In a message dated Wed, 6 Oct 1999  8:37:17 AM Eastern Daylight Time, nicholas p ciotola <[log in to unmask]> writes:


> The point that I am trying to make, perhaps longwindedly, is that there
> is no guaranteed route to success in the museum field. Choose a course of
> study, do good work, and hope that when the hunt begins, the dice land in
> your favor.

And the follow-up advice is:

NETWORK  NETWORK  NETWORK!!!

Get out there and meet people.  Do informational interviews.  Volunteer.  Go to conferences.  Post on here (but sound intelligent when you do else you'll get the opposite effect).  Get an intership.  Get a part-time job on the weekends or evenings.  Hand out tons of business cards.  Make yourself known.

I think people also get stuck in the "I must have a museum job or nothing else" rut.  Seriously now, there are plenty of jobs out there where you can utilise your skills in a non-museum environment and enjoy your work just as much as in a museum.  It's also a good way to get work experience whilst you are looking for a job that pays a living wage.  Nowadays when museum jobs are calling for no less than a master's and 5 years of experience, it's almost a given that you'll have to start out in a non-museum position just so you can make enough money to pay off your student loans not to mention get a few years of experience under your belt.  And who knows, you might find something else that you like to do more.  At least you'll get job experience and hopefully training in another field which will make you more marketable.

If you want to be a registrar, go work for a company that specializes in database management or an auction house.  If you want to be a curator, work for a historical society or a research company that's close to your field of interest.  Education people have lots of options as the field of instructional design and corporate training are big, esp. with technology-based training.  There are lots of opportunities out there.

And always be on the lookout for something.  I have a current consulting job that from a place that I applied to 6 months ago.  I didn't get the job I applied for but they brought me on afterwards.  The museum world is full of opportunities like that.  My part-time job at a museum I got a year after my interview.  Don't write something off just because you didn't get the job or they don't need help right then.

And like everyone else said, be persistant.

Deb

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