Just some thoughts on the recent postings.

I have monitored the list for years (rarely posting) as a way to keep in
touch with what people are talking about in my chosen profession.  At the
moment I am looking for work in the profession but am
geographically limited.  I have not felt it to be necessary to post a resume
to the list.  Though it is a great place to search for openings.

There are many job boards that deal with our profession.  MRB and MERC, are
two active ones.  In addition many museums post openings on their web sites.
The Chronicle of Higher Education has related openings as well as the
Chronicle of Philanthropy available on line (a week old if your not a
subscriber)

 In fact looking as I have been it is almost overwhelming as to where to
start.  I have asked the administrator of the MRB if they had any feedback
on statistics of people they have placed using the "electronic resume."   It
seems that as of yet this isn't a widely available statistic.  Has anyone on
the list hired from a resume first viewed electronically?  or gone to a list
to look for an employee before posting a job?

It seems to me that while this may be "banter", it apparently concerns some
portion, at least judging by the number of postings, of our profession.
Educating, training,  and  the placement of those new to the profession is
part of a long list of related topics  that define a profession.  As such it
is something all professionals should pay attention to,  employed or not.

 I think this whole discussion has raised greater issues.  I was intrigued
by the post from the UK regarding the hiring of volunteers.  In my job
search I have heard countless of respected friends and associates tell me to
volunteer at some organization to get my "foot in the door."  I have been a
member of both the AAM and the AASLH  for a number of years  and have a
pretty good feel for the desired qualifications for most jobs available
listed through these sources.

I have been wondering if a young graduate has spent 4 years as an undergrad
then got an MA, how feasible is volunteering someplace?  Even part time. I
feel an MA shows a certain amount of commitment to the profession, moreso
when accompanied by related experiences.  I guess the question I need to ask
is why is this the only profession that seems to tell young, ambitious,
bright, new people to go volunteer until that first job comes along.  Would
an employed engineer tell a graduating engineer that.  And does this
mentality damage the profession?

Pay scales are low enough but if highly educated newcomers are volunteering
for free what incentive is there for pay scales to increase?   In my opinion
I think this is part of the reason that our profession demands (usually)
such high levels of education but pays, in general, so little for it.  And
does this situation make it more difficult
 to attract the best pool of young people interested in the joining the
profession?

    On the same line if a museum is getting the work done for free by a good
volunteer why hire (create a position) a person to do the work?  And how
often when a position does open up can you really find a qualified volunteer
from among your ranks.  I recently had this discussion with someone in
workforce development for a large mid west museum.  And I asked him, how
often do you fill your professional positions (in this instance I was
talking about a curator) from volunteers.  His answer was "never".  So I
guess then it would pay for the job seeker to know what kinds of positions
they are qualified for and judge each volunteer opportunity by what you hope
to get out of it.  If the organization has many entry level professional
positions that have a high turnover then maybe volunteering is the way to
go.  I think this is relatively rare, but never underestimate the value of
knowing the members of the search committee.

Just my thoughts.


Bill Peterson

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