlook, including fast and accurate typing skills; familiarity with working online
• Attention to detail
• Proactive approach
• Self-motivated with the ability to work well independently as well as part of a team; willing to help others
• A practical mindset and good problem solving skills
• Enjoys challenges
• Good spoken and written communication; tactful with the ability to listen

Interests

• An interest in museums and tennis history would be advantageous 

Other Relevant Factors:

• Post is a one-year fixed term contract
• Basic working hours are 9.00am-5.00pm although flexibility is necessary to meet operational requirements.  A five day working week will include alternate weekends from Easter to the end of September, and there will be some Saturday/Sunday working at other times of the year. 
• The job will involve walking around the Museum and grounds to check facilities, tour route, meet visitors etc.