Supporting the Business
Hello there!
It’s been a while since you heard from me, I know. Don’t worry though, I’m still knocking about. Welcome back to the world of Joe. No refunds.
I come to you now no longer a Training Museum Trainee, but the Business Support Officer for Ipswich Museums. I replaced my predecessor and friend, Ben (a bit of a legend here) who went on to pastures new.
So to give you an overview of what I do now, I’m responsible for all the bookings across our three sites: Ipswich Museum, Christchurch Mansion and Ipswich Art Gallery. These include schools, room hires for corporate or private events, internal bookings, talks and events.
Alongside taking down bookings, I’m responsible for charging and invoicing, which involves having an overview of our procurement process. I analyse and put through orders using a financial system. These can range from stationery to forklift trucks, and they each need to be coded to different budgets. I use another system for raising invoices, in order to charge for our school workshops, hires etc. It’s my job to try and find cost alternatives and liaise with our suppliers, which takes up a fair amount of my time.
As well as the financial aspects of the post, I work closely with our lovely Visitor Services and Collections and Learning Teams. I think I’m developing a strong rapport with pretty much everyone, and it feels good when people turn to me in an attempt to solve their work based problems.
I would list every single thing I do for the service, but I fear you would nod off, and this blog post would probably be too long. I’m not the only busy member of staff here, I assure you they’re all working diligently to provide a fantastic experience. I’ve seen that in the new exhibitions we’ve delivered, which generate great public interest and visitor numbers (and that’s what we all want at the end of the day).
I feel like I’ve developed into a more professional person, certainly within my time at Colchester + Ipswich Museums. I think the greatest skill I’ve developed is the ability to balance my workload. We all have that honeymoon period, where we agree to everything in order to impress and make our mark, but it’s important to let colleagues know if you’ve taken on too much. It’s made me better at my job and, as result, more valuable to Ipswich Museums.
Joe
