Front of House Receptionist

The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) is seeking to appoint a Front of House Receptionist.

Front of House Receptionist
Department: Finance and Services
Responsible to: Facilities Manager
Location: South Kensington, London SW7.
Hours: Full Time. 35-hour working week
Contract: Permanent
Salary: £27,675 £28,550 per annum depending on experience and qualifications.

About Us:

The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) is the learned society and professional body for geography and geographers. It is also a charity and a membership organisation. The Society was founded in 1830 and has been one of the most active of the learned societies ever since. It was pivotal in establishing geography as a teaching and research discipline in British universities and continues to play a key role in geographical and environmental education.

About You and the Role

The Front of House Receptionist will help deliver the provision of an efficient and welcoming service as the first point of contact with the Society, together with other administrative duties in support of the Facilities teams operation of the premises and the efficient use of its rooms.

More than 150,000 visitors come through the Society s doors each year to enjoy both the Society s own resources and activities, and the events of a wide variety of not for profit and commercial organisations who hire the 750 seat Ondaatje Theatre and other of the Society s fine rooms. The Front of House Receptionist is the vital first point of contact for callers, visitors, members, staff, and tenants, as well as undertaking administrative duties in support of the Facilities team operation of the premises and the efficient use of its rooms.

The Front of House Receptionists work as a flexible team. They complement each other and support the wider team in both event management and operation. The post requires a broad knowledge of the Society s activities in general, plus a more detailed understanding of the work handled by the various departments of the Society, and its tenants. Close attention to the weekly programme of activities is critical, together with awareness of unpublicised activities and of future events.

Key Responsibilities:

• Reception
  • Ensuring that Reception is always staffed between 9.00am and 5:30pm on weekdays, in conjunction with the fellow Front of House Receptionist on duty and other members of the Facilities team.
  • Receiving visitors to the Society arriving at Reception, ensuring that security procedures are followed, and directing them as necessary to the appropriate rooms. Assisting visitors with enquiries and requests; calling on the appropriate members of staff when necessary.
• Event support
  • Supporting Society and external events outside of normal working hours involving either early morning starts or late evening finishes. Duties will include welcoming and supporting external event organisers to ensure that the Society delivers a high quality of service to its customers. Overtime will be paid for these additional hours, and sufficient notice will be provided
  • Handling of enquiries and recording bookings for the Society s own meetings and events on the events database.
• Switchboard
  • Operating the telephone switchboard, receiving, and disseminating calls helpfully, quickly, and efficiently.
• Administration
  • Recording new staff, tenants, and volunteers onto all relevant contact lists.
  • Ensuring that the Society s Safety Policy is read and understood, and all relevant contact details are recorded on the contact database.
• Post duties
  • Sorting and franking the external post in an accurate and timely manner for the daily collection.
  • Managing the franking machine via the supplier to ensure the unit is supplied with sufficient credit, supplies and the ordering of supplies
• Other
  • Act as First Aider. Training will be provided. Dealing with First Aid incidents. Deputising for the building First Aid Coordinator to always ensure an adequate corps of certified First Aiders, liaising on training and maintaining first aid kits throughout the building including the reordering of supplies.
  • Act as Fire Warden. Training will be provided. Deputising for the Fire Incident Coordinator to always ensure an adequate corps of certified Fire Wardens. Undertaking weekly building checks ensuring compliance with fire safety.

Salary and Benefits:

This is a full time, permanent contract. The salary range for this post is £27,675-£28,550 per annum, pro rata depending on experience and qualifications. The post is based in Kensington, London.

There are a range of benefits at the Society which include the following:

• 35-hour working week with core working hours between 10.00am and 4.00pm.
• 25 days annual leave per annum, pro rata, plus public bank holidays.
• Society closure between Christmas and New Year, in addition to the basic annual leave allowance.
• Pension scheme - 3% employee, 7.5% employer.
• Group Life Assurance at four-times basic annual salary.
• Corporate eye care vouchers.
• Cycle to work scheme.
• Free 24-hour Employee Assistance helpline with available counselling support.

Applications must be received by 9.30am on Friday 6 February.
Interviews are planned to take place in the week commencing 16 February.

Interested?

If you would like to find out more, please click the apply button. You will be directed to our website to complete your application for this position.

The Society aims to be an equal opportunities employer.

Applicants must have the right to work in the UK. The Society is unable to offer work visa sponsorships.

No agencies please.