Bookseller (children’s) and Schools Liason Officer

Book-ish is an award-winning independent bookshop based in the Brecon Beacons in Mid Wales. As a hub of the community for over 14 years, we are lucky to have a very engaged and passionate customer base who love what we do,

We are looking for a passionate and dedicated bookseller to form the core of our team, in this instance there will be a particular focus on Children’s book and school events. Your role will be wide ranging, but at the end of the day it all comes down to a true love of books.

Key Responsibilities

• Welcoming and helping customers, providing a friendly face and expert guidance
• Manage point-of-sale operations, processing purchases efficiently
• Unpack, process, and display new book arrivals, ensuring our shelves are stocked and inviting
• Organise and maintain appealing shelves and displays, including promotional setups
• Offer personalised book recommendations and foster meaningful relationships with customers
• Handle customer communications via email and messages, ensuring a responsive and thoughtful service
• Respond to telephone enquiries and manage in-store queries
• Assist in the daily operations of the shop, handling returns and other day-to-day tasks
• Coordinate and participate in store events such as book clubs, author signings, and other community engagements
• Coordinate and patriciate in external events in schools and other venues.
• Engage in content creation for our social media.
• Some children’s book buying
• Help create a welcoming and inspiring store environment that encourages repeat visits
• Support the owners with various tasks and contribute to special projects

Person Description

We hire a little differently. For us, the right person outweighs qualifications and experience every time, so we don’t have people descriptions for our roles or minimum experience requirements and the like.

Instead, we have core traits/behaviours that are a good indicator of being a fit for our team across all roles:

• You’re a book lover
• You’re a great communicator, both written and verbal, who can get on well with people from all walks of life
• You’re driven, always wanting to improve and help the business succeed
• You’re kind and friendly, with a good sense of humour
• You’re a self-starter who can use your own initiative
• But, you can also work well with teammates
• You have great attention to detail
• You’re flexible and versatile
• You have a creative flair
• You’re comfortable taking direction and listening to advice from others
• You’re a quick learner
• You’re not precious about getting your hands dirty and pitching in to help in any area of the business
• You’re professional in your attitude at work
• You work well under pressure

Essential requirements

• You will require a full DBS check in order to work in schools.
• Must have a clean UK driving license and own car (you’ll need to transport books and authors between schools and event venues)
• Must be very comfortable with the use of IT systems, bookselling has it’s own unique set of systems that need to be mastered.

There’s a lot to the role, but we’ve deliberately kept the descriptions fairly short and sweet. To summarise further, all we are looking for is someone that fits into our team seamlessly and is willing to get stuck in with whatever our growing business requires- we can help get you up to speed with the rest.

Benefits

• 28 days annual leave
• Staff discount
• Free hot and soft drinks from our café
• 24/7 employee wellbeing helpline, including counselling and financial advice
• Company pension contributions (for eligible team members)
• Access to early proofs, exclusive content, and more!
• Opportunity to attend industry events

Job Type: Full-time, Permanent

Pay: Up to £24k – 26k depending on experience

Expected hours: 40 – 42.5 per week

Position to commence mid-June 2024

To apply – email [email protected] with a current CV and covering letter including a short review of your last few favourite books.

Deadline:10th May 2024