About the position
DutiesSenior guide-interpreters are responsible for helping ensure the smooth delivery of front-line visitor services on-site at Rideau Hall. As a senior guide-interpreter, you will plan and deliver training to a team of student guide-interpreters who offer guided tours, facilitate educational and public programming, staff the skating rink during the winter and assist at official events. You will also be responsible for taking on the tasks of the student guide-interpreters yourself when required, in particular, delivering tours of Rideau Hall to a variety of audiences, including school groups, international tourists, visiting dignitaries, and guests of the governor general, as well as handling various daily administrative tasks. Administrative tasks include, among others, responding to emails, answering the public phone line, making tour reservations in our digital booking system and creating daily schedules for student guide-interpreters.
In this position, you will work in a fast-paced environment that encourages you to proactively problem solve and use sound judgement. There can be competing priorities within tight deadlines and frequent, last-minute changes. While some days the work is mostly done at your desk, other days are spent on-site assisting the team and interacting with the public.
We are therefore looking for someone who is action-oriented, dedicated to offering high-quality client service and committed to working within a small, bilingual, multidisciplinary team.
Would you like to work at a historic site with a team of dynamic employees? Witness history in the making? This job might be perfect for you!
Work environmentThe Office of the Secretary to the Governor General is a small department of approximately 165 employees within the Core Public Administration that supports the governor general in carrying out their role and responsibilities. The workplace is located on the historic grounds of Rideau Hall, 1 Sussex Drive, just minutes from downtown Ottawa. The site is open to the public and welcomes more than 300 000 visitors each year to take part in the various activities offered. A second official residence and workplace is located at the Citadelle of Québec, in the City of Québec.
The Visitor Services and Exhibits team is responsible for the development and delivery of the guided tour program at both official residences, art and exhibits within the residences, and educational and public programming. We recognize that the services we provide are positively impacted by having a diverse and inclusive team. Our team is committed to fostering and encouraging a culture of acceptance, diversity, inclusion and accessibility, and we are continually striving to build a workplace representative of our country's diverse talents, backgrounds and perspectives. Through this staffing process, we encourage all members of employment equity groups to self-identify on their application.
In support of our commitment to achieving employment equity goals, candidates self-identifying as belonging to one of the employment equity groups may be considered before other candidates.
Intent of the process
The immediate need is to staff one (1) senior guide-interpreter position on a determinate (1 year) basis at Rideau Hall in Ottawa. A pool of partially or fully qualified candidates may be established from this selection process and may be used to staff similar positions with various tenures, linguistic profiles and security clearances throughout the public service.
Positions to be filled
1
Important messages
We are committed to providing an inclusive and barrier-free work environment, starting with the hiring process. If you need to be accommodated during any phase of the evaluation process, please use the Contact information below to request specialized accommodation. All information received in relation to accommodation will be kept confidential.
When responding to the screening questions, you must clearly demonstrate how you meet each criteria (education and experience) by providing concrete, specific examples of actions that speak directly to the experience sought. Include when the example took place (month-year to month-year), the background of each situation, what you did, how you did it, what your role was in the situation, and what was the outcome.
Résumés may be used as a secondary source of information to validate the qualifications described. Comments such as "refer to my attached résumé" will not be accepted and may result in your application being rejected.
Please note that having the asset qualifications is not mandatory in order to apply to this process. However, the asset qualifications may be invoked at any time of the selection process including the screening stage. Therefore, if candidates have the asset experience qualifications, candidates should also clearly describe in their answers to the screening questions how they meet these qualifications using detailed, concrete example(s).
You need (essential for the job)
Your application must clearly explain how you meet the following
EDUCATION
A secondary school diploma or employer-approved alternatives (see Note 1).
Note:
1. The employer-approved alternatives to a secondary school diploma are:
o A satisfactory score on the Public Service Commission test approved as an alternative to a secondary school diploma; or
o An acceptable combination of education, training and/or experience.
o Candidates who have achieved a satisfactory score on the Public Service Commission test approved as an alternative to a secondary school diploma; and
o Candidates who have been appointed or deployed for an indeterminate period to a position in the PM classification.
Learn more about degree equivalency.
EXPERIENCE
EX1. Experience serving as a guide-interpreter for a range of audiences in the cultural and/or heritage field.
Applied / assessed at a later date
COMPETENCIES
C1. Demonstrating integrity and respect.
C2. Thinking things through.
C3. Working effectively with others.
C4. Showing initiative and being action-oriented.
C5. Client service oriented.
ABILITIES
A1. Ability to communicate effectively in writing.
A2. Ability to communicate effectively orally.
A3. Ability to apply a variety of interpretation techniques in the delivery of presentations, tours, programs or activities.
A4. Ability to do research for the purpose of developing reference or training documents.
A5. Ability to develop and deliver training workshops on various themes or content interpreted during guided tours and other activities.
You may need (asset qualifications)
May be applied / assessed at a later date
AQ1. Successful completion of an undergraduate programme in history, social/human sciences, communications, political sciences, or any related field OR an acceptable combination of education, training and/or experience.
Learn more about degree equivalency.
AQ2. General knowledge of Canadian history.
AQ3. Experience taking reservations for an institution with a touristic or cultural vocation.
Equity, diversity and inclusion
The Public Service of Canada is committed to building a skilled and diverse workforce that reflects the population it serves. We promote employment equity and encourage you to self-declare if you belong to one of the designated employment equity groups when you apply.
Learn more about diversity and inclusion in the public service.
OTHER INFORMATION
• The ability to communicate effectively in writing will be assessed via the application process.
• Failure to provide the information as instructed will result in your application being rejected. You will not be solicited for incomplete or missing information.
• A random selection and/or a top-down selection may be used at certain stages of the assessment. Asset qualifications can also be used at any point in the process as part of a volume management strategy or to determine the ideal selection of a candidate(s) to fill a position(s).
• Our intention is to communicate with candidates via email. You must include in your application a valid e-mail address and make sure that this address is functional at all times and accepts messages from unknown users (some email systems block these types of email). It is your responsibility to provide any changes to your personal information to the contact indicated on this job advertisement.
• You may be assessed using a variety of assessment tools, such as, but not limited to: standardized tests, written exams, interviews, simulation exercises, reference checks (the Assessment Committee reserves the right to contact references other than those provided by the candidates, within the public service only, if found necessary, in order to adequately assess the candidates), recent and past performance evaluations, self-assessments, candidate achievement records, etc.
• Please note that candidates (including employees of the public service) will not be considered to be in travel status or on government business, and that travel costs will not be reimbursed. Consequently, candidates will be responsible for travel costs.
• You must provide proof of your education credentials. If you were educated outside of Canada, you must have your certificates and/or diplomas assessed against Canadian education standards. For more information please click on “Degree Equivalency” in the Education section above.
• Persons are entitled to participate in the selection process in the official language of their choice (English or French). Applicants are asked to indicate their preferred official language in their application.
• Official language proficiency could be assessed and required solely upon appointment. Candidates who have valid second language evaluation (SLE) results are to provide proof of their test results. It is the responsibility of those candidates who do not have their results to obtain them from the Public Service Commission (PSC).
• Second language evaluation (SLE) Test of reading comprehension: Candidates who do not already have a valid result or who have an expired result on the Public Service Commission's Second Language Evaluation may be invited to take the new Public Service Commission unsupervised test of reading comprehension for level C. For more information, please refer to this link:
https://www.canada.ca/en/public-service-commission/services/second-language-testing-public-service/unsupervised-test-reading-comprehension-level-b-or-c/about-the-test.html
• Second language evaluation (SLE) Test of written expression: Candidates who do not already have a valid result or who have an expired result on the Public Service Commission's Second Language may be invited to take the new Public Service Commission unsupervised test of written expression for level B. For more information, please refer to this link:
https://www.canada.ca/en/public-service-commission/services/second-language-testing-public-service/unsupervised-test-written-expression.html
• Second language evaluation (SLE) Test of Oral Language Assessment: Candidates who do not currently have a valid or recent result or who have expired result on the Public Service Commission's Second Language Evaluation will be invited to take the new Public Service Commission Oral Language Assessment for level C. For more information, please refer to this link:
https://www.canada.ca/en/public-service-commission/services/second-language-testing-public-service/oral-language-assessment-sle.html