Elizabeth: maybe teens in more rural areas have a harder time finding jobs.  If they have issues with transportation---such as relying on a bus schedule---that can also hamper job prospects. I think what Deb was saying is that experiences can vary widely and an applicant shouldn’t always be thrown out based on strict criteria. 

 

I know at least two people (though not museums) who have confided that they’ve applied to close to 100 jobs within the past year---their circumstances are different, but all the same, it’s not outside the realm of possibility.  If you have a certain skill set, you can potentially manage a range of positions, within and outside museums.  Furthermore, regarding advice that’s flying around out there, I’ve repeatedly seen the advice that it’s ok to apply to a job you may not be completely qualified for, within reason of course (for example, position calls for a degree but you have comparative experience). 

 

 

 

From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Elizabeth Walton
Sent: Thursday, March 8, 2018 10:06 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] Resumes - What do you want them to be?

 

I think the whole point of this thread is to sort out the special needs of museums over typical advice on the internet. For instance we cannot have one simple resume, as others have pointed out government applications are completely different from others due to scanning and keywords. With government pay scales you have to include everything because ultimately your experience and education also determines your pay rate. Of course the downside to that is that it also declares your age and that you are more expensive when older..   

The jobs for teens and college students are out there, my niece and nephew are 17 and 20 and have never had a problem finding part time work, they do restaurant work during the school year and lifeguard in the summer, they make over $10 an hour. In college I worked internships and waited tables a couple nights a week. Making it work is a sign of maturity and professionalism IMO. Personally, I would rather hire someone who cashiered, flipped burgers, or waited tables than someone who never had a job or had to earn their own money. Learning to be professional, to show up on time, to deal with co workers and bosses and customers and even skills like how to use a copier can be more important than anything learned in a classroom. 

If $7 an hour does not pay for groceries... how do you get the groceries and rent paid with nothing? How can they be offered a job with reasonable pay if they are not applying for anything and have no experience in the first place? You start low and move up, that is how someone starts by bagging groceries and ends up a well paid professional. Wanting to skip to the well paid fun part is pretty unfair to the people who had to work and earn their way because they did not have parents with the resources to pay for everything for them. And I think we need to be careful not to punish people who had to work and could not afford to travel and live without pay for months to get the best internships.  

As far as a plain text resume, that is not a special format you have to spend any time on, you can save the resume as text and attach it to the application in a matter of seconds. As most applications are submitted digitally it is easy to attach a nicely formatted pdf and a plain text format attachment. If an applications asked for this I would make sure to do it, as following instructions is the first test for every single application IMO. 

Where are these hundreds of positions people are applying to? Are they applying to every position posted in every museum even if they are not qualified or even interested? That sounds like an enormous waste of time for everyone involved and generally a bad idea.    

 

On Thu, Mar 8, 2018 at 9:23 AM, Deb Fuller <[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> > wrote:

 

 

On Thu, Mar 8, 2018 at 8:35 AM, Michelle Zupan <[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> > wrote:

 

7) If the applicant has never actually held a paying job (which is generally a deal breaker for me) there ought to be a statement as to WHY. (read)

 

Defending students who haven't had paying jobs - the hard truth is that in many places, there aren't any jobs for high school and college students. Many of us earned money in the summer by working retail, food service, paper routes, mowing lawns, and other minimum wage jobs. Those jobs are now going to adults who work them year round because they don't have any other job choices. High school kids are also pressured to do "enrichment programs" so many kids are going to academic camps or programs instead of working jobs. Granted, some kids get "jobs" as "counselors in training" but even those positions are limited. Many students have internship requirements that don't pay so they get all the fun and experience of a job without any of the income. During the school year, students often don't have time for jobs or think that minimum wage type jobs will hurt their future employment chances or it's not worth their time to make no money. It really sucks for kids these days because they are damned if they do and damned if they don't. I don't know any student who would pass up a paying job at a reasonable wage if they were offered it. But I also don't blame them for not wanting to slave away flipping burgers for $7/hour because that doesn't even pay for groceries these days, let alone rent and other living expenses. 

 

Also again, I ask HR people and anyone with hiring authority who looks at resumes to look at what job seeks are told about what goes into a resume and cover letter. There are MILLIONS of sites out there and just as many opinions. One site will insist that you HAVE to put your education first. Others will say put it last. I will vary depending on the job because outside of the museum field, my museum studies degree counts against me. Older people will tend not to put years with their degrees because they don't want to be passed over because of ageism. (You know this happens.) Museum people tend to have non-traditional career paths so listing jobs in chronological order doesn't always give a clear picture of our experience, especially if we've had a bunch of seasonal positions. People will use skills-based resumes or other formats to highlight their skills and experience the best way. Don't toss those resumes out because they don't fit what you think a resume should be. 

I've seen articles that advocate for a plain text resume so that it can be easily read and scanned by HR systems. Other articles will talk about how you need a visually appealing resume so that you can catch the eye of the HR manager. Use gerunds or not? Write in present or past-tense? Then look at the resume templates in Word and no wonder people don't seem to know how to write a resume. Too many formats!! UGH!! 

 

Remember museum job seekers are applying to HUNDREDS of positions. No joke. We also aren't mind-readers and don't know what your preferred resume format is. Please keep an open mind. Other than deal-breakers like not spellchecking, including pictures, and informal language, resumes should be about conveying the skills, abilities, and experience of a candidate, not about figuring out what format the hiring manager wants. 

 

Deb Fuller

 

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