The National Trust reviews

An organisation that employs people for attitude without any real concern for aptitude or skillset. Young, mainly middle class graduates employed because of their class and the ability to impress by talking a good game. Systems and processes rolled out that are not fit for purpose. I watched as the organisation stumbled from disaster to disaster because they're constantly trying to reinvent the wheel rather than employ expertise. Staff I employed not paid for months (5 in one case), with ko one seeming to care. Support departments who are totally incompetent, usually adding to problems rather than solving them. The workload for managemt is ridiculous. Everything that's thrown at you is over communicated and ridiculously complex. You'll need to be an expert in everything from HR to budget management becausethe expectations are that you do things that in any normal company would have dedicated departments at a national level. They need to learn from other organisations. The person on here who mentioned ivory towers is spot on.

The high standards outsiders thinks the Trust stands for are rarely upheld within the organisation. Everyone gets a grand sounding job title that bears no relation to their skills and qualifications - or rather lack of....... One notable example (and just one of many........) a House and Collections Manager who had absolutely no conservation or collection management training or experience, who shamefacedly had to admit he didn't recognise the furniture beetles I presented him with on my first day. The few trained and qualified curators employed in the area were so overstretched it was no wonder properties and collections were being neglected or even actively damaged by House Stewards and other managers who just didn't know any better. Jobs tend to be handed out not on merit, but on quality of middle-class markers displayed by candidates, or just good-old fashioned nepotism. There appeared to be a trend of employing young female graduates to positions of responsibility, rather than heritage professionals with the kind of background you might expect. It took 3 months just to get paid. Other staff at the property said this was not unusual, and that being underpaid was common. I'd advise carefully checking your payslips and not letting payroll fob you off. The donor family who lived at the property were treated and spoken to so rudely by managers, that I was actually embarrassed to speak to them when I did see them about the grounds. I met quite a lot of racists, and once a manager said to me that they were 'mindful' when advertising events to avoid places that 'chavs' might hear about them. Since quitting, I have spoken to other ex-employees that have told me that my experiences were sadly very similar to their own in other properties up and down the country.