Jobs

People in various poses attending an exhibition launch in front of a bright yellow room
Credit: Kate Green 2021

Work with us

Our staff are essential for the success of our lively arts centre.

We need a diverse range of people to look after our visitors and run our artistic events, conferences, courses, café KILN and MAC bar. That’s where you come in.

Discover your perfect role at MAC, whether you’re a producer or technician, customer service assistant or artist tutor, finance manager, administrator or something else.

We’re proud to offer a fantastic work environment that values diversity, wellbeing and teamwork. We want our team to reflect the people of Birmingham who use our spaces, so we welcome applications from everyone. Having a broad range of opinions, beliefs and experiences in our team helps us to find better ways to do things. We are working to remove barriers and provide equal opportunities for everyone to join the team.

You can find out more about our approach to recruitment, and what to expect through the process below.

Find out more

What we are looking for in new team members

We want to meet people who are interested in the work we do. It would help your application if you visit our venue before you apply or come for an interview, to get a sense of who we are and how we work.

MAC is a place where your uniqueness, personality and skills are valued in equal parts. We care about your ability, enthusiasm and potential. We do have specific requirements for particular roles. Beyond wanting to hear about how you meet those requirements, we try to remove any unnecessary barriers to us finding you.

If there's any aspect of our recruitment process that you feel we could improve, let us know. We are definitely open to learning and adapting.

How we advertise

All our vacancies are listed here on our website and linked from other relevant external websites, depending on the nature of the role.

Each role is advertised with a job description and person specification which includes the required skills for that role. Don't be put off if you don't tick every box, we know that some candidates will need additional time and training in some areas.

We will always include:

  • A job title
  • Salary details
  • Whether the role is full-time or part-time, or if we are open to discussion
  • A closing date for applications
  • The date of interviews and details of the interview panel
Responding to our job ads

We won't usually ask you for a CV. Instead, we'd like you to describe your skills and experience, and explain to us why you would be perfect for the job.

We'll also usually ask some questions that are about the role; these are an opportunity to show us that you know your stuff.

One way to show relevant experience is through a previous role in a similar environment to ours. But transferable skills from other roles are just as valuable. Do include other experiences outside of work or education, that demonstrate to us that you have a wider-range of skills and knowledge for example as a volunteer or carer.

Ultimately, we want to know why you’d be great at this role, and we don't mind how you share this with us. Applying in writing using our Hireful application system is most common, the form will be linked to from each job advert. If you prefer, you can also apply via email, and we will upload the contents to the application portal for you. If you'd be more comfortable applying using audio or video formats then we are happy with that – these should be emailed to [email protected] either as an attachment or a link to a file sharing site where they can be downloaded

We aim for our recruitment process to be fully inclusive. We can arrange things like having an interview buddy, extra time at interviews/assessments and receiving interview questions prior to interview, to name a few examples.

If you would like to talk to use about these or any other adjustments to the recruitment process for a role you are applying for please contact Ceri or Emma in our HR Team on [email protected] or 0121 446 3200.

Whilst we recognise and value the importance of AI at work, we would encourage you to take the time to complete your application without the use of AI; no AI tool can create the personal touch that you can inject into your own application

Meeting the team before the application is submitted

We aim to organise an online Q&A session for each job role. This is a useful opportunity to meet the Manager of the department you are applying to before the submission date. This group session will run for 30 minutes and will cover the different aspects of the day to day experience of the role, and information about recruitment. There will be a chance to ask questions. If you need additional support accessing this meeting, please let us know beforehand.

How we'll assess your application

All our applications are assessed anonymously. We'll hide your name and any signs of your gender, heritage or upbringing. That is obviously more difficult for audio and video applications so we will be mindful of the context when we assess those.

We recognise how much time and effort goes into crafting and submitting an application, so we’ll review each with the same care and attention. At this stage we will assess your application against the essential and desired criteria in the advertised job description.

Interviews

We will let you know if you have been selected for an interview by the date advertised on the job advert. We will contact you by email or phone.

We will ask if you have any access requirements or need adjustments for the interview.

Interviews are usually held in person at MAC, but first-round interviews sometimes take place by video call.

We understand that interviews can make people nervous. We want you to feel comfortable so you can be yourself and shine!

For your interview, we ask that you dress comfortably, and in a way that is unique to you.

We have at least two team members at each interview. We'll let you know who, in advance. One will be the manager for that role.

You will be sent the questions to be discussed ahead of the interview, giving you time to consider your responses. Everyone applying for a role will be asked the same questions in the same order.

The panel might ask follow-up questions if they want to know more. In preparing your answers think of the experience and skills you have in relation to either the question, or the job criteria. You can use examples to answer your questions from your current role, previous roles or outside of work - think about what fits best!

Always have some back up examples - it's always best to be on the safe side.

Equally, if you aren't clear on what the question is asking you, let the interviewer know and they will try and state the question more clearly. There will be no trick questions, we are genuinely trying to give you the best platform to convince us that you'd be the perfect person for the role.

We want the interview to be a two-way process, so have questions prepared for us too. Some examples might include:

  • If you were to hire me, what might I expect in a typical day?
  • What are the challenges of this position?
  • How would you describe the organisation's culture?

You may also be asked to complete an activity or presentation which will focus on the work or skills required for the role. In most cases this will take place on the day of the interview, but for some roles we may ask you to prepare something in advance, such as a presentation for the interview panel. You will always be sent details of the activity in advance.

Letting you know

We aim to be quick in our response to any application or interview. We will always advertise the date by which you will be told if you have been chosen for an interview.

We’ll let you know if our timelines change, and you’ll hear from us no matter what the outcome of your application.

If your application doesn’t result in an interview, we’ll let you know but sadly we can’t offer feedback due to the amount of applications we receive for each role.

At the interview the panel will always confirm with you the timeframe for reaching their final decision. We’ll contact everyone we interview with the outcome of the interview.

If you are not successful this time at interview, we are happy to discuss feedback with you by email or on the telephone, whichever you prefer.

Got more questions?

If you have any questions about our recruitment process or about specific jobs, do get in touch with Emma or Ceri on: [email protected]