Around half of the international travellers who visit New Zealand each year visit a museum or art gallery during their holiday. For those passing through the Wellington region, Te Papa – New Zealand’s national museum – will be near the top of their ‘must do’ list.
As Te Papa’s in-house Workplace Training Coordinator I work closely with ServiceIQ to upskill the museum’s 25 tour hosts. I am also a guide myself, working two of the five days a week on the floor alongside the other guides and trainees.
Often it’s not just a matter of answering questions about what’s in the museum. If you get international people or other people who are travelling through, the other aspects of programmes like the National Certificate in Tourism (Core Skills) are invaluable.
Core Skills helps explain a position in the tourism industry and our role in a museum as a tourism attraction, and then how important our role is and the significance of us doing a good job with visitors.
As well as supporting trainees working towards ServiceIQ National Certificates, I run weekly training sessions updating the team on museum exhibitions and regular induction programmes.
We do in-house tour training when it comes to providing tours within the museum, but it doesn’t go quite as in-depth as the National Certificate in Tour Guiding. We encourage people, especially if they are permanent staff, to do the Certificate because it gives a bit more hands on training into developing tours.
The training makes a noticeable difference in staff, giving them a lot more confidence. A qualification signifies that you’ve done the learning, you’ve made the effort and you’ve enhanced your knowledge at those levels, so it’s recognition of that.
For more information, please contact ServiceIQ on 0800 863 693 or email intel@ServiceIQ.org.nz