Christian,

If you go and visit the ARCHIVES of this list at this URL address:
http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/museum-l.html  , you will see many leads
on this topic, as it is a recurring theme.

Here is but one example (from Colin McGregor Stevens):
___________________________________________________________________________
  I would like to suggest to new graduates that they pick a target area in
which they would like to live, determine which museums they would ever like
to work with, and then check the websites of those museums EVERY MONTH or
call HR and ask about jobs EVERY MONTH if there is no employment button on
the website.

  ****** With our city, jobs are only posted for only 10 (ten) calendar
days. I would therefore suggest  * WEEKLY * checks of a job web page,
newspaper ads etc. so that you don't miss out on an opportunity.

  **** This includes the time you are on vacation. Wouldn't you just hate it
if your ideal job opened up and closed while you were on vacation? That
almost happened to me. I had vacationed at EXPO 86 in Vancouver, then
returned home over 1,800 kilometres to Saskatchewan, opened the mail and
found out about a competition for the job as Curator of Burnaby Village
Museum (next door to Vancouver). I got the job.

  **** I don't however suggest weekly phone calls as you could become
annoying, but keeping in touch with some staff there is a good idea as is
ensuring that they know how to contact you if something comes up. Staff have
to be careful to be impartial during a hiring process, but there is usually
nothing wrong with advising interested people that there is a competition.

   It has been my experience, here especially, that many jobs are not
advertised anywhere except on the website and internally (word of mouth or
job board).  . ... Wendy Willems  Director of Public and Science Programs
... Austin Children's Museum  ...

  ***** Word of mouth can be critical. While I was working on a student
employment project at a city archives, a curator from a nearby museum
mentioned that a competition was opening up for full time jobs with a
National Historic Site nearby (the RCMP St. Roch, the first vessel to
circumnavigate North America etc.) These were entry level Historic
Interpreter jobs, but I later rose to become an Interpretive Officer (like a
programmer/curator) through federal competition for internal candidates
(i.e. you can't apply unless you are already a federal employee). Years
later I dropped by a military museum and bumped into a former curator whom I
had met at military museum conferences. He happened to mention that a
competition was underway and that it was closing in a few days. I whipped an
application together and was the successful candidate. With much regret I
had to decline the job as the pay was far too low and they were inflexible
on the salary.

  If you think the pay can be low in small town museums (been there, done
that, loved it -- except for the pay, well... and some of the politics)
military museums often pay even less because they tend to hire ex-service
personnel who have military pensions after 20 years and thus can live on a
smaller pay cheque ("pay check" to our US friends) from the museum. Museum
trained people trying to live on their pay cheques often cannot afford to
work in military museums - in Canada at least. This is not to malign those
who do work in these museums as most of them bring a lot of knowledge of the
military service with them and some become very knowledgeable and dedicated
curators, but it is a shame that trained museum people tend to be filtered
out.
__________________________________________________________________________

Might I also suggest you look in Global Museum for the regularly updated job
opportunities and consider posting your resume both with the webzine, and
also online with other service providers.

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
2) NEVER giving up
3) matching your specific 'virtues' against specific job requirements in the
advertisement

Read Global Museum - 75 countries, FREE online subscription, the very latest
in International News,
Views, Vacancies,Virtual Mall, Travel Service and more!
http://www.globalmuseum.org
----- Original Message -----
From: "Christian Trabue" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, 7 September 2000 12:36


> Hello everyone.
>
> 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]
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