Every summer we take on extra event asset supervisors, and every summer people ask what the job involves before they apply. The short version: you drive the vans, you build the kit, you run the games on the day and you look after both the equipment and the customers while it is in your hands. This post sets out what that means in practice, and how to apply if it sounds like your sort of work.
What the job involves
An event asset supervisor is the person on site. You collect the kit from the warehouse in Rotherham, load it onto one of our vans, drive it to the event - a school fair in Sheffield one day, a corporate fun day in Doncaster the next, sometimes an exhibition at the NEC or ExCeL - and then you build it, run it, supervise it and pack it away again. On a rodeo bull that means operating the ride and judging when a rider has had enough. On a bouncy castle it means checking the anchoring, the mats and the user limits through the day. On the bigger multi-item events it means working with two or three colleagues to keep half a dozen games running at once.
The customer-facing side matters as much as the practical side. You are the face of the company at most bookings, so talking to organisers, keeping queues moving and leaving the site tidy are all part of the same job. It is work our reviews keep coming back to: Susan Hill, who books us for events through the year, said the crew "set up the equipment, explain how it all works and will pick up after the event as arranged." That sentence is essentially the job description.
A day in the job
The range is easier to show than describe. One weekend the crew took a mobile climbing wall and a stack of inflatables to ClubFest, a community festival where the feedback singled out how the staff made sure everything was safe for the children using it. Another week Kane spent a day running Segway sessions for a group of NCS teenagers, and the organiser's review picked out how helpful and encouraging he was with the group. Exhibition work is its own discipline: a Batak Pro reaction wall on a stand at the NEC needs a supervisor who can draw passers-by in, run 30-second rounds and reset the game without holding up the queue.
Between the big jobs there is the bread-and-butter work that keeps the calendar full: garden bouncy castles in Barnsley and Worksop, gazebos and PA kit for community events, hot tubs dropped off on a Friday and collected on a Monday. The supervisors who do well are the ones who treat a two-hour garden hire with the same care as an 800-kid school event.
What we look for
The requirements below come from the original job listing and they still stand:
- 16 years or older
- physically fit and able, with heavy lifting and loading of equipment and vans
- excellent communication skills, being a customer-facing role
- a team player who can also work alone
- polite and reliable
- trustworthy when working with company money
- basic knowledge and practical understanding of health and safety
- willing to work outdoors in all weathers
- ok with early starts, late finishes and some long days
Regular and casual work are both available, and the season runs busiest from spring through to October, with Christmas parties keeping a smaller crew busy in December. The vacancies shift through the year - the jobs page lists what is open right now, from event asset supervisors to delivery drivers.
Why people stay
The variety, most likely. No two bookings are the same, the venues range from back gardens in Rotherham to national exhibition halls, and the crew is small enough that your work is visible. Dean, Liam, Kane, Tom and Becky come up by name in customer reviews on a regular basis, which tells you how the team operates.
Hours and the small print
The work is seasonal and the hours follow the bookings, so nobody should apply expecting a fixed 40-hour week - regular and casual contracts both exist, and a wet bank holiday can thin out a weekend's diary. Height equipment also carries extra responsibility: staff working on the climbing walls and the taller inflatables are trained and supervised before they run that kit, and the £5m public liability policy only holds when the setup rules are followed to the letter.
If you would like more information about the jobs we offer, email events(at)dbentertainment.co.uk or call the office on 0114 345 0135.
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