To All,

And in response to David Harvey in particular.

I recently subscribed to this list and have witnessed all the talk about
the availability of work [of lack thereof] for those of us who are fresh
out of college. I appreciate that people even respond to these questions
in this forum. After all, you have not volunteered to be our career
counselors.

It seems to me, one who is not yet lucky enough to be paid to work in a
museum, that there is no such thing as an entry-level job in museum
work. There is volunteer work and then there's professional work--the
latter can only be done by those with advanced degrees.

This puts those of us just starting out in an awkward position. I, for
example, am not ready to invest more money and time into more
education--especially when I am uncertain if another degree will help
advance my career. I would like to have the experience to gauge the
need/use/direction of another degree.

I have already lived off of my savings to intern, and am not able to do
this any longer.  I have also volunteered at museums. The only time I
was paid to work at a museum I was given minimal responsibility and the
corresponding amount of respect.

I think Dave Harvey's question is an important one. He asked:

>Are we only offering these formative educational and experiential
>opportunities to those lucky few who can afford such unpaid work?

And the answer is a resounding YES. I think that this fact might also
affect the diversity of staff at museums. Isn't this a concern?

I have thought at times that volunteers and interns should go on strike.
Would a strike force institutions to raise the funds to pay their
volunteers? Or would the museum die? Unfortunately, I think we're so
desperate for experience leading to paid work that we could never
organize a strike and find out what would happen. Not that I want to see
museums go under...

It seems to me that masters degrees now substitute on-the-job training.
Do museums expect to have to TRAIN anyone any more? Do intelligence and
creativity count? These are qualities that do not necessarily come with
an advanced degree.

Dave Harvey also wrote:

>This issue of how young talent is fostered and how we can increase
>entry-level opportunities is perhaps one of the most vital issues out
>there today.  This would be a marvelous issue to debate in some sort of
>professional forum.

I'd just like to ask that those who are not yet professionals, but would
like to be, be given the opportunity to contribute to that discussion.
And I mean contribute, not complain.

Thanks to all of you who are advocates on behalf of the "young talent."

Here's hoping that I haven't caused any discomfort to you (nor harm to
my chances of ever getting hired).


Rachel Coffey

[The views presented here do not reflect those of my employer, because I
don't have one.]