Visitor Services Supervisor

Hands On Children's Museum; Olympia (WA); On-site; USD 80,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

Join a nationally recognized children's museum that inspires curiosity and creativity in young minds. As a Visitor Services Supervisor, you'll be the first point of contact for visitors, ensuring a welcoming experience while managing front desk operations. This role offers the chance to lead a dedicated team, promote museum programs, and foster a positive environment for families. With a focus on exceptional customer service, you'll play a key role in achieving sales goals and enhancing visitor engagement. If you're passionate about education and community service, this is the perfect opportunity to make a difference!

Benefits

Medical Insurance

Dental Insurance

Vision Insurance

Employee Wellness Program

Paid Holidays

401(k) Retirement Plan

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree preferred; relevant experience may substitute.
• Experience supervising staff of 3 or more is required.
• Excellent customer service skills and cash handling experience.

Responsibilities

• Supervise Visitor Services staff and ensure exceptional customer service.
• Manage daily front desk operations and staff scheduling.
• Communicate effectively with management and resolve customer issues.

Skills

Customer Service

Supervision

Cash Handling

Communication Skills

Problem Solving

Education

Bachelor’s Degree

Tools

Microsoft Outlook

Microsoft Word

Microsoft Excel

Microsoft PowerPoint

Blackbaud Altru

Job description

Description

Status: Full-time. Core schedule Tuesday-Saturday, plus as needed for evening or weekend programs, museum events, and other staffing needs.

Wages: $23-$25/hour DOQ

About Hands On:

The Hands On Children’s Museum is located on the picturesque East Bay waterfront in downtown Olympia. We are a nationally known family learning destination and the most visited children’s museum in the Pacific Northwest, hosting more than 300,000 visitors each year. Our mission is to stimulate curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking skills through rich, interactive learning experiences. We believe that all children deserve respect and the opportunity to learn, regardless of their ability to pay, which is why the Museum works hard to serve more than one-third of its annual visitation through the Inspired Learning for All initiative. The Museum is recognized as a national Museum for All and won a Noyce Foundation Bright Lights Award for bringing art and science education to underserved populations.

Voted a “Best Place for Kids” for more than a decade, the Museum offers a state-of-the-art LEED Gold facility with 150 indoor exhibits, a half-acre Outdoor Discovery Center, Art Studio, a MakeSpace for tinkering and inventing, café and gift shop, and award-winning education programs including camps, workshops, preschool, parenting classes, field trips, community outreach and family support programs.

Position Overview:

Work for an award-winning Children’s Museum, voted a “Best Place for Kids” for more than a decade! As a member of the Visitor Services team, the Visitor Services Supervisor is a front-facing customer service supervisor position and is the first point of contact for Hands On Children’s Museum (HOCM) visitors. The position is responsible for promoting an exceptional customer experience while selling tickets, memberships, and store purchases. Also responsible for supervising staff in a positive way to reach desired outcomes. This position must effectively communicate information in person, through email, and over the phone. They facilitate a welcoming and positive experience for HOCM visitors by modeling HOCM's mission, vision, and values.

The Visitor Services Supervisor possesses a strong understanding of museum programs, operations, systems, and policies & procedures. Oversees daily Front Desk Operations in support of the Manager Front Desk & Reservations. This position assists the Front Desk Manager in providing orientation & training, creating schedules, and special projects. Provides active supervision and on-the-spot training to Visitor Services Front Desk Associates and Leads to ensure adherence to museum policies and procedures. Manages staff time efficiently to achieve exceptional customer service and safety for museum visitors, meet museum sales goals, and ensure accuracy in all areas of front desk operations. Communicates successes and issues to Front Desk Manager and escalates issues needing immediate attention to Manager on Duty and senior leadership.

Works with Database Director to ensure accurate Altru database entries and helps to establish, train, and monitor data entry standards, create reports, and oversee data cleanup. Assists Front Desk Manager in drafting and maintaining department systems and procedures. Solves customer service, staffing, or other issues. Works with Manager on Duty and other department managers to troubleshoot and resolve daily museum staffing or customer service issues.

Requirements

Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Bachelor’s Degree preferred, relevant work experience may substitute.
• Recent experience supervising staff of 3 or more.
• Excellent customer service skills required.
• Cash handling experience.
• Experience achieving and celebrating sales goals is a plus.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Excellent attention to detail, initiative, and problem-solving skills.

Excellent office and database skills, including:

• Proficiency with Microsoft Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• Experience with POS or database management systems -- Blackbaud Altru or Raiser’s Edge products preferred.
• Experience with a multi-line phone system.
• Excellent project coordination skills; multi-tasking and prioritizing.

Able to work:

• with individuals from a wide variety of ethnic, cultural, and economic backgrounds.
• independently with limited direction in a fast-paced, noisy environment with a great deal of flexibility.
• in a team setting with a high degree of daily communication required.
• Must care about and value the viewpoints of the other team members and the organizational mission.

Daily Museum Front Desk Operations

• Take the lead in front desk operations for the day:
• Ensure all FD/Res staff scheduled are on site or initiate follow-up call/substitution.
• Pre-plan required staff daily rest and meal breaks, and ensure minor work rules are strictly adhered to.
• Pre-plan line managing and gatekeeping as needed on weekends and busy days.
• Ensures security of the building by monitoring all activity in the lobby and ensuring all FD staff follow proper sign-in & safety procedures.
• Support Café as needed for Reception or lobby clean-up.
• Ensure the gift shop is maintained and that customer requests or other issues are resolved with the Gift Shop Coordinator or MOD.
• Lead daily morning “rally” with onsite staff to communicate program and staffing information to all onsite staff.
• Ensures sign-in sheets or other reservation department preparations are coordinated with the Reservations Coordinator for evening or next-day programs
• Update the recorded museum phone system.
• Will be assigned to research best practices and update procedures with the Front Desk & Reservations Manager
• Give tours or orientations as needed
• Observes and coaches staff, adds input to annual reviews for all FD staff.
• Ensure lobby and museum marketing signage are up at the correct time: signs, displays, flyers, or other ideas to increase sales

Communication

• Communicate with the management team for urgent situations/decisions as needed.
• Regularly checks and responds in a timely manner to emails and phone messages.
• Create a weekly report to the Front Desk Manager, citing department successes, challenges (and solutions), status of ongoing projects, and identify support or clarify expectations as needed.
• Help lead quarterly FD/Res Department Meeting.
• Attend All Staff meetings & other meetings as assigned – providing agenda items as needed.

Customer Service:

• Perform all customer service, ticketing, membership sales, and reservations as needed in support of front desk operations.
• Coach, counsel, motivate, and ensure the Reception and Reservations staff provide the highest level of customer service to Museum visitors.
• Ensure staff proactively greet visitors, explain the Museum floor plan, and educate visitors about available membership and programming options.
• Ensure multi-line phone system calls are answered by the third ring and messages are returned the same day.
• Encourage staff to learn “regular” member and program participant names
• Ensure staff clean and maintain café tables, front doors/entry of museum, front desk area, brochure racks, and coat/locker room in a clean, safe, and inviting manner
• Problem solve for unhappy customers.

Staff Scheduling, Supervision & Training

• Understand the front desk work schedule to ensure appropriate staffing coverage.
• Actively supervise Front Desk staff to establish priorities, progress, and quality of work.
• Request additional staff support if needed to serve customers in a timely way.
• Identify tasks for staff to use time productively, or cut staff hours as needed per visitation/workload.
• Documents less than satisfactory staff performance to the Front Desk Manager to determine next steps for follow-up counseling/documentation.
• Ensure all reservations, memberships, and daily sales reports are processed, and correspondence is double-checked for accuracy. Ensure all payments due are collected and accounted for.
• Ensure Front Desk staff communicate with Gallery Services Staff regarding upcoming party prep, last-minute reservations, or other impacts
• Assists in interviews as requested by Front Desk & Reservations Manager
• Executes training plans for new Front Desk staff utilizing the training plan/checklist as requested by the FD & Reservations Manager
• Provides input for annual performance reviews for FD staff, participates in performance reviews for other positions as requested by the management team
• Coach staff on appropriate sales techniques
• Provide info sheets or other talking points to assist staff in providing information

Database

• Work with Database Director to establish data entry standards and train and oversee Front Desk and Reservations staff to follow these standards
• Oversee data record cleanup projects
• Attend Altru trainings as needed

Workplace Values:

Achieving our mission requires great people who actively demonstrate our core values.

To apply, please submit a cover letter, resume, and 3 professional references.

Compensation & Benefits: $23 - $25 hourly, medical, dental, and vision, employee wellness program, paid holidays and time off, a 401(k) retirement plan, and lots of adorable children. Benefits vary by number of regularly scheduled hours worked, length of employment, and employment status. See the benefit details for this position here.

For more information, please visit our website at www.hocm.org

The Hands On Children’s Museum exhibits, education programs, and employment are available to all without discrimination.

Wage Description:

$23 - $25 Hourly