Chiming in:

Do strengths matter? I thoroughly enjoy doing
research, laying out exhibit spaces, running retail,
and giving tours.  Classwork included education,
preservation, art history, landscape, art classes,
theater, etc. 

In fact, right now I volunteer at a local museum,
researching a 1768 wedding for a Yuletide presentation
and learning the tour.  

Add in a BA in modified history, an MA in History and
Museum Studies, five internships, two paid part-time
positions, more
retail and customer service experience than you can
shake a stick at, twelve years of teaching
(uncertified), having worked with special
needs and all ages, the ability to read several
languages and hammer straight...  and still, I get few
or no interviews.  

Ideally, the job would entail working closely with a
mentor in a position that allows cross-training. 
Moving is an option: never unpacked from the last
move, and have purged even more since.  Nothing ties
me to the area I'm currently in, not even a lease.

I suspect that the silence is in part due to
overqualification, a hard question to answer at an
interview without sounding desperate. Several
interviewers have cited overqualification as a reason
to go with someone else.  It may be in part that one
knows one's skills and inclinations, or field
overcrowding.  Questions that crop up more are:

1) How do you target a resume when you have held 27
jobs [no worries, they were up to 4 at a time around
school] and yet are specialized for a particular
niche?

2) Is it better to have a single page resume or CV
with few details, or to have a longer version that
emphasizes your accomplishments while working
elsewhere to pay the bills, AND outside interests? 
What if you also have a portfolio and writing samples?

3) Is contract work an option?  For example, I am very
good at designing and working with miniatures.  One
eight foot tall, 400 lb model of a meeting house is
permanent display material.  Do websites support this
entrepeneurial spirit?

4) Does a certification in teaching actually help your
odds in the museum field?  Are the extra costs worth
future success or cross-training?

Any answers would be helpful.

Shannon Lefebvre


       
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