Hope McMath, Director of Education at the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens
would be a valuable resource in this area. You can contact her at
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-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
Behalf Of Carol Reid
Sent: Thursday, January 31, 2002 2:44 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: MUSEUM-L Digest - 29 Jan 2002 to 30 Jan 2002 (#2002-31)
Subject: Re: Getting a job *without* volunteering
"Michael A. Lewis asked:
Show of hands... how many of you got a job through volunteer work? "
" What I'd like to know is how many (if any!) of you got jobs *without*
doing any volunteer work (including unpaid internships), whether for the
institution that hired you or somewhere else. If you didn't have volunteer
experience, did you have other applicable experience? Has anyone found it
possible to get a job without *any* experience of some sort?"
There are a number of ways of looking at the value of volunteering and
interning.
One is from the aspect of the institution. A good supervisor should view
volunteers and interns as a valuable resource, often only temporarily
available, as people looking for opportunities to gain experience and as
people seeking to contribute to something worthwhile. The tasks allotted
should reflect this. The jobs should be interesting, necessary (no make work
jobs), have a definite beginning and end, and provide you with a result,
product or service not otherwise available from paid staff. There is a fine
line between volunteer/intern jobs and paid/union jobs. A volunteer or
intern should not be performing the tasks of a full or part time job (even
though I know that they often do, especially in the much smaller museums)
and it should be made clear that there may not be any opportunities for
employment.
The other aspect is from the aspect of the people volunteering. Often they
are people starting out in a field and are seeking to gain experience in
order to gain employment in their chosen field, either with you or elsewhere
in the field. They are people who want to contribute to something that they
see as worthwhile and wish to be a part of it. In our case many of our
volunteers are retired and are seeking an activity to occupy their time and
the chance to pass on some of the knowledge that they have gained through
their lives and careers. (and all you volunteers/interns out there can
contradict me if you wish)
When I have had the chance to temporarily employ people, first consideration
is often given to those who have done an internship with us because we know
that they have the skills that we are looking for. When I have not been able
to offer employment to interns (that's most of the time) and I have felt
that they really have a lot to contribute to a museum/archives/gallery I
have given them appropriately glowing recommendation and told them to use me
as a reference on their resumes. Realistically, it is the skills you have
acquired through internships and volunteering which is going to get your
foot in the door, if I had a choice between someone with no experience and
someone who has volunteered in the appropriate line of work, it is not
difficult to guess who will be picked.
Volunteering has worked for me. I started out needing experience,
fortunately part of our museological training included hands on internships,
my experience with the staff made me take on a volunteer job with them which
lead to employment when an appropriate position came open, I applied and got
a job! (this happened twice). And for many of our interns their experience
with us has lead to summer employment and then given them that little extra
on their resumes get them jobs with other museums.
Carol
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Subject: reproductions for loan
We too have a large collection of art (for which we have copyrights) and
many people wish to borrow it. Unfortunately, few can meet the requirements
for security and/or insurance. The best compromise has been the
photo-reproduction route that you mention. But we do not loan or rent out
the reproductions, people buy them as reproductions. We don't have to worry
about tracking copies or storing them when they get returned, and the people
purchasing don't have to worry about returning them either. It has worked
well for us.
Carol
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