Volunteer Roles
There are a number of different ways you can get involved at the Coffin Works. Find out what you can do as a volunteer in one of Birmingham’s top attractions.
Recruitment for the following roles is open
We love having new members in our team so if you’re keen to meet new people and passionate about Birmingham and its rich history, don’t hesitate – just get in touch!
We have lots of roles you can get stuck into and you are more than welcome to be flexible and get involved with lots of different ones.
Front of house
- Wednesday - Sunday
- 10.30am - 4.15pm
What is Front of House ?
As Front of House, you will make those all important first impressions as you greet visitors, issue tickets, answer telephone and email enquiries, and deal with sales in the shop.
Who will suit this role?
People who have an enthusiastic and friendly personality, with great customer service skills and enjoy meeting people. You like working as a team and are interested in sharing the Coffin Works’ story with the public.
What’s involved?
- Providing a warm welcome to all visitors in a friendly and informative way
- Taking bookings over the phone and online
- Handling the sale of admission and retail items on the computerised till
- Maintaining an attractive, welcoming and tidy reception area
- Ensuring adequate supply and presentation of publicity material
- Ensuring stock levels are adequate and displayed properly
- Helping with stock taking and stock pricing
- Assisting people with disabilities to access information and interpretation as appropriate
- Helping the team maintain the security of the site and its contents
Room Enabler
- Friday - Sunday
- 11.45am - 4.15pm
What is Room Enabling ?
Room Enablers have a vital role to play in bringing the Coffin Works Museum to life, inspiring visitors and helping them learn more about the history of our factory in an interesting and enjoyable way. They also play a valuable part in safeguarding our Accredited collection and building.
Who will suit this role?
People who have an enthusiastic and friendly personality, enjoy meeting people, like working as a team and are interested in sharing the Coffin Works’ story with the public.
What’s involved?
- Providing a warm, friendly welcome to all visitors
- Engaging visitors with the history and stories of the museum and wider city
- Researching and learning content for each room of the museum, one by one, until you are confident in each
- Learning about the Coffin Works as a whole
- Demonstrating the machinery in the Stamp Room safely (optional)
- Helping direct visitors from room to room
- Assisting people with disabilities to access information and interpretation
- Being responsible for the evacuation of visitors in an emergency
- Helping to protect our collection during opening hours
Tour Guide
- Wednesday- Sunday
- 10.45am - 2pm
What is Tour Guiding ?
Our passionate Tour Guides lead small groups of the general public (up to 15 people) around the Coffin Works on a defined route and provide an informative, engaging and enjoyable experience to visitors for around 1 hour.
Who will suit this role?
People who have excellent presentation skills, an outgoing personality and the ability to research and learn content for a tour (content is provided). There is no set script, we want our tour guides to bring their own personalities to their tour!
What’s involved?
- Leading visitors around the museum for an hour
- Engaging visitors with the history and stories of the Coffin Works and Birmingham
- Researching and learning content for each room of the museum and writing your own script to bring it all together
- Learning about the Coffin Works as a whole
- Demonstrating the machinery in the Stamp Room safely (optional)
- Assisting people with disabilities to access information and interpretation
- Being responsible for the evacuation of visitors in an emergency
- Helping to protect our collection during opening hours
Café Assistant
- Wednesday - Sunday
- 10.30am - 3.30pm
What is a Café Assistant ?
Our Café Assistants work as part of a team to ensure that high quality food and drink are prepared and served to café customers from a clean, safe and welcoming environment. The café is an amazing new addition to our offering and a lovely chance to engage with visitors whilst also providing them with a nice warm cuppa!
Who will suit this role?
People who are are friendly and cheerful, an outgoing personality who enjoys multi-tasking and providing a great service to customers. You should be a clean and tidy person with good attention to detail.
What’s involved?
- Providing a warm welcome to all visitors to the café
- Preparing different types of hot beverage, including learning to operate our coffee machine and taking card payments
- Serving pre-packed cakes and biscuits
- Ensuring the café is fully stocked, clean, hygienic and in good working order
- Following the café procedure for cleaning and completing daily checks
- Level 2 Food Hygiene training will be provided
- Assisting people with disabilities
- Being responsible for the evacuation of visitors in an emergency
For all roles
This role is purely voluntary and this arrangement is not meant to be a legally binding one or an employment contract.
We are flexible over how many shifts you complete, but at least 1 shift a fortnight would be ideal.
All training and information will be provided about Birmingham Conservation Trust and the Coffin Works Museum. As part of your induction you will shadow existing volunteers and receive an induction pack with all you need to start.
Travel expenses will be reimbursed at a rate of up to £5 a day.
Interested?
If you’re keen to join the team, complete the Application Form below or download the PDF version and send it over to us at:
volunteers@coffinworks.org or post to: The Coffin Works, 13-15 Fleet Street, Jewellery Quarter, B3 1JP
Alternatively, give us a ring on 0121 233 4785 for a chat about how you could get involved, we’d love to hear from you!
Volunteer Application Form
Thank you for your interest in volunteering with the Coffin Works, part of Birmingham Conservation Trust. We’d like you to please tell us a little bit about yourself in the form below so that we can see how you would fit within our team and to help us find the right role for you. Once complete, click submit and we will be in touch shortly to arrange a guided tour and an informal chat about joining the team.
Please be aware it is Birmingham Conservation Trust’s policy to ask for each new volunteer to provide a professional reference, please feel free to still get in touch if you might struggle with this. Alternatives may include a DBS check.
All our roles are purely voluntary and this arrangement is not meant to be a legally binding one or an employment contract.
