Visitor Insights Specialist

Oakland Museum of California•Oakland, CA

4d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Visitor Insights Specialist enhances the visitor experience at OMCA by providing a welcoming presence in the galleries and garden; offering excellent customer service; assessing conditions in the galleries and garden to ensure the safety and security of visitors and collections; creating a visitor feedback loop; and conducting rigorous evaluations and audience research projects. This position focuses on the visitor and their experiences, rather than the educational role of explaining exhibition content. The Visitor Insights Specialist is a facilitator and active researcher who uses evaluative thinking to both address the needs of visitors and inform the work of OMCA. This is a Part-Time two-day per week (15 hours per week) position. This position is exclusively represented and is covered by a collective bargaining agreement between OMCA and the OMCA Workers United, AFSCME Local 4510 (AFL-CIO).

Requirements

Ability to display and encourage visitor and internal customer service, take and share responsibility and treat others with respect.
1-2 years experience in customer service, hospitality, guest relations, or related field.
English language proficiency in both spoken and written form; a second language (particularly Spanish or Chinese) highly desirable.
Evidence of successful interactions with diverse populations.
Ability to communicate in a clear and positive manner in chaotic surroundings.
Attention to detail and ability to follow data collection and entry protocols without deviation.
Ability to develop rapport with strangers to fulfill project and Museum objectives.
Critical thinking and ability to be responsive to verbal and non-verbal cues in interviews.
Analytical skills to assess problems and determine solutions.
Knowledge of MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint).
Knowledge of Google applications (Sheets, Docs, Slides, Forms, Data Studio).
Experience with digital devices (iPads, audio recorder) for data collection.

Nice To Haves

A second language (particularly Spanish or Chinese) highly desirable.

Responsibilities

Support the Museum’s mission, values, vision, and core commitment to the visitor experience, community engagement, and institutional relevancy for the future
Contribute to and support the OMCA strategic plan, annual priorities, and institutional initiatives such as diversity advancement
Contribute to a positive organizational culture based on mutual respect, a spirit of collegiality, cooperation, and openness to many perspectives
Participate in a culture of ongoing learning, collaboration, innovation, creativity, and community engagement
Provide visitors with a quality experience using a high level of customer service, including welcoming visitors as they enter the campus and galleries; assisting with overall wayfinding and locating of amenities; and helping with visitor needs (multilingual materials, wheelchairs, etc.).
Use evaluation techniques to serve an interpretive function in the galleries and garden. For example, engage visitors with questions or other prompts to encourage exploration of the galleries and gardens, model behavior (e.g., how to use exhibits), and encourage interactions among visitors. This role is intended as a facilitator and not an information source.
Interact with disappointed visitors, listen to their issues to attempt to find a resolution, and use de-escalation techniques.
Record and analyze visitor complaints/concerns/kudos/issues, inform staff who could address these issues, and follow-up with visitors as appropriate. Systematically record, track, aggregate, and analyze visitors’ complaints/concerns/issues using VIS protocols.
Assess conditions of the galleries by constantly roving to ensure presentable conditions and safety of the objects, visitors, and other staff members.
Monitor interactive features and power management of projectors, iPads, screens, etc. within the galleries to ensure they are working properly.
Assist security in enforcing the gallery rules and communicate with staff via email any pressing issues that come up in galleries in terms of safety (of collection and of visitors) and technical problems needing immediate attention.
Tidy hands-on exhibit elements to optimize visitor experience and safety.
Collect paper- and/or digital-based visitor surveys
Conduct visitor interviews
Conduct visitor observations
Record, enter, process, clean, and code quantitative and qualitative data per designed spreadsheets, databases, and rubrics.
Maintain data collection logs and draft data recaps.
Document, analyze, and maintain visitor talkback exhibits (e.g., History Now).
With guidance from manager, co-develop and implement participatory visitor research projects to improve the visitor experience and inform future OMCA work.