Michael
When I arrived at The Natural History Museum, London, I had no museum
experience. I work for the exhibition department and had
architectural and exhibition modelmaking and exhibition construction
and installation experience.

I got some of this experience working on 'a community programme' an
excellent scheme we had in the UK in the early eighties. After
leaving collage if you were still unemployed after six months, as
most of us were, you became eligible for part time work for a
contract of one year. This was low paid part time work, but it
brought in more than the dole/welfare and provided very good 'on the
job' experience. Many charities and community groups used this as an
opportunity to develop their visitor centers and exhibitions. I
worked for two such schemes, until finding full time work as an
architectural modelmaker then exhibition officer at the NHM.

So you could do it once upon a time.

I do not know what else I could have done with a BA in ceramics.
Simon


>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?
>
>My volunteer work helped me "sample" different aspects
>of museum work, including collections and education
>(with a paid internship adding exhibit development).
>Most importantly, it put me ahead of every other
>candidate with the same education, but less
>experience. In a field this competitive, I can't even
>imagine trying to find a job without some kind of
>experience on my resume, paid or not.
>
>Oh, and to answer Michael's question: In my volunteer
>orientation at Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield
>Village, I met a member of the education department
>who hired me for a part-time position a couple of
>months later. It wasn't a permanent position, but I'm
>sure it helped to have it on my resume. It helped that
>it was an evening position, as I also had a full-time
>job and another part-time job during that time. You
>gotta do what you gotta do... (Unfortunately, I hadn't
>been available when the full-time position had been
>open -- I'd had to go back to school to wrap things up
>for my MA...)
>
>M. Ehr
>
>__________________________________________________
>Do You Yahoo!?
>Great stuff seeking new owners in Yahoo! Auctions!
>http://auctions.yahoo.com
>
>=========================================================
>Important Subscriber Information:
>
>The Museum-L FAQ file is located at
>http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed
>information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail
>message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message
>should read "help" (without the quotes).
>
>If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail
>message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message
>should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).


--
Simon Caslaw
Exhibition officer
The Natural History Museum
Cromwell Rd. South Kensington, London SW7 5BD UK

[log in to unmask]
020 7942 5068

=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:

The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).

If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).