Let’s Work Together!

Position: Host/Interpreter

Duration: Seasonal

Closing Date: Rolling review (April 15, 22, 29)

Start Date: May 10, 2021

Job Level: Entry

Intended job posting audience

Anyone who can legally work in Canada can apply for this job. If you are not currently authorized to work in Canada, the employer will not consider your job application.

About the Yukon Transportation Museum

You will join the Yukon Transportation Museum as we enter our 31st year. Our robust organisation is looking forward to the future while weathering the pandemic and its related challenges. We are an optimistic, adaptive and positive place wherein your enthusiasm, dedication and skill will be key to our continued success.

We care about our community and are committed to the social responsibility we hold. At YTM, we believe history has real impact when all kinds of people can find themselves in the stories, and then are moved to change, act or contribute to society.

Mission: The Yukon Transportation Museum introduces people to Yukon ingenuity and self-sufficiency through history of transportation in the territory.

Mandate: To identify, acquire, preserve and conserve the history, cultural material and artifacts of Yukon’s transportation modes and to interpret this history in an educational manner for all Yukoners and visitors alike.

The Yukon Transportation Museum is a not-for-profit society.

Position Description

In 1880, Yukon First Nations man Paul Kandik created the earliest known map of northeastern Alaska and western Canada.

In 1928, Lillian Alling walked through the Yukon on her way home to Siberia from New York City.

In 1935, entrepreneur George Simmons bought an airplane to see if it would increase the speed and reliability of his Carcross-to-Atlin postal deliveries. This purchase eventually snowballed into the first scheduled air service from Dawson City to Vancouver.

At YTM, we love telling the stories of the Klondike Gold Rush and the construction of the Alaska Highway, but the history of transportation in the Yukon is dotted with hundreds more captivating tales, triumphs and tragedies too. If you’re intrigued by the opportunity to take our guests through the WHO WHAT WHEN WHERE WHY of some of the Yukon’s most colorful characters and events, you may have what it takes to join our team for the upcoming summer season!

What’s the Role?

As a Host/Interpreter, you are responsible for ensuring that each visitor to our museum has a positive experience. Your main areas of responsibility will be presenting guided tours to museum patrons, processing POS transactions, admissions and memberships in the gift shop, and assisting with museum events, inventory checks, general maintenance, facility cleaning and museum projects as necessary throughout the summer. If you love to learn, teach, be creative or fix things, you’ll have a good time.

As one of the frontline faces of YTM, you are an extremely valuable part of the Museums and Heritage sector in the Yukon. Your oral and written interpretative skills, creativity, outgoing and friendly attitude, organizational prowess and time management skills will come in handy. This position may also include paid training opportunities (e.g. Standard First Aid, WHMIS).

Host/interpreter positions are designed to be 16 weeks in duration, starting on May 10th and ending around August 31st. The museum is open to the public from 10-6, Wednesday to Sunday — host/interpreters are expected to work 40 hours in a typical workweek.

Come and spend the summer learning about (and living!) Yukon history with the team at YTM.

Requirements

1. English is the language of work at YTM (but anyone who speaks French, German, Japanese, or a Yukon Indigenous language would be a great asset to our team.)

2. A working knowledge of Yukon history and geography (or a willingness to learn) is crucial. Fields of study potentially related to this position include Tourism, Museum Studies, Geography, History, Anthropology, Marketing, Business, Theatre and/or Communications.

3. All applicants should have the ability to lift 20 lbs and to stand for sustained periods. Weekend availability and access to reliable transportation are also key.

4. You must be legally entitled to work in Canada. A criminal record check is also required of all successful applicants.

5. Some positions are funded specifically for applicants 16-30 years of age – please note if you are within this range in your cover letter. Candidates must be either Canadian citizens, permanent residents, or persons to whom refugee status in Canada has been conferred.

Lines of Accountability: Position reports to the Operations Manager.

Remuneration: $16-18 per hour

Application Process

Please send your application package via email to sean@goYTM.ca with the subject line: Host/Interpreter 2021. Applications must include the following:

  • Your resume
  • A (brief!) cover letter introducing yourself and answering the following questions (max 150 words for each question):

1) Why are you interested in working at YTM?
2) Why are museums like YTM important, even with the rise of the internet and self-guided learning?
3) Describe something you love doing and another thing you most certainly do NOT love doing. Make us love the first thing and cry and rage against the cruelty and inhumanity of the second!

These positions rely on approved funding, and their nature may be altered as the result of future COVID-19 directions and orders given by the Federal or territorial government.