--- Jim Lyons <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >
Paula,
   I agree with Jim Lyons.  I was volunteering at the
AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario) making my presence known
there after I completed my Masters in Art history this
year.  Now I am currently working at the Peel Heritage
Complex (a museum, gallery and archives building)
where I am cataloguing, researching, teaching art
classes and working on exhibits...it was full-time in
the summer but now I am working part-time.  It's a
start, but because I know the curator and the program
assistant they have recommended me for a full-time
position at another museum.  So who you know, and
putting in volunteer time really gets your foot in the
door.  Get involved!:)
Noreen
> Paula Morton wrote:
> >Hello, I am new to this list, being a newly
> graduated History major.  Anyway,
> >I was wondering something.  The job that I have now
> is actually at a museum,
> >but basically I am a glorified desk clerk.  I
> answer phones and give tours.
> >Now, how valuable is this experience in getting a
> job?   I have an
> >opportunity to get another such job, and I wasn't
> sure if it would be worth
> >it to take it, or to just volunteer instead, and
> get a higher paying job out
> >of the sector.  at the first job I had an
> opportunity to do some cataloging
> >and help with a few school programs, but I don't
> know about this one.  so
> what so you think?  I'd appreciate the help.
>
> =============
>
> Sept 5, 2001
>
> Paula,
>
> A year ago someone wrote asking the group a question
> not too
> different from yours.  I'm repeating my answer to
> him in hopes a part
> of it may prove helpful.
>
> -Jim Lyons
>
> =============
>
> >>I am finishing my masters thesis in October.
> Recently, I applied for a
> >job
> >>at a museum and did not even get an interview. I
> would like to know
> >>if anyone has advice on how to get my foot in the
> door. Over and
> >>over again
> >I
> >>have heard that you have to know somebody.
> However, I do not want to get
> >a
> >>job this way. Does anyone have advice? Thank you
> >>Christian Trabue
> >>[log in to unmask]
>
> ===========
>
> "...>There is a regular check list of suggestions on
> this list which has
> >included:
>
> >1) volunteering in your local museum to get
> personally known and
> >build experience..."
>
> (From Roger Smith)
>
> ===========
>
> Sept 7, 2000
>
> Christian,
>
> I believe Roger has given you some good ideas, of
> which I only copied
> the one above.
>
> I heartily second the suggestion you volunteer at a
> museum where you
> are considering applying for a paid position. There
> are several
> reasons:
>
> 1) You will meet and get to know the people you will
> be working with, and
>
> 2) They will get to know you as well. If you are
> pleasant and
> competent it will be noticed.
>
> 3) After a while you may find that, egads, you
> wouldn't work there if
> they paid you :-). You may not like the people, the
> work, or some
> little thing you don't know yet even exists. You may
> even discover
> that the museum field is not for you. It happened to
> me once (not in
> the museum field), much to my surprise.
>
> 4) You will know the ins and outs of the place and
> hopefully will be
> able to learn something about the workings of
> several departments.
> Perhaps one dept. will appeal to you more than the
> others. (Granted,
> a job in that dept. may not open up, but if you're
> in another job in
> the museum when one does, maybe you can transfer
> into it.)
>
> 5) When you say you don't want a job just because
> you know someone, I
> think you're saying you don't want the job because
> you're the bosses
> son (or some such). Right? Volunteering is another
> way to know
> someone - a highly honorable way. The director will
> know you and your
> work. Obviously I can't speak for anyone else, but
> if I was the
> director and had a job opening, the first place I'd
> look would be to
> the people I knew both as a person and as a worker.
> Of course you
> have to make it known that if a position opens up,
> you would like to
> be considered for the job. It wouldn't do at all for
> them to think
> you loved working the midnight to 8am shift at
> Sleezie's Fast Foods.
>
> Here's another suggestion. Look around for some
> project that no one
> there can do, and learn how to do it well. You may
> become a very
> highly valued member of the volunteer staff. And you
> can bet it will
> look good in the director's eyes.
>
> For example, now that I'm retired I volunteer at two
> museums, the
> Moffett Field Museum and the Museum of American
> Heritage in Palo
> Alto, Calif. Because in my previous profession - 25
> years as a
> full-time dealer in historical newspapers - I have
> done a fair amount
> of deacidification and encapsulation work at Moffett
> Field, as well a
> setting up a rather extensive display of old
> newspapers dealing with
> dirigibles and flight. At the moment I'm the only
> one there able to
> do those things.
>
> In addition, Moffett Field had an old and incomplete
> dogtag-making
> machine that no one could work. I restored it from
> the parts of an
> old typewriter and taught myself how to work it.
> Then I hunted all
> over creation trying to find a supply of dogtag
> blanks. But it paid
> off. At the 1999 Air Show at Moffett myself and two
> other volunteers
> I trained made (and sold at a good profit for the
> Museum) over 400
> dogtags.
>
> And, at the Museum of American Heritage in Palo
> Alto, Calif., earlier
> this year we had a .50-caliber machine-gun on
> display and someone
> messed with it. I was the only one around who knew
> how to put it
> together again. It was a little thing, perhaps, but
> little things add
> up.
>
> So volunteer and make your self highly valuable to
> the museum. All
> else being equal, I'd say you would have a whale of
> an advantage over
> someone else applying for the job you want.
>
> Hope this has been of some help.
>
> -Jim
> --
> -Jim Lyons
>
> [log in to unmask]
> http://www.jimlyons.com

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