Job description: Tea Room and Events Assistant

Job title	Tea Room and Events Assistant
Reporting to	Events Producer/Deputy Director
Key responsibilities	Support the whole Chawton Houseoperation with a combination ofevents and Tea Room support.
Hours	25 hours per week (excl. breaks),which includes every Wednesday andSunday (09:30 – 16:45) with theremaining hours set a week inadvance with the line managerdepending on the events programmeand rota.Evening and weekend working will berequired.
Salary	Living Wage
Location	Chawton House, Alton
Duration	Fixed-term contract. 6 months fromthe start date (likely early October)

This role is funded by East Hampshire District Council’s Kickstart scheme and therefore is only open to applicants who live in East Hampshire at the point of application and are currently unemployed.

Chawton House is an historic house and estate once owned by Jane Austen’s brother Edward Austen Knight and frequented by his sister who lived in a cottage he owned close by. It is home to two significant collections: one of women’s writing (1660 – c.1860) and one of the Knight family library. The House is set in over 250 acres of the South Downs National Park, including a historically significant formal garden, ancient woodland and parkland.

The charitable objectives of Chawton House are to preserve the House and grounds for the benefit of the public, and to promote the study of, and public engagement in, women’s writing. Having operated predominantly as an academic library until 2017, Chawton House has transformed and is now open to the public seven days a week, with lively public, academic and learning programmes onsite and online, successful retail, hire, catering and tours offers. The operation is supported by a 80+ volunteer team.

Chawton House

Purpose of the role

The Tea Room & Events Assistant will join the team of General Assistants, who are at the heart of everything Chawton House does. The team supports every area of the organisation’s operation, from working in the popular tea room to front of house, events, marketing and administrative support for the Deputy Director and Chief Executive. All General Assistants, including this for this role, are trained as baristas, in food hygiene, first aid, front of house and the events administration. As Chawton House grows and diversifies, the General Assistants will continue to support these new areas and have the opportunity to develop their individual areas of interest (with the relevant training).

Key areas of responsibility

Support the whole Chawton House operation with a combination of front of house, retail, tea room, events, gardens and estate, collections and administrative duties.

Work as a Tea Room Assistant in the Courtyard and Old Kitchen Tea Room, and any pop-up catering as required, specifically every Wednesday daytime (when open) and every Sunday (09:30 – 16:45)/

● Assist the Duty Manager with opening and closing the House at the start and end of opening.

● Staff the Tea Shed/Ticket Office and be the first point of contact for visitors to Chawton House as required.

Work with the Deputy Director and Head Gardener to support the Autumn – Spring programme of events, including setting these up, liaising with participants and ticketholders, working on the events and the de-rig.

● Assist with private hire, such as weddings, wakes and film hire, and group tours.

● Administrative, marketing and events support as required.

Contribute to the charities plans and feed in ideas, taking the lead on own ideas once approved if appropriate.

● Assistance with projects, digital activity and public engagement as required.

This job description is not all encompassing. Over time the emphasis may alter without changing the general character of the role. Duties will be periodically reviewed with the post holder, and revised and updated in consultation if required.

Benefits

You are entitled to the following employee benefits:

15 % staff discount in the café and shop

Access to professional development opportunities

● Use of Gardeners World 2for 1, Historic Houses and RHS company passes.

● Where applicable, employers contribution pension scheme.

Chawton House

Personal specification

Essential criteria	Assessed atapplication	Assessed atinterview
Good understanding of excellent customerexperience	X	X
Physically fit to do lifting and moving of displays,tables, chairs etc		X
Welcoming and helpful manner		X
An interest in heritage, gardens and/or women'sliterature	X
Willingness to working flexibly on a range oftasks across a busy historic house		X
Pleasant and helpful manner which will makevisitors feel welcome		X
Remains calm and effective in a fast-pacedenvironment	X	X
Good oral and written communication skills	X	X
Independent worker who is flexible and willwork as part of a team	X	X
Willingness to learn new skills and processes	X	X
Desirable criteria
Experience of working or volunteering in a leisure,hospitality, culture or heritage organisation	X
Work or voluntary experience of a customer-facingrole	X