A cultural attraction HR manager staffs a museum, zoo or garden whose payroll grows each spring and shrinks each fall. They run summer hiring and onboarding and clear background checks for staff who work with kids. They also track teen work rules and coach managers on pay, discipline and safety.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
Median pay, museums, zoos and gardens · BLS, May 2025
We're hiring an HR Manager for a staff that grows each spring and shrinks each fall. You hire and onboard seasonal and year-round staff, run background checks for anyone who works with children, keep policies and records current, and help managers with pay, performance, and safety.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Run hiring for year-round and seasonal roles, with a plan to fill seasonal jobs before opening day.
Handle onboarding: offer letters, Form I-9, tax forms, policy sign-offs, and first-day training.
Run background checks for staff who work with children, as your policy and state law require.
Track work permits and hour limits for teen staff under federal and state child labor rules.
Keep the handbook and job descriptions current, and guide managers on reviews, discipline, and terminations.
Manage workers' compensation claims and safety training with the COO, including heat illness, lifting, and [animal handling].
Work with the Volunteer Coordinator so paid staff don't volunteer to do their own jobs and volunteers don't replace paid roles.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Screen applicants, schedule interviews, and send offers for open roles.
Answer staff questions about pay, schedules, benefits, and time off.
Check new hires' paperwork and background checks before their first shift.
Send payroll changes to the Bookkeeper and check timecards for errors.
Coach a manager on a staff issue, a policy question, or a complaint.
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Time to fill open roles: [your target].
Seasonal staff returning from last season: [your target].
New hires cleared before their first shift: [your target].
Early turnover among new hires: [your target].
Workplace injury rate: [your target].
5. Required Qualifications and Skills
Bachelor's degree in human resources, business, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
[4+] years in HR, including hiring and employee relations.
Working knowledge of federal and state wage, hour, and leave laws.
Experience with an HR or payroll system such as [your system].
Keeps personnel and medical records private.
6. Preferred Experience
HR experience at an attraction, camp, park, or other seasonal employer.
SHRM-CP, SHRM-SCP, or PHR certification.
Experience with a union contract, if your staff are represented.
Has written child protection policies for a camp, school, or youth-serving organization.
7. Physical Requirements
Mostly seated office work at a computer.
Walk the site to meet staff where they work.
With or without reasonable accommodation.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
Full-time, on site, with weekday office hours.
Longer hours and weekend hiring events in the weeks before opening day.
Occasional early or late visits to meet staff on every shift.
9. Compensation and Benefits
Pay: [range and hourly or salary basis].
Additional pay: [overtime, bonus or incentive terms, or none].
Benefits: [health, dental, vision, retirement, paid time off, and when they start].
10. Company Culture and Overview
[Two or three sentences on what your company does, the area you serve, and the support a new hr manager gets in the first 90 days.]
11. How to Apply
[Apply link or email]. Our process: [phone interview, in-person interview, and next steps]. Contact [hiring contact] if you need an accommodation during the application process.
Need help filling this role? HireBus posts the ad, Iris interviews every applicant by phone before you do, and you decide who to hire. Start hiring now
The staff count jumps every spring, many summer hires are students, and some rules turn on whether a nonprofit or a city runs the site.
Last season's crew can reuse their I-9
Many summer staff come back each year. USCIS lets you skip a fresh Form I-9 for a returning worker if it has been under three years since you completed their last one. You fill in a block on Supplement B instead. First check whether their work permission has expired, and reverify if it has. After three years, they fill out a new I-9. Source: USCIS Handbook for Employers M-274, 6.2: Rehired employees.
The seasonal wage exemption has strict tests
Federal law exempts some seasonal amusement or recreation businesses from minimum wage and overtime. A site qualifies if it runs no more than seven months a year, or if last year its six slowest months took in a third or less of its six busiest, on average. A public site paid for mostly by taxes fails that second test. Some states don't allow the exemption, so get a wage lawyer's view before a museum or zoo relies on it. Source: U.S. DOL Fact Sheet #18: Section 13(a)(3) exemption for seasonal amusement or recreational establishments.
Summer headcount counts for OSHA
OSHA makes some industries file their yearly Form 300A injury summary online. Museums, historical sites and similar institutions are on its list, and that industry group takes in zoos and botanical gardens. A nonprofit site files if it had 20 to 249 workers the year before, and every site with 250 or more files too. Each person who worked there during the year counts, seasonal and part-time staff included. The filing is due March 2. Source: 29 CFR 1904 Subpart E: 1904.41 electronic submission and Appendix A designated industries (eCFR).
Teen hires bring state paperwork
High school students fill many summer gate, shop and camp jobs. Federal law doesn't require work permits for minors, but many states do, and the stricter of the two rules applies. Federal hazardous job rules also ban or limit some tasks for anyone under 18, such as driving on public streets as part of the job or running most power woodworking machines. Check each job's duties before you post it. Source: U.S. DOL Fact Sheet #43: Child labor provisions for nonagricultural occupations.
How much cultural attraction HR managers make
The closest BLS group for cultural attraction HR managers is human resources managers. Human resources managers who work for museums, zoos, gardens, and historic sites earned a median of $134,550 a year ($64.69 an hour) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s below the $149,280 median for human resources managers in all industries. About 460 of the 220,660 human resources managers in that survey work for museums, zoos and gardens.
Paid a salary. A private nonprofit sets its own range and should compare it with what nearby museums, zoos and gardens pay. A government-run site may use a fixed civil service scale instead.
Museums, zoos and gardens
$134,550$134,550 median Middle half $103,500–$168,140 10th–90th $80,270–$219,590
All industries
$149,280$149,280 median Middle half $111,110–$199,290 10th–90th $88,200–$267,810
$50k$100k$150k$200k$250k$300k
10th–90th percentileMiddle halfMedianAnnual pay, May 2025. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics.
Annual pay by percentile
Group
10th
25th
Median
75th
90th
Museums, zoos and gardens
$80,270
$103,500
$134,550
$168,140
$219,590
All industries
$88,200
$111,110
$149,280
$199,290
$267,810
BLS groups museums, zoos, botanical gardens and historic sites together. Post a real range for your market in the ad.
Skills to hire for, and what you can teach
Hire for these
Has hired in volume for a seasonal or hourly workforce
Understands overtime, breaks and hour limits for hourly, seasonal and teen staff
Runs onboarding paperwork accurately for dozens of hires in a few weeks
Coaches managers through discipline and terminations with clean records
Keeps personnel and medical records private
Runs background checks by the federal rules (a separate notice, written consent, a copy of the report before saying no) and any state or city limits
Teach these on the job
How each department staffs its season, from the gate to the café
Your state's rules for teen workers
Where volunteer roles end and paid jobs begin
Safety training for animal areas, heat and lifting
Your union contract, if staff are represented
Spring hiring moves through an applicant tracking system that takes mobile applications, then into the HR and payroll system (Paycom, Paycor, UKG or similar). Add a background screening company, a scheduling app for shift swaps, and a training tracker for safety and animal-area sign-offs.
Cultural attraction HR manager interview questions
They have their own page: 6 questions that test this job, what strong and weak answers sound like, and a work exercise to run with your finalists.
Pick targets from last season's results and review them with the COO before and after each summer.
Time to fill open roles
Measure from the posting date to a signed offer for each job. Seasonal jobs need a second number: how many summer roles were still open on opening day.
Seasonal staff returning from last season
Divide the seasonal staff who come back by the number you invited back, not by everyone who worked. Ask the ones who don't return why, in a short survey each fall.
New hires cleared before their first shift
Share of new hires whose I-9, tax forms, background check and training were complete before they clocked in. Pull it from the onboarding checklist every week in spring.
Early turnover among new hires
Share of new hires who leave within their first month or before the season ends. Split it by department to see which teams lose people early.
Workplace injury rate
Use the OSHA 300 log and total hours worked to figure the rate the way BLS does, then compare it with the BLS rate for your industry. Review each injury's cause with the COO.
Career path
Seasonal hiring coordinator or HR assistantRuns spring job fairs, I-9 checks and first-day orientation.
HR ManagerOwns hiring, policies, employee relations and safety training for the whole site.
HR director at a larger museum, zoo or universityLeads an HR team, benefits and, where staff are union, contract talks.
Often, yes. The Labor Department's internship fact sheet says unpaid internships at public agencies and nonprofit charities are generally allowed when the intern volunteers without expecting pay. Build each one around real learning, such as a summer with the education or animal care team and a staff member who teaches. Never use an intern to cover a job you would otherwise pay someone to do.
How much does a cultural attraction HR manager make?
Human resources managers who work for museums, zoos, gardens, and historic sites earned a median of $134,550 a year ($64.69 an hour) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $103,500 and $168,140 a year. Pay also depends on your local market, experience and bonus terms.
What should HR do if staff want to form a union?
Call a labor lawyer early and coach managers on what not to do. The National Labor Relations Board says employers may not threaten workers or promise them perks to reject a union. They also may not pressure workers with questions about union activity or spy on it. Keep making pay and schedule calls the way you always have. If a city or county employs your staff, ask your lawyer which labor law applies.
Does a cultural attraction HR manager need SHRM or PHR certification?
The template treats SHRM-CP, SHRM-SCP and PHR as a plus. At a site this size, a record of staffing a full summer on time and handling hard terminations well says more. A certification still shows the person has studied employment law, which helps when they are the only HR person on staff.
How do we get good seasonal staff to come back?
Ask before they leave. Invite your best seasonal staff back in the fall, while the summer is fresh, and give returning staff first pick of shifts. Keep their files ready so rehiring takes days, not weeks. A returning guide can train new hires or step up to a lead role, which gives strong people a reason to pick you again over a summer job elsewhere.
