Guest Experience Internship

Save to Favorites

Department: Guest Experience

Name of Internship: Guest Experience Intern

Summary of Internship: The main goal of the internship is to expose college students to what it takes to run the front end of an educational attraction and how to attract new guests and members in order to raise revenue. The Guest Experience Intern will be primarily assisting the Front Desk and Store Managers. Duties include running reports from Altru and Counterpoint, entering data into spreadsheets, assisting with scheduling and training of staff, developing recognition/ incentives for staff, answering phones and assisting with guest questions, light housekeeping. There may be an opportunity for the intern to assist with the membership manager or reservations supervisor, if warranted and desired by the intern. This is an unpaid internship.

Length of Internship: One semester. If intern’s performance is satisfactory after 1st semester, they can be invited back for the next semester. (New interns will not begin in summer).

Number of hours required weekly: 9-12 and will be arranged for a set schedule, ideally 3-4 hours a day over 3-4 days a week. Some weekends and events required.

Qualifications for this Internship: College student majoring in: Business Administration, Communications, Public Relations (other majors could be considered). MUST be outgoing, upbeat, friendly and comfortable talking with guests. Professional demeanor. Prior office experience preferred. Must be familiar with Gmail and Google Docs, Excel and Microsoft Office. Interns do not handle money or money transactions.

Experience gained from this internship will entail but is not limited to:

• Management experience
• Experience running the front end of a cultural educational attraction
• Budgeting and Reporting
• Building guest relations through exceptional customer service
• Merchandising (store)
• Potentially Membership
• Inventory (store)
• There is the possibility of representing the museum at vendor off-site events to increase admission.

Duties the intern will perform in the internship are as follows:

• Data Entry
• Providing exceptional guest experience
• Creating visually appealing merchandise displays (store)
• Maintaining and tracking inventory (store)
• Advertising memberships/attracting new members
• Developing staff incentives/recognition
• Will be Touch Tank and Trail Trained
• May need to assist staff with opening and closing procedures.

Projects: A long term goal for the Front Desk is to have How To and SOP documents typed and printed for all duties the staff perform. The intern would be instrumental in developing and completing these documents. The intern would also create a staff incentive and staff recognition program. This program would focus on increasing sales/revenue by establishing goals for staff with rewards for top sellers each month. Expectations are that the intern has exceptional attention to detail, is a self-starter, professional and punctual. We also expect the intern to assist with two or three off-site vendor events.

Confidentiality - All interns will sign a confidentiality waiver to protect client and/or financial information.

Evaluation and feedback: The student will be given goals during their first week. Training will be done by managers and lead front desk assistants. After 2 months, the manager will check in with the intern and answer any questions or assist with issues. At the end of each semester the manager will conduct a formal evaluation. The intern will be asked to provide feedback to the department as well, to ensure quality learning experience and to improve the internship for the

future.

Application Instructions: Submit cover letter, resume, and volunteer application to the Volunteer Services Office. Be sure to specify "Guest Experience Internship" on the application. Applications can be found at www.theVLM.org and follow links to the volunteer pages. Rolling Deadlines yearly: Jan 15; Aug 15.