> And, finally,it is a violation of state law for us to pre-select a
> candidate for a vacancy. Staff who want a promotion, non-staff we have
> worked with (volunteers, contractors, colleagues, etc), and complete
> strangers must be considered equally. A representative from personnel
> participates in the entire selection process to ensure the search is
> unbiased.


My first museum job was at a state university museum who could ONLY hire
from the outside after they have posted it internally and nobody
indicates interest or demonstrates the necessary qualifications.  Maybe
the short notice means that they had to wait a certain amount of time,
maybe even interviewed someone, and had to go outside for the successful
candidate late in the game.

But I would also like to know how many jobs are filled from "blind
hires," that is, where the successful candidate was not previously known
to the museum or referred from "inside."  I'm fairly plugged into the
system but still I frequently hear of colleagues attaining juicy
positions of which I heard nothing about their vacancy.

One other question:  would it be considered unfair to post the job ONLY
on the Internet, if knowledge of the Internet were a prerequisite of the
job?


Random thoughts from an unarmed art person,  (apologies to Michael
Moore)

Julia Moore (no relation)
Director of Exhibitions and Artist Services
Indianapolis Art Center