Gallery Guide

MILKEN INSTITUTE•Washington, DC

17h•Onsite

About The Position

WE are a dynamic, collaborative, and motivated team operating and invigorating the soaring halls of the Riggs Bank buildings as a place to imagine, explore, and expand the American Dream. YOU are a friendly professional with a knack for providing stellar visitor service. You like talking to all kinds of people and sharing what you know. You can follow a plan but are also flexible when circumstances shift. You’re communicative and like working on a team. Gallery Guides are the face of our visitor center, working directly with our visitors on the exhibition floor. From greeting guests upon arrival to sharing compelling stories on tours, Gallery Guides ensure that all visitors have a welcoming, safe, and fun experience. This role not only works with our visitors, but also with staff across departments to ensure smooth daily operations. Gallery Guides will receive comprehensive training that includes exhibition content, operational processes, visitor experience best practices, and more. This is an excellent opportunity for someone with some experience in visitor services or someone who is just beginning their visitor experience career.

Requirements

The ideal candidate has a healthy sense of humor, a passion for engaging with others and thrives in a highly collaborative environment while taking ownership of own duties.
You will thrive in this role if you are an enthusiastic communicator committed to providing outstanding customer service and passionate about offering best-in-class experiences.
Ideal candidates have experience in visitor service at a museum, history center, science center, or public-facing cultural organization. Customer service experience in other fields is also welcome. Bonus if one has experience leading tours or facilitating experiences for visitors or guests. Internship experience will be considered.
Gallery Guides adhere to a detailed schedule of rotating posts throughout the workday, requiring a high level of punctuality.
A high level of adaptability to support the changing needs of visitors, groups, and the organization.
Strong interpersonal and communications skills are required.
MCAAD’s topical focus means a background and special interest in its mission and pillars is beneficial: health and science, education and learning, finance, entrepreneurship, plus unique aspects of the American journey (U.S. history, immigration, aspiration and inspiration, advocacy, democracy, civic engagement, community development, and more).
The ability to quickly develop positive working relationships, support colleagues, be flexible, and thrive in a fast-paced, fun and creative environment is a must.

Responsibilities

Provide a welcoming, engaging, and excellent visitor experience from entry to exit for all visitors.
Actively greet visitors and provide an orientation to the Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream and help plan their visit through the American Dream Experience.
Distribute, sell, and validate tickets for general admission, special experiences, and public programs through a ticketing system.
Support visitors through security screening and support the security team as needed and appropriate to keep our spaces safe.
Monitor and manage visitor flow through main entrances and exits, as well as galleries and exhibition spaces.
Welcoming group visits, including student groups, with an orientation to the Center.
Facilitate a variety of visitor engagements including tours, pop up activities, and object talks.
Engage visitors in informal conversation about the exhibition and its content throughout visiting hours.
Help lead hands-on activities for public programs.
Support facilitated group visits with the education team.
Communicate MCAAD visitor guidelines with visitors as necessary.
Support security staff in ensuring the safety and security of all visitors and staff throughout public spaces.
Report any issues (exhibit repair, facility maintenance, other concerns) within galleries to team manager.
Connect visitors with accessibility features and offerings.
Attend daily morning meeting to receive notes, schedule, and other happenings that require visitor experience attention.
Report key notes and metrics from the day including tour and talk attendance numbers, memorable visitor quotes, and operational successes or challenges.
Follow daily rotation schedule closely, perform all duties specific to assigned posts, and follow operational protocols.
Support the day-to-day operations of the Center, including opening and closing duties and collaboration with other departments and gallery or interactive care.
Support check in and visitor flow for public programs and special events.
Troubleshoot routine visitor-related issues and escalate challenging situations to a manager.
Adhere to uniform guidelines.
Stay up to date with communications from colleagues.
Conduct operational support activities such as visitor feedback card inventory and routine disinfecting of high touch surfaces.
Duties as assigned.
Describe the experience and answer visitor inquiries
Engage with visitors in a lively, friendly, and welcoming manner.
Facilitate ticket sales and check in.
Enter the Holodeck Experience in support of the “Lead Engineer”.
Adhere to safety and security guidelines for staff and visitors.
Work with and clearly communicate with colleagues also supporting the Holodeck Experience, as well as the team at large including Visitor Experience, Exhibition AV, and more.
Support requests from MCAAD staff for special visitors.