I found this news item on Yahoo News tonight and
thought I'd post a link. According to recruiters many
candidates handle job interviews poorly and the
article contains some useful tips for getting through
this crucial stage:
http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/jobseeker/tools/ept/careerArticlesPost.html?post=156
There is simply no getting around the fact that the
number of people who want to work in the museum field
far exceeds the number of openings, particularly in
this era of cutbacks and layoffs. It was like this
when I entered the field in 1974 and has worsened in
recent years.
I went to work in a museum accidentally. After
spending 8 months searching for an entry-level
librarian position (with a new M.A. (Librarianship)
from a highly regarded program), I received 3 job
offers in one week.
One of them was from a museum which had to
interview some finalists from a Librarian I exam given
by the city after their search for a Librarian II
failed to turn up their desired candidate.
Unlike the more numerous art and history museums, this
was a multi-disclipinary museum so the fact that my
undergraduate major was in English literature was an
asset, not a drawback. Previous librarians whose
backgrounds emphasized anthropology, history or one of
the natural sciences had tended to favor the
discipline they knew best at the expense of the
others.
When grad students from library science and archival
programs would ask me how to best prepare for a job in
the museum field, I'd tell them "don't, try -- there
are so few jobs in this field across the entire U.S.,
all you will do is overqualify yourself for vast
majority of library jobs."
As it turned out, the best possible job preparation
would have included much as possible about computers,
foreign currency exchange rates, U.S. and foreign
postal regulations, budgeting and accounting, employee
supervision and (re)training, public speaking, and
writing (reports, memos, letters, reviews, grant
proposals, articles for journals and papers for
conference presentation and specifications). These
skills (part learned, part honed by experience)
obviously are helpful in a wide variety of jobs. Oh,
a reading knowledge of Latin and several foreign
languages helped quite a bit, too.
Judy Turner
Whitefish Bay, WI
____________________________________________________________________________________
Park yourself in front of a world of choices in alternative vehicles. Visit the Yahoo! Auto Green Center.
http://autos.yahoo.com/green_center/
=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:
The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).
If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).
|
