What are the responsibilities and job description for the Summer Temporary - Retail Assistant (40 openings) position at Berea College?
Please note that references provided at the time of application for staff positions will not be contacted until the applicant has been offered the position.
Description:
The Summer 2025 temporary positions offer three orientation dates: April 29, May 19, and June 2. Please consider these dates when applying for a summer position.
This temporary retail position works to support the BC Visitor Center & Shoppe and the Log House Craft Gallery to ensure consistent high quality store operations.
Your Key Responsibilities:
- Responsible for providing excellent customer service
- Perform all store opening and closing tasks without supervision.
- Responsible for handling money including cash drawer and deposits.
- Responsible for aspects of store operations in the absence of store managers.
- Understand how to work through situations independently seeking help when needed.
- Assists in inventory maintenance.
- Assists in keeping the store clean and organized including vacuuming, dusting, bathrooms, windows, stockrooms
Other roles/duties will be assigned as necessary to assist the College in the attainment of the goals set forth and the enhancement of a positive, respectful learning environment for all staff, faculty and students.
What You'll Bring:
High School Diploma, or equivalent, preferred
Experience required to ensure success in this position:
- Up to 1 year of retail experience or experience working with the public, preferred
- Up to 1 year of food handling, preferred (if hired for Visitor Center)
Special skills, knowledge and abilities:
- Maintain professional working relationships with store managers, staff members, campus employees and partners,
- Understand how to work through situations independently, seeking help when needed.
- Embody the ideals of Berea College: (See Workplace Expectations, above)
- Ability to work independently, take initiative in order to maintain the store, open and close the store, and run the store alone as needed throughout the week.
- Ability to handle and count cash accurately
- Ability to operate a computer, answer phone
License, certification, or registration necessary:
- Will need to get food handlers certificate through the Madison County Health Department if being hired to work the
Physical requirements:
- Ability to lift up to 25 lbs.
- Ability to stand for extended periods
- Must be able to bend, stoop, and kneel
- Must be able to navigate campus independently
- Must be able to climb up to 3 flights of stairs (Log House) and climb a ladder
Environmental conditions:
Indoors mostly, but could include working outside in the flower beds at the Log House
May be asked to work in the warehouse to help in shipping and/or receiving merchandise
Ability to operate the following vehicles or equipment:
- Proficient in operating a desktop or laptop computer
- Ability to answer the phone
- Ability to operate food prep equipment (if hired for the Visitor Center/Smoothie Bar)
Founded in 1855, Berea College is nationally recognized as the first coeducational and interracial college in the South. Berea has a longstanding commitment to interracial education and is one of the most racially diverse private liberal arts colleges in the United States. With an emphasis on service to Appalachia and beyond, Berea enrolls more than 1,500 students from 46 states and U.S. territories and more than 70 countries. Berea College admits students who are unable to afford tuition and provides all of them with a no-tuition promise, valued at more than $204,000. Berea’s students excel in the College’s supportive yet demanding academic environment, and most are the first in their families to attend college. As one of only nine federally recognized Work Colleges, all Berea students are expected to work 10-12 hours weekly in various positions across campus. Berea College is listed #20 in overall ranking in the U.S. by the Wall Street Journal/College Pulse college rankings, 2023. The Washington Monthly ranks Berea College #2 Best Liberal Arts College and #1 in Social Mobility, 2023. Money Magazine ranks Berea #20 Best Overall College and #10 for Best in the South, 2023. Berea College is also the only institution in Kentucky to receive the 5-Star Rating from Money Magazine, 2023.
Located where the Bluegrass Region meets the Cumberland Mountains, the town of Berea (pop. 16,000) lies forty miles south of Lexington and is approximately two hours from Cincinnati, Louisville, and Knoxville. More information about Berea College is available at www.berea.edu.
Berea College, in light of its mission in the tradition of impartial love and social equality, welcomes all people of the earth to learn and work here.
Berea College is always looking for talented, self-motivated individuals to join our team.
Berea College is an Equal Opportunity Employer that recruits and hires qualified candidates without regard to race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, disability, or veteran status.
This position is not eligible for benefits, however, Berea College still offers unique position opportunities you can read more about below.
Our Unique Culture:
Berea College strives to be a place where people with various Christian interpretations, different religious traditions, and no religious traditions work together in support of Berea's Great Commitments.
Over the past century, various leaders of the College have applied the College’s inclusive scriptural foundation and spirit to their expanding world and welcomed those whose beliefs were consistent with the Christian gospel of impartial love. Therefore, Berea College today affirms its inclusive Christian tradition even as it respects the traditions of Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, and Hindus, as well as other faiths, and those holding no religious beliefs. We strive not to ignore our differences, but rather seek to understand each other honestly and respectfully, and together create a climate where anyone can openly discuss what they believe without fear of sanction. To that end, all persons who are willing to share in the spirit and the work of the Great Commitments as shaped by its preamble are welcome to study, to teach, and to work at Berea
Labor Supervision:
In support of Berea College’s great commitments, staff and faculty serve as labor supervisors. Our fourth great commitment, The Dignity of Labor, promotes learning and serving in community through the student Labor Program, honoring the dignity and utility of all work, mental and manual, and taking pride in work well done. Student Labor Supervision includes scheduling, assigning, and approving student work, developing students' workplace acumen, and providing tangible work experience. To learn more about the labor program office please see the following link Labor Program Office.
Salary : $204,000
