Aquarist

Blue Planet Aquarium

Job Title: Aquarist

Location: Blue Planet Aquarium – Ellesmere Port

Contract Type: Full time, permanent contract, working 5/7 days including working weekends, bank holidays and throughout the school holidays during the aquariums peak times.

Salary: £18,137.60 per annum

Job Description:

This is an exciting opportunity for an enthusiastic, hardworking Aquarist with a passion for animals and animal conservation to join our zoological team at the Blue Planet Aquarium.

Join the team at the Blue Planet Aquarium where we offer visitors a the chance to experience a huge collection of fish, including one of Europe’s largest collection of sharks in a huge 3.8 million litre tank with one of the longest underwater viewing tunnels in the world!

We’re looking for individuals who want to join the Aspro team and live our values of:

· Customer Service

· Honesty

· Respect

· Focus on Results

· Teamwork

· Personal development

We are also here to sell fun and this is what makes us so unique. Each day we look at working in a fun and friendly environment. So, if you have a passion to work in the leisure industry, can offer outstanding customer service to all our visitors and you aren’t afraid of hard work, then we may just have the job for you!

Duties/ Responsibilities:

The responsibilities of the Aquarist will be varied, challenging, but extremely rewarding.

Reporting to the Displays Supervisor, you will be responsible for ensuring highest standard of animal care and husbandry. You will be responsible for maintaining and developing all displays, including freshwater and marine exhibits, amphibians and reptiles, invertebrates, pelicans and our 3.8 million litre shark exhibit. Promoting public education and awareness in relation to conservation of biodiversity and delivering a memorable and entertaining experience to visitors.

You’ll be responsible for the maintenance plans of the life support systems along with the cleanliness and presentation of all of our displays. You will ensure suitable diets and feed plans are in place for our creatures, as well as continuing to develop our excellent animal welfare across the aquarium

Key Skills Requirements

Essential:

· Degree in Biology, Marine Biology, Zoology Aquaculture or related field

· A great working knowledge of aquarium life support systems is essential

· Have expertise in the ecosystems and animals represented by their exhibit themes. This includes basic knowledge of animal anatomy, behaviour, environmental parameters and recognition of common heath concerns.

· Have advanced knowledge of common animal health issues. Exercise sound judgement to evaluate animal health and identify concerns as they arise.

· An advanced knowledge of water chemistry and life support equipment with the ability to identify and troubleshoot problems.

· Experience with quarantine and holding protocols for aquatic animals.

· Proven competency in the application of Microsoft Office, Word, PowerPoint and Excel computer programs is required.

· Accurate oral and written communication skills.

· Ability to keep accurate and up to date records to ensure quality animal management and welfare at or above industry standards.

Desirable:

· Previous experience within an Aquarist role - experience working with aquatic and terrestrial animal husbandry, including fresh and saltwater fish, reptiles, amphibians and birds

· Plumbing, construction and exhibit renovation experience.

· Project management experience

· Basic carpentry, plumbing and horticultural skills are considered an asset

Why work for us?

Aspro Parks is a multinational company which operates more than 60 leisure attractions in Europe. Here in the UK Aspro owns Blue Planet Aquarium, Deep Sea World, Bristol Aquarium, 4 Blue Reef Aquariums, Smugglers Adventure and Oakwood Theme Park.

Our business depends on our visitors enjoying their experience, whether that’s leaving our aquariums inspired to care more about the environment, to thrill-seekers riding Drenched, one of the tallest, steepest and wettest water rides in Europe! It takes a very diverse and richly talented team to keep the show on the road and we work hard in getting these individuals on board!

Here at Aspro, we make sure our employees are well taken care of. We recognise that their hard work and dedication are the driving force behind our success. Our work environment is built on mutual respect and professionalism. We have a team of highly knowledgeable individuals with the experience and technical expertise to ensure we are the best at what we do!

How to apply

If interested, please send your CV & covering letter to Kim Jones, Aspro UK Group HR Manager, c/o Blue Planet Aquarium, Cheshire Oaks, Cheshire, CH65 9LF. Your application letter should highlight why you would be able to fulfil this key role within the organisation and demonstrate how you meet our requirements. Equally, you can apply on our Indeed platform by searching for Aspro UK!

Aspro UK are an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, and veteran or disability status.

Closing Date: 8th January 2021

We do recognize the time and effort it takes to apply for a position, however as an employer of choice we receive a high volume of applications and in the interests of economy, Aspro UK does not notify candidates who have been unsuccessful in their application; consequently if you have not heard from us within 4 weeks of the closing date, please assume that you have not been successful on this occasion.

Want to work for Aspro UK but don’t feel that this position suits your skills or experience? Then why not ‘Like’ our ASPRO UK FACEBOOK PAGE - https://www.facebook.com/AsproUKRecruitment

Just click on the ‘WORK FOR US’ tab and then ‘CREATE LIVE JOB ALERTS’. You will then be notified of any live vacancies across our 10 sites.

Application Deadline: 08/01/2021

Job Types: Full-time, Permanent

Salary: £18,137.60 per year

Work remotely:

Email Cv & Cover letter to davido@blueplanetaquarium.co.uk or apply via indeed.co.uk

FYI

This vacancy has been posted out to the many thousands who read the popular Zoo Jobs Blog Page and then on to the 129,400 plus followers of the ZooNews Digest Facebook Page. It is then immediately forwarded on to Twitter and then to Pinterest and Linkedin (8,000+ connections). Many vacancies are shared to individuals and groups. In short your vacancy will have the potential of reaching something in the region of some 80,000 plus people within 24 hours. Most of these people are working in a zoo environment, Keepers, Curators, Vets, Zoo Directors, Trainers, Aquarists and more.

ZooNews Digest has subscribers in over 1200 Zoos in 150+ countries. Zoo professionals are International.

The number of people who will actually read the posted vacancy will actually be considerably less. Usually this will be between two hundred and three thousand. This will depend on the type of post, the time of the year and where it is located…of course not all will apply. I wish you the very best of luck in finding the right candidate for your post.

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