As a recent graduate witth  BA degree, it has been
most rewarding and helpful to hear how some of you
have "broken into the museum profession".  I hope in
near future to pursue my graduate degree in either
musuem studies or public history.

My advice to young college undergrads, like myself,
starting out is to definatly make conncections either
through volunteering or interning.

My first internship was through the Historical Society
of Martin County in Fl where I was a curatorial and
educational intern learning the "inside scoop" of
museum work..There's a lot more to it than I knew. 
Through this internship i created a photographic
journal of all my ongoing projects, which impressed
the History department chair, who was overseeing my
internship for college credit...She kept my journal
for a sememster and used it as a guideline for other
interns.

After a year of interning I was offered a paid
position at the museum...and i wasnt even graduate
from college yet.  

The Historical Society ran a History museum and a
smaller Historic House of Refuge. ...which was run by
the Life-Saving Service.  It was my job to manage/run
the tiny historic house, gift shop and volunteers and
even to create some Living History weekend
programming.  I held that position for a year before
moving up north.  

After moving up north, I gained employment at Waterloo
Village where I worked as a Historical Interpreter,
giving talks about  indigenous native american to
2nd-8th grade school groups.  I was also taken on as
the curatorial assitant as well.  I helped to
fabricated some of the exhibits, accession objects and
assist in the maintenance of some of the historic
houses.  

What i am learning from my experiences  do not be
afraid to talk to people in the museum profession,
because those connections can help you get a foot in
the door.  It has worked for me and i am only 23.


-- Margo Edwards <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Like Steve, I also managed to get my current job (my
> first one out of grad school) through networking at
> conferences.  
> 
> I knew I wanted to work with Southern history, so I
> attended the Southeastern Museums Conference
> (www.semcdirect.net) while working on my MA in
> Museum Studies at GWU.  The first year I was
> introduced to the deputy director of a museum I had
> previously interned at (never met him during the
> internship), and we chatted during a long bus ride
> to an evening activity.  At the next year's
> conference, I approached him to say hello and he
> introduced me to a friend of his who works as an
> independent curator.  She and I chatted over lunch,
> and I gave her my resume.  A couple months later she
> e-mailed to offer me some part-time contract work. 
> It wasn't ideal, but I hadn't gotten a full-time
> offer yet, and it beat waitressing.  I guess I
> proved my worth, because a few months later she
> offered me a full-time position.  
> 
> What I found most interesting was a conversation we
> had a few weeks after I started the contract work,
> when she asked me to tell her about myself. 
> Apparently she had lost/thrown away my resume right
> after the conference, so she really didn't know what
> my qualifications were---she just remembered which
> grad school I was attending.  I'm sure that's not
> typical, but I guess the point is that a
> face-to-face conversation with a potential employer
> (or someone who knows a potential employer), even if
> it's just a chat over lunch, can be incredibly
> valuable in the job search.
> 
> I highly recommend the regional/state conferences or
> other medium-small groups.  The one time I went to
> AAM (in Dallas), it was so big that I felt
> overwhelmed and ended up only talking to people I
> already knew.  Sign up for the evening activities,
> breakfasts and luncheons (even if they cost a little
> extra)---that was where I really met and got to know
> people.  
> 
> One more note---try to get some sort of proof of
> your writing skills for your resume.  If your
> graduate program doesn't include a thesis, try to
> get published, apply for a writing contest/award,
> etc.  I feel that's probably the biggest 'hole' in
> my resume right now.  
> 
> Hope some of this is useful to the current
> job-hunters...
> 
> ---Margo
> 
> 
> Margo Edwards
> Curator of Exhibits
> Avient Museum Services
> E: [log in to unmask]
> P: 404.633.8861
> F: 404.636.5089
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Steven Yalowitz <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Jan 7, 2005 11:31 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Misguided applicants-a new angle
> P.S. I'm in my current position because of a
> conversation I had with a colleague over pasta and
> salad at a conference's evening event. If I hadn't
> met the person in the conference circuit I wouldn't
> have known that they were hiring and I likely
> wouldn't be typing this email right now.
> 
>
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