The role
Are you a confident, personable, hard-working, innovative manager looking for a new adventure?
Do you have experience in a busy commercial, customer-facing business and have a love of the outdoors?
Whether you are already an established and successful small business manager, or strive to become one, we’d love to hear from you!
Porthpean Outdoor Education Centre is Cornwall’s leading provider of school camps and outdoor adventure. Our Centre Manager will hold the overall responsibility for our awesome centre, leading both our commercial activities and our fantastic team of staff, maintaining and improving our existing business, whilst developing and driving new opportunities.
As the Centre Manager, you’ll need to:
Do the people stuff!
- Act as role model for your team, instilling trust and respect. Motivate and lead by example; get stuck in, be a team player but instinctively be the natural leader
- Manage staff rostering, HR issues, staff reviews, and control labour costs
- Deal with customer comments and queries, acting as the highest point of contact, being responsive to the needs of our guests, finding solutions at all times
Do the accountable stuff!
- Ensure staff adhere to safety regulations, assess risk and act upon any arising issues
- Lead on compliance, and all matters Health and Safety and Food Safety
- Prepare and host weekly management meetings
- Crunch numbers and look for answers. Always seek to improve on how an operation can be more efficient
- Prepare performance and financial reports for the Managing Director
Do the fun stuff!
- Plan and implement programmes of outdoor activities for a range of ages and abilities, working closely with the Activities Manager
- Enjoy taking part in activities and games!
- Engage with our wonderful guests (children and adults), ensuring they have the best experience possible.
Do the operational stuff!
- Oversee catering and housekeeping functions
- Manage the upkeep of all facilities, buildings, and beach operations
- Problem-solve when things don’t go to plan
- Be resourceful. Get excited about getting the best deal!
Do the innovative stuff!
- Evaluate the success of the centre and come up with new activities and ideas to meet changing demands
- Introduce new systems and policies for smoother, more efficient work practices
- Generate income during quieter times by experimenting with new provision, perhaps not normally associated with typical outdoor pursuits.
About you
To succeed in this role, you will first and foremost be a genuine and personable person.
You will have established leadership, management, and development skills with the ability to inspire, motivate and lead a team. You must be an excellent communicator, both written and oral. You are recognised as a role model for customer service.
Although you like things to be perfect, you are task orientated with proven ability to deliver projects on time. You also hold key decision-making skills, with the ability to stay calm in difficult situations. You are literate in MS Office and confident with general software programmes and IT.
You have a lot of energy! You are in good health and physical strength to carry out the core responsibilities involved at an outdoor education centre. You are passionate about outdoor education and the benefits our centre offers to children and young people.
You are commercially aware and results-driven, with experience of meeting targets. You are accountable. You will recognise that the buck will stop with you. You will relish the responsibility and the many opportunities this role will give you.
You live locally to the Cornish south coast and are passionate about Cornwall and all it has to offer. You hold a Full UK Drivers licence, with unrestricted access to a vehicle.
You are ambitious but recognise that ambition can be realised in one workplace. As we are looking for a long-term employment, we will provide what’s needed to help achieve your career goals. We will create a path for you to excel in your current role, as you take on further responsibility and reward. Your ambition will match that of our company and you will grow alongside it.
Why join us?
A role like this does not come up too often. We know how special Porthpean Outdoor Education Centre is and what a truly inspiring place it is to call work.
In advertising this post, we offer a unique location and workplace, we will provide a broad range of responsibilities and challenges in a rewarding and satisfying fun, upbeat environment.
We are a team, and as such, everyone is highly valued and treated as an equal, with our ethos built around the knowledge that without every single person’s hard work and positivity, we cannot offer the complete service our customers deserve.
We work hard to ensure our strong culture is cohesive with a shared sense of purpose. As a small, yet ambitious Cornish-owned company, we want you to share our vision and strategy to achieve long-term goals in an honest, respectful, and meaningful workplace.
With industry-leading pay rates and a commitment to support your learning and development, we put your career path and needs at the core of our business. We offer a health and wellbeing package which includes health insurance and free meals on duty (when kitchen open).
What you need to apply?
Whilst you will need a certain level of experience and evidenced skill sets on your CV to make the next step in our recruitment process, personality and a desire to get the job is key.
As an outdoor education centre, we very much welcome applications from those holding relevant outdoor activity qualifications, however, you will be assessed more so on what you can offer to the business away from activity delivery. We welcome applications from anyone from backgrounds in hospitality, education, and small business management.
Don’t think what could be, apply today and change tomorrow.
The detail
Start date: Thursday 4 January 2024
Reports to: Managing Director
Salary: From £35,000, depending on qualifications and experience
Hours: 42 hours per week. Holiday 28 days
Location: Porthpean Outdoor, Porthpean, St. Austell, Cornwall PL26 6AZ
Contract: Full time, permanent, after a probationary period of 12 months
