In a message dated 99-10-28 16:33:37 EDT, Ross Weeks wrote:

<< When did THIS change?  I thought most folks agreed that Museum-L was an
 appropriate place to post resumes AND job opening information. >>

No, my recollection is that many people, over the last several years on
Museum-L, have indicated that they felt the list was an appropriate forum for
listing job openings ("help wanted" ads) in order to solicit applications,
but that it is NOT an appropriate place for resumes and job requests.  The
assumption is, I think, that ultimately nearly everyone on the list would end
up posting a resume or request.  Do you really want to scroll through dozens
of resumes every day?  Even just deleting them without reading could be a
time-consuming chore.  After all, even those of us who are lucky enough to
have museum jobs now are usually looking for something better.  When an
institution has a bona fide opening--not necessarily a daily occurrence--it
ought to be encouraged to announce it in a place where hundreds of applicants
are hungrily awaiting such news.  But I agree with those who feel that
posting resumes and job requests on the list would be a counter-productive
strategy.  The sheer volume would be unmanageable, and the individual resumes
would most likely be ignored.  Now that's admittedly just an untested
hypothesis, but I really would hate to see it tested.  If enough people took
advantage of the chance to post their resumes and job needs, it would likely
kill the list.

Do you really want to see all the resumes of half the people on this list?
Several people have suggested that it's unfair to permit employers seeking
applicants to post position descriptions while denying individuals the right
to request jobs, but I think it's simply impractical to allow such
reciprocation when the number of job-seekers clearly is so much greater than
the number of available positions.  It's not a question of fairness--it's
more an issue of doing what works.  I think it's eminently fair--and
workable--to permit the listing of jobs as they become available, thereby
allowing interested and qualified applicants from a large pool to respond
directly to the prospective employer.   I don't think it would be fair to
inundate the list with resumes from everyone who needs a job, or already has
one but wants a change or a bigger salary, when the presumed purpose of this
list has been to create a forum for the discussion of a wide variety of
museum-related issues.

If the situation were reversed--if there were many more jobs available than
applicants--I suspect there would be demands to forbid swamping the list with
announcements for jobs that nobody wanted.  It's always hard to keep a
listserv balanced and focussed, and members soon tire of any imbalance and
drop off.  I strongly suspect that a trend toward posting resumes and job
requests eventually would kill the list.  Those of us who don't have the time
or inclination to read everyone else's resume would unsubscribe, and
eventually all the job-seekers would unsubscribe as well when they (a) got no
results and (b) got sick of seeing others' resumes.  The list would wither
away to a few frustrated souls asking each other how to unsubscribe (while
copying the "unsubscribe" instructions in every message).

As I say, this is just an untested hypothesis...

David Haberstich

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