Museum of Health Care Blog

The Museum of Health Care is hiring for the summer! If you are enthusiastic, creative and have an interest in working in heritage, we want to hear from you!

The Museum of Health Care at Kingston is Canada’s premier resource devoted to bringing to life the story of health and health care. As a history of medicine museum, the Museum of Health Care strives to connect visitors with the experiences of people in past times and provide context and perspective on today’s health issues. To help Canadians better understand this history, the Museum preserves and promotes the rich material legacy of our medical and healthcare past.

As an equal opportunity employer, we strongly encourage women, visible minorities, Indigenous peoples, persons with a disability, and persons who identify as members of the 2SLGBTQ+ communities to apply for employment.

Ready to Apply? Please submit your resume and cover letter in a Word .doc or .pdf as one document as described below. Please include the position you are applying for in the subject line. Full position descriptions are outlined below.

We thank all applicants for their interest, however, only those selected for an interview will be contacted.

Public Programs Assistant (2)

SALARY: $15.00/hr
START / END DATES: May 2 – August 26, 2022
WORK HOURS: 7hrs per day, 5 days per week (35hrs/week). May 2 to 28, Monday to Friday. May 29 to August 26,Wednesday to Sunday.

The Museum of Health Care is seeking a Public Programs Assistant to provide front line interpretation, programming assistance, and marketing support throughout the summer. The ideal candidate will have a passion for history, demonstrate exceptional customer service skills, and enjoy working in a team environment.

Working in collaboration with other Visitor Services staff, the Public Programs Assistant will focus on two primary areas, with related tasks as detailed below:

1) PUBLIC EDUCATION AND PUBLIC COMMUNICATION:

• Deliver in-museum, outreach and online educational programming for grades K-12 and university classes, adult/senior education programs, and summer day camps.
• Conduct guided tours (both on-site and virtual) of the Museum of Health Care’s galleries and the Kingston General Hospital National Historic Site in a manner that engages and delights participants, while conveying the requisite information.
• Assist in the planning and facilitation of events for adults such as lectures, and/or exhibit openings.
• Market in-museum and outreach programs and guided tours within the framework of an existing marketing plan, including targeted marketing to summer day camp organizers, seniors residences, and adult ESL instructors.
• Link with community partners to represent the Museum at special events, such as Kingston’s First Capital Day, and collaborate with other member museums of the Kingston Association of Museums, Art Galleries, and Historic Sites on professional development activities.
  2) RESEARCH FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS FOR ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS AND ADULTS:
• Research and develop new activities, tours, and/or public programs to expand Museum programming and bring Canada’s healthcare story to life for visitors of all ages.
• Review and expand upon existing research material highlighting the local, national, and international history of medicine and health care.
• Assist in the development of customized program and tour options for specific groups.
• Gather and analyze data about numbers and origins of visitors, effectiveness of marketing methods and visitor satisfaction, interests and suggestions.
• Create written materials used for blog and newsletter posts.
• Keep detailed, accurate records of program/tour delivery statistics.
• Evaluate and suggest improvements to public programs, research resources, and program marketing.
  *COVID-19 Notes: While the Museum of Health Care hopes to open to the public as of the Summer 2022 season, developing situations make this decision impossible until closer to this time period. All of the tasks above have been planned for both in-person as well as virtual delivery.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:
-Excellent communication skills in written and oral English.
-Excellent interpersonal and organizational skills.
-Familiarity with Microsoft Office.
DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS:
-Knowledge of French or other second language.
-Knowledge and/or experience of Indigenous history
-General knowledge of health care history and/or social history of Canada.
-Programming design experience for any age group.
-Experience in and/or knowledge of the principles of heritage interpretation.
-Experience in and/or knowledge of event planning and marketing.
-Graphic design skills and familiarity online content creation.
-Interest in a career in history, history of medicine, museology, education, heritage interpretation, tourism or other related discipline.

Digital Content & Marketing Assistant (1)

SALARY: $15.00/hr
WORK HOURS: 7hrs per day, 5days per week (35hrs/week). May 2 to 28, Monday to Friday. May 29 to August 26, Wednesday to Sunday.
START / END DATES: May 2 – August 26, 2022

The Digital Content & Marketing Assistant will use their demonstrated video production, graphic design, and website management skills to produce and share high-quality digital content intended for the general public. In tandem, the position will play an important role of raising awareness of, and subsequently attracting more visitors to, the Museum’s programming and curatorial efforts.
Tasks to be undertaken include:

• editing video, audio, and image files to produce a variety of content for the Museum’s website and social media
  channels;
• Creating a new “What we do” / Welcome video for new visitors and online promotion
• Scheduling Social media content and communication efforts
• Helping to create marketing campaigns for Museum support generation and historical awareness
• producing promotional videos to support the Museum’s marketing and advancement efforts;
• develop and execute social media campaigns to boost awareness of Museum;
• taking photographs at events for promotional use and organizational documenting;
• assisting in the digitization of programming materials to allow off-site (virtual) delivery;
• creation of materials used to upgrade and increase access to a Virtual Museum Tour
• assist in the digitization of the museum’s artifact collection;
• creating multi-media content to enhance the Museum’s educational programming;
• analyzing website and social media traffic data in order to modify offerings for increased engagement;
• research and writing of a Blog post for the Museum’s Blog
• updating and optimizing the Museum’s website using a content management system;
• Providing back-up support to frontline visitor services as needed.
  
  REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:
  -Excellent communication skills in written and oral English.
  -Excellent interpersonal and organizational skills.
  -Initiative driven and creative
  -Familiarity with Microsoft Office and social media content creation and introductory graphic design
  DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS:
  -Knowledge of French or other second language.
  -Knowledge and/or experience of Indigenous history
  -General knowledge of health care history and/or social history of Canada.
  -Graphic design experience.
  -Experience in online data analysis relating to increasing viewership, visibility and ease of use
  -Experience in web design and maintenance
  -Technical knowledge of photography/filmmaking
  -Experience with audio and video recording, editing and publishing.
  -Experience in and/or knowledge of event planning and marketing.
  -Interest in a career in history, history of medicine, museology, marketing, film/tv, content creation, promotion, statistics, tourism or other related disciplines.

Collections Technician (2)

SALARY: $15.00/hr
START / END DATES: May 9 – August 26, 2022
WORK HOURS: 7hrs per day, 5days per week (35hrs/week). May 2 to 28, Monday to Friday. May 29 to August 26, Wednesday to Sunday.

The Collections Technician will work directly with the extensive collection of medical and health care objects and archival documents under the direction and supervision of the Collections Manager.
Projects during this work term:
o Photograph, catalogue, review and inventory selected categories
o Propose items for deaccession
o Rehouse archival items for new storage format
o Complete environmental monitoring using HOBO dataloggers
o Research and write a blog post, create a temporary display and create a short video
o Prepare objects for storage according to accepted museological, collections management and conservation standards
o Conduct regular integrated pest management (IPM) inspections and monitor storage areas for pest activity
o Keep accurate records through accession logs, donor files, cataloguing & inventory charts and a daily activity log
o Conduct collections storage rooms tours with a prepared script
o Assist in the presentation of museum public programming that occurs during the work term
o Must be able to work a Wednesday-Sunday schedule

QUALIFICATIONS
o An enthusiasm for Canadian history, its preservation and promotion
o Experience working in a museum environment especially in collections management, cataloguing and or handling artefacts is an asset
o Experience using collections management database software InMagic, is an asset
o Background or experience in one or more of the following areas: public administration, record and information management, museology, archival science, library science, history, health sciences will be considered an asset
o Strong attention to detail and be able to work independently
o Enjoy working with lists of numbers, accuracy, creating order and analyzing results
o Excellent English oral, written and verbal communications skills are essential
o Previous museum experience by yourself and not as a group effort: handling artefacts, taking and editing a minimum of 20 digital images of objects in a photo studio setup and conducting an inventory of large collections will be considered assets
o Digital photography in a photo studio set up will be considered an asset
o Basic research skills using various sources, both paper-based and electronic
o Monitor and maintain a safe work area
o Excellent interpersonal skills
o Strong organizational and time management skills, ability to work effectively with multiple tasks and tight deadlines and problem solving
o Must be able to sit for long periods of time at a computer
o Willing and able to complete a Skills Analysis Test to catalogue and photograph an object as a major portion of the interview process
Eligible applicants will:
o Be able to reside in the Kingston area during the work week for the duration of the contract
o Indicate in a cover letter and resume how s/he meets the above listed qualifications
o Able to work weekends for the Wednesday to Sunday work schedule

Questions?

Contact us at museum@kingstonhsc.ca or call 6143-548-2419.