program specialist

guest service agent

trainer

manager

educator

Georgia Aquarium

The job duties are simple, efficient, and can be really fun. A typical day usually involves me working a position in the show, which is either a spotlight operator, or a wardrobe coordinator. In the morning, we would test the equipment, the lights, the audio, the video, and set props and costume pieces. And then, we mostly just worked on secondary projects until it's show time. Shows lasted no more than 30 minutes each, and as a spotlight operator I would do dolphin pickups, and as a wardrobe coordinator I would be the running crew behind the stage, and handing off props to the performer. 

During this job, I was able to be forklift trained, I took all kinds of educational classes about the other animals in the aquarium, learn about the dolphins, and a little bit about zoonotic diseases and prevention. I learned more about Martin 2000 fixtures and Martin III fixtures because our lighting rig was full of them. 

The job security is terrible. I have been a part-time employee for a year and a half, and I worked very hard. Any time they need me to come in and cover a shift I would drop what I was doing and come in immediately. I never would fill out request forms because I wanted to work. I would go out of my way to make sure that all tasks were completed and I would ask others if they needed help on projects. And I understand the point of waiting for an open position in full-time, but what keeps happening here is this. The Georgia Aquarium keeps taking these full-time positions and splitting them into two part-time positions. It's extremely frustrating to see all these positions that I would be excellent in just slip by because the Aquarium has decided it wants to suddenly hire only part-time workers. 

The management staff is a quite slow to make decisions effectively. There would be orders for parts, such as paint or props, on standby for months because they can't make an effective decision. We need parts to complete our jobs. If we don't have what we need to finish a project, then we can't complete it. There is no passion or support for the employees. I feel the management would stretch its crew members to limit in order to save a dime somewhere else in the budget. They would do this by making them come in on their days off, or alter the schedule completely and have people work different positions because the hours on a couple of crew members were limited. For example, they would also rather have employees who work as a Lighting director or a spot operator run the wardrobe position for a several days (which is not what they were trained to do) because management has the actual wardrobe coordinator as a part time employee and can't cover the rest of the week.

As a former employee, I don't regret my time here but I would never want to be employed with this company again.  While it is true that it can be a rewarding experience, most of the time it's just incredibly stressful and physically taxing. During my time here, we were confusingly scheduled, often severely understaffed on extremely busy days. The pay is a joke. And if you care to work here because you want to learn about the animals, try a different department. Seriously. We had to get special permission to access e-courses on the animals, or hunt down the trainers when they weren't too busy to answer questions. You're unlikely to learn anything unless you expend an obscene amount of effort asking for the answer. If, however, a guest asks you a question about an animal or habitat, you had better know the answer! Some serious double standards going on here.

As a lower level guest services employee, we were responsible for running the animal performance guest areas (managing the queue lines & tickets), and basically acting as security during the performances (ensuring people stay seated or are able to leave safely in case of emergency, making sure no one is recording, etc.). We were responsible for handling, storing, and returning guest's filthy strollers. After an arbitrary amount of time, you may be given the opportunity to be trained on point of sales equipment, where you will use an outdated and obsolete piece of software that the managers hardly even know how to use, but expect you to master by getting one of your coworkers who knows how to use it to train you. Congrats, you now get to sit at work. In a small, dusty box with constantly malfunctioning card readers & self-checkout machines, which you have to try to fix yourself. Oh, and you won't get a raise for another couple of months. And, it'll only be like $0.25. If that's not enough for you, stick around for a while, and then you can be trained at the animal encounter desk, where you will sell tickets & check people in for the various programs offered. Alone. Still with faulty equipment. If you can do that, you'll get another $0.25 in another couple of months. Beyond that, there's really no opportunity for advancement. Sure, you can try to apply for a lead position, but it's unlikely you'll get it (why would you want to anyway? It's a whole new set of hours and responsibilities, for hardly any extra pay).

I won't even touch on the interdepartmental issues, because it's too long a list to reasonably discuss. Take my word. Read other reviews.

This is one of those companies that welcomes you to the family when you're hired. If you have another choice, take it. Run.



Upper management has no appreciation or respect for employees. They will exploit you and ask you to do the work of your superiors without the hours, pay, or benefits. They disregard the availability you have told them and schedule you whenever. You will also never have a regular schedule, and will be lucky if you know your hours a week in advance. We are also chronically understaffed. Don't expect to be trained when you start, they will just put you on the floor and expect you to figure it out on your own. Management is also wildly inconsistent in enforcing rules, so don't be surprised when standards change day to day, and person to person; just because you got in trouble for something today doesn't mean your peers will tomorrow. Also, management will tell you that there are opportunities for advancement, but they are being dishonest. There is very little room for advancement (only point of sale training and info desk training) because they rarely promote internally. So you can also expect to train your supervisor, and that they will have no clue what it is like to work your position. Management may also lie and tell you that there is possibility for hour increases, but as I said they don't promote internally and no matter how long you've been there you aren't allowed to work more than an average of 60 hours every two weeks. Pay raises are also a lie, they will tell you that once you are trained in point of sale and info desk there is a 50cent pay raise, but I've yet to hear of anyone actually getting that. 
You can make some great friends out of your coworkers though. Its a really diverse group of people, and most of them are outgoing and love being around people. So enjoy your lunch break, and laugh with you coworkers

I love everything the Georgia Aquarium stands for. Their research and conservation efforts are helping bring awareness to endangered species , recycling, and water pollution among other things. The animals are treated like royalty and receive first class care, even food. The facility is beautiful and you can tell a lot of thought and money was put in to building it. Unfortunately the aquarium doesn't do much for its community. We are up the street from the Atlanta Union Mission and not far from several other shelters and organizations that need help. We are constantly asking for donations but its not payed forward. I believe we would receive more support FROM Atlanta if we showed more support TO Atlanta. This is a great job, very fun, but i wouldn't recommend it for an individual who is looking for advancement opportunities. Those are slim to none and most managers give openings to their friends or family. Its not fair. Also there are A LOT of "bosses". Their are SO many managers, assistant managers and directors (EVEN a SENIOR manager!!!) whatever that is. Management needs work. The way they speak to employees is unacceptable. WE take classes on hospitality and customer service, They need to take classes on better managerial skills and  communication. Too many chiefs and not enough Indians!! They are constantly worrying about the budget and i believe this is part of the problem, but who am I...? My co-workers and the benefits are what has kept me here this long. I've been working here since 2007 and its time to move on!

The orientation is super deceiving. They tell you how great the company is and hype you up. They show all these videos that get you excited to work there. Management is very disoriented and not organized at all. Everything is constantly over budget. Very hard to advance and rarely any opportunities to do so. You get in trouble for sitting, making a quick phone call, and management treats everyone like they are children even if they are well into their 60s and have been there for years. They feel the company is on the level of Disney world but is no where near and is very cheap experience inside. They have a top floor that is strictly corporate and they make all the decisions there on what to do on the floor of operations without any of them actually knowing what it takes to be in the shoes of a true worker there. They are all salary based and swear that this job pays our bills so we should be doing more and will scold us for being human. Wants us to be robots and perform and misses the mark of showing true conservation efforts of animals. Thousands of complaints are made by guest and we have to take the rebuttal because of their poor budgeting and want us to make up for their incompetence. Nice animals but company itself is terrible to work for. No benefits at all for part time workers. Hours are constantly being cut to make room for corny half assed shows. Café food is disgusting and over priced even with the half off employee discount. Its $8 for a dry burger and tasteless rubbery fries. (Mind you this is what employees pay) customers pay at least $15 for that. This whole aquarium is a scam and will throw you under the bus for their incompetence.

At first, this job seemed like a dream come true. I could get to visit the aquarium for free anytime I wanted/get paid to be there, but after working here for a while the dream gets killed.

The leads, some of the assistant managers, one of the managers, and the rest of the team specialists get along pretty well. We relate a lot and communicate throughout working here, so it's hard to not get along with at least one of them.

On the other hand, the remaining of the team are very nitpicky, looking at miniscule issues and causing it to blow out of proportion, as well as not helping during our busiest times. Sometimes they help if they feel like it, but most of the time they stand there talking and mini managing workers during massive heat and people waves. They believe that they want the best for everybody, but stay in an A/C cooled office most of the time doing whatever. Most of the time it's just talking about nothing work related.

The worst part of this job has to be the people that come in and don't realize about new policies or implemented reservation requirements for the shows. You get lots of complaints and arguments, sometimes causing security to be called, but it turns into the usual pretty quickly.

I've generally enjoyed working at the Aquarium, it was a great job to have while I was a student in college but I will give it an average review. From what I took, the management in husbandry and security departments were great, but having dealt with all of the guest service managers I believe there is much room for improvement mainly in the respect that they'll say one thing to their employees and do another just to accomodate a customer, making the employee feel less empowered. Upper management is very nice and have awesome offices, but for an aquarium there are so many directors, senior directors, VP's, and Presidents that it's hard to keep track and the chain of command gets a little skewed at times. The average worker is allotted either 15 free tickets or 5 annual passes per year which was a plus and over the summer they have live bands every Friday and allow workers and volunteers 4 free tickets each to each showing. The hardest part of the job was high volume days where the aquarium could see over 10000 guests, at this point interdepartmental communication begins to get rough at times as the management gets a little more high strung. Another pro would be the company party which was definitely a blast last year being a full facility event.

Positives first- Interacting with the guests was the best part of my job. As a pinniped trainer I have presented on microphone in three variations of presentations as well as worked with guests in two variations of animal interaction programs. The animals are incredible- of course. However, it is rare for a majority of the trainers to build a strong relationship with the pinnipeds due to the amount of programs we have to accommodate.

- There is very little communication from management as to what timeline you should expect a promotion. 
- Several managers spend time on their phone instead of watching the animal session (a safety issue).
- What was a “Teamwork” mentality has become a very independent trainer structure. Personal goals are placed on priority because of pressure from management.
- This management team has often shown that they are not open to listening to their staff.
- They have become close with certain individuals and have then shown them bias- providing them major opportunities even when they are some of the least professional trainers on staff.
- New staff do not get the same opportunities to progress. Because of short-staffing certain individuals have had an early chance to work with animals- even when they were not fully prepared by the experienced staff.

Currently, as the Senior Public Relations Specialist for Georgia Aquarium, I develop and execute communications strategies to build the reputation and brand of one of the largest and most dynamic aquariums in the world.  In this role, I proactively pitch local, regional and national media outlets and have worked with some of the top national news producers and freelance writers, resulting in consistent national press coverage for Georgia Aquarium. To this end, I have led publicity campaigns that have netted $356,000 in public relations value and more than 26 million impressions. I not only maintain an existing media database, but have also established new relationships with regional, national and international media correspondents that have contributed to the attainment of $18 million in annual publicity value. 

In addition to leading external public relations endeavors, I actively work in an internal communications capacity in crafting senior level talking points, statements, opinion editorials and speeches on behalf of the Aquarium’s president, COO and other administrators.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The people in my department are wonderful specifically the managers who work very hard to make us feel appreciated and always stand up for us when guests decide their mistake is our fault.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
When the answer has to be no, guests can get very angry. They will argue and refuse to listen. They will yell and curse in front of their own children and anyone else’s.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
It’s not hard to make friends and jokes are always appreciated by coworkers and senior management alike.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Hours very daily but you’ll be in a stationary position greeting guests and either helping them scan tickets or answering their questions before they get inside. The other shift option is going to be running one of the two presentations through the day. That is mainly crowd control but also ticket checking and making sure the theaters are safe for guests to enter.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Program specialist 3 salaries reported	$15.33 per hour
Guest service agent 3 salaries reported	$14.33 per hour
Trainer 5 salaries reported	$19.78 per hour
Manager 4 salaries reported	$70,738 per year
Educator 3 salaries reported	$15.67 per hour

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