Science Museum Group Employee Reviews in York

The National Railway Museum is a great place to work. The staff are incredibly kind and, although the work can be tiring, it's very rewarding to see the museum clean, tidy, and ready for visitors.The pay rate is only slightly above minimum wage but it's certainly nothing to scoff at, especially with all the amazing benefits you get as a staff member (private health and dental, staff discounts, free exhibition entry to name a few).

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Not a good experience

People assistant (Former Employee) - York, North Yorkshire - 7 January 2023

I worked at the national railway museum for around two months, my whole experience was bad. The training to do the job is basically non-existent, "refer to the book" is their idea of training. Now I am in a great job with thorough training where the company takes care of their employees i now realise how diabolical of a place this was and how useless the training was to do the job, maybe i wasn't good enough myself to do the job,but i offered myself up to extra training, they said they couldn't do that , so you wanted me to do better but can't find the time to have helped me... Maybe if they actually put the time and effort in needed to train people correctly it might not be as bad, very cliquey place, seems to be if your face fits then they'll help you, if not, see you later.

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Insights into Science Museum Group

Based on 16 survey responses

What people like

Clear sense of purpose
Inclusive work environment
Supportive environment

Lovely place to work part time

Explainer (Former Employee) - York - 17 July 2022

I worked part time as an explainer and loved the morale of the workers. A fun place to work and managers are kind and understanding. I liked working with different people all the time.

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Quiet, not too busy on my sales desk

Sales Assistant (Former Employee) - York City Centre, North Yorkshire - 10 March 2020

Great managers, very caring and thoughtful of your position, queries and opinions. Job got quite boring at times, and wasn't very busy, but I worked in a new ole that had only started up when I began so they were still trialing so were accepting of any comments and feedback of the role which I appreciated. Not much of a team attitude when it came to other departments, no one really spoke to anyone that wasn't working in the same role which I found quite sad.

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Visitor Experience is a great team and the museum as a whole is very friendly

Visitor Fundraising Team Leader (Former Employee) - York - 30 July 2019

The Railway Museum is a great place to work, especially the Visitor Experience Team. A very fun place to work that gives lots of experience and a fun workplace.

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productive

Events Steward (Former Employee) - York - 16 January 2019

Fast pace and regular breaks provided. A fun place to work with equal balance of work and fun. I would reccomend if you have already worked in catering industry before.

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Fun and a great learning space

Volunteer (Former Employee) - York, North Yorkshire - 24 September 2018

The work consisted of conserving the museum artefacts and each day was different. The learning curve here was great and the best part of the job was the staff and their commitment to doing a good job. They were supportive, amiable and good-natured. Would have loved to continue working there long-term.

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A laid back yet exciting work environment with fantastic management and training.

Casual Sales Assistant (Current Employee) - York - 7 September 2017

I have been working with the science museum group at the national railway museum for about three months now and I am thoroughly enjoying my time here, I haven't been treated poorly at all and the training has been excellent and I believe that a lot of other places could learn a lot from them and how they run things. The only criticism I have is the fact that I am working on a casual contract which is essentially a zero hours contract with a prettier name and they have been hiring a number of people for permanent positions with 14 or more hours which leaves next to no hours for us on casual contracts. A bit more communication about available positions wouldn't go a miss, other than that I have no issue with this job. Probably something for future employees to consider, but I think that's part of the territory of zero hours contracts. Training has always been thorough and prompt, I have been trusted and made to feel unbelievably welcome from the very first day, and was not left on my own until I felt comfortable to do so. Most management are of a similar age range to me (mid to late twenties) so I've found that they are more understanding with personal issues and are easy to get on with, which, for me personally, improves morale. We all get along and we have a healthy balance of professionalism and friendly rapport. You aren't belittled or made to feel like a burden when you make errors either, they're very understanding and things can be rectified easily. I think many, if not all, are completely understanding because of the fact we all appreciate that each of us had -

Pros

friendly working environment, great managers, excellent training

Cons

unreliable no guarantee of hours

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productive and fun place to work

Administrator (Former Employee) - York, North Yorkshire - 28 June 2017

My experience of working at the National Railway Museum was in an Admin role working alongside the engineers. I had a really great team with a professional but easy going work ethic. Very friendly and willing to provide help or advise at any time with a good workplace culture. Discount given at the museum Café which helped cut down costs. The work ethics are that of a hardworking company and you are expected to be a team player and work hard also along with the rest of the team. There is opportunity to progress and obtain promotion however this is dependant on vacancies and personal review. Overall an enjoyable and pleasant company to work for.

Pros

Cafe Discount

Cons

Job can be monotonous

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Varied

Project Manager Masterplan (Current Employee) - York - 12 April 2017

Great role working with over twenty departmental specialisms and external contacts, no day is ever the same. The project is exciting and ambitious, and I enjoy developing collaborative team working

Pros

varied role, working with lots of colleagues from diverse backgrounds

Cons

long hours

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Great fun, very hard work, lots of variety

Marketing Manager (Former Employee) - York - 30 April 2016

No typical day at work. Being the sort of person I am I got involved in as much of the organisation's activities as I could. I learned huge amounts about PR, Fundraising and Development, event planning, management and delivery, customer service and exhibition design. The management was a bit variable. I was lucky to work with some very talented managers, but elsewhere in the organisation in some senior positions there were some highly flawed individuals. Most of my co-workers were excellent people, there were some notable exceptions, however, and these individuals were carefully managed to reduce their influence and the potential damage they could do. The hardest part of my job involved working with some difficult co-workers so I learned some useful management skills in that respect. The most enjoyable part of my job was the variety and daily thrill of new challenges and working with a great team.

Pros

Good progression, enjoyable, rewarding work.

Cons

Idiosyncratic senior management, constant restructuring.

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Nice working experience

Volunteer- Art collection survey volunteer (Former Employee) - York - 15 March 2016

Really nice team and really nice working environment. Learned lot of knowledge about art works. More willing to work for art after this experience.

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Great Place to Work

Visitor Fundraiser (Current Employee) - York, ENG - 3 February 2016

I love the NRM! Its a great place to work :) This job comes with instant gratification and I would recommend it to any hard working person who enjoys team work and providing excellent customer service.

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Fun workplace, great colleagues, just no chance of advancement

Catering Assistant (Current Employee) - York - 25 July 2015

- Uniform is provided except white shirt, black trousers and black shoes. - You're in charge of your own clocking in and out, and signing up for shifts for the following week. You also get paid weekly. - The people that work there are pretty nice, really friendly and you tend to get to know your co-workers well. - Hardest part of the job is the long hours and most of the time (especially in dinner season) you don't get many hours between shifts. - Most enjoyable part of the job is definitely the people you work with It's like any other catering job, the managers are all nice, fair people that you can have a laugh with. My reason for leaving is that there was just no place to move up into. I learned a lot, the training is pretty good (I can make a mean latte), and again, the people that work there are amazing, there was just no progress. The pay's alright, especially for 18-21 year olds!