I agree with alot of this...I worked temp and
bartending jobs all through grad school.  During the
year, bartending allowed me to make a lot of cash in a
short time, giving me time to study.  In the summers I
would temp during the day.  I had a good relationship
with a temp agency and was able to call my shots for
the most part.  I also found that they expected the
bare minimum and was able to use the free time to my
advantage, reading up on the lastes museum news and
constantly perusing the job sites for something more
suited to my interests (as I was close to finishing, I
wanted to start feeling out the job market)  I could
also suggest that if you want to take a year or so to
have a real job where you make some money and aquire a
nice savings, that is fine too! Let's face it, we all
have to have somewhere to live and food on the table.
I learned many valuable computer and organizational
skills in the for-profit world that have served me
very well in the non-profit world.  There will always
be skills you can take from one field to another. When
I was interviewing for my first museum job, many
employers were impressed with number of compter
programs I was familiar with. I wasn't always offered
the job, but I found that my varied background gave me
alot to offer.  You can use any skill to your
advatage!  I hope this helps!  Amy

--- "milena placentile <WITH digest>"
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Quoting Kathy Mancuso <[log in to unmask]>:
>
> > In a related question: I'm currently in
> Washington, but probably have to
> > go back home (South Carolina) this summer unless I
> can find a cheap place
> > to live.  <snip>
> > Does anyone have suggestions for the jobs you wish
> you'd had as an undergrad
> > and you think would be useful to you now?  I have
> never had a "real job,"
> > although I've had many jobs and quasi-jobs: <snip>
> > Alternatively, do you think I should avoid getting
> a real job and apply
> > to some kind of program?
>
> Greets!
>
> As someone who took a year to work at a "real job"
> in order to make some cash
> to support my "hopes for a museum career"-habit (and
> finish my undergrad degree
> part-time), I have a bag of mixed feelings on the
> topic.   Since it may be
> necessary to know, I worked as an Executive
> Administrative Assistant in the
> marketing firm of a very large mutual fund company.
> (I was obtained the
> position through a temporary personnel agency and
> was qualified because I'd
> spent summers doing assorted similar temp jobs).
> I'm 24, living in Toronto and
> I just finished the last credit of my undergrad
> degree in Art History and
> English this past December.  *Yay*
>
> Good things about a temporary "real job"
> * I made enough money that year to build a decent
> enough savings that has
> gotten me through nearly 8 months since I left in
> June.  These past months I
> have been working a ton of curating, consulting and
> museum education related
> jobs.  Yup, most of them have been volunteer (or by
> honararium) but the
> networking that has come from all of it is
> unbeatable!  [If you want to know
> more about what I've been up to this year feel free
> to email me off-list =-) ]
> * I only planned to take that office job for two
> years and was upfront with the
> employer in the first place.  As it turned out, I
> left after a year, but it was
> on really good terms because I was completely honest
> all the way through. Of
> course, I can't forget that I was in an added lucky
> spot because I really got
> along with my two supervisors who were interested
> in, and supported my career
> goals.
> * Because I knew I wasn't interested in being there
> for the long-haul I was
> able to leave the job behind me when I came home at
> night and spend free time
> doing things related to my own career that I really
> cared about - committee
> work, attending seminars etc.
> * my position entailed a great deal of responsibilty
> and confidentiality but it
> was the type of stuff that came easy to me so I felt
> I barely turned my brain
> on in the morning.  Also, I worked quickly enough
> that I found I had a lot of
> free time to do other things such as covertly
> read/do things related to my own
> career.  I can't say enough what kind of bonus that
> was!
>
> Bad things
> * Some prospective future employers in the field may
> think spending time to
> accrue financial assets elsewhere is bad thing and
> demonstrates a lack of
> committment to museum work.   I had a grad program
> prof question my intentions -
> - he said, you're probably not suited for museum
> work if you think money is
> what matters.  [Don't get me started on that guy --
> ARGH! How dreadfully
> insulting of him!]
> * You could easily go nuts.  I say this with a
> chuckle just because in
> retrospect it wasn't that bad, but sometimes I
> thought I wouldn't be able to
> stand another minute of being surrounded every day
> with people [other than my
> two supervisors] who thought I had no rooting in
> reality and was an idiot for
> having any interest in culture.  =-)
> On the other hand you may also find people who are
> artists/filmmakers/writers
> etc who are in the same boat as you - just trying to
> keep a roof over their
> head while striving towards other goals =-)
>
> Sorry that my response doesn't contain any answers
> but I thought that maybe my
> experience trying to achieve a career in museums/art
> galleries could be an
> interesting case.  I'm very happy with my decision
> but I think a great part of
> it was that I was lucky to work for really cool
> supervisors.
>
> If you decide to look for a "real job", I would
> suggest that you hook up with a
> clerical temp agency.  This may sound sort of silly
> but I've found it very
> true: companies that hire temps seem to expect the
> bare minimum so when I got
> in there and did good work they were amazed and
> almost surprised =-)  I always
> found that they allotted less work than I was
> capable of doing and often if I
> finished in 1/2 a day, I still got a full day's pay
> =-) *or* I warmed a seat
> with nothing to do... except read all the museum and
> art related things I
> brought with me *ha ha*
>
> Anyway, best of luck to you!
> - Milena
>
>
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