Deb- Thank you for posting this again. I had not seen it before and I found it inspirational. The insights were helpful. Sincerely, Christian Trabue [log in to unmask] --- Deb R Fuller <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > It's in the archives but I figured I'd post it again > for all to enjoy a > second time. :) > > ------- > Deb's Unofficial Guide to Getting a Job in the > Museum World > > So you want to work in museums? Why? You think > they're cool; you want to > justify getting a degree in obscure pre-celtic > French impressionist > painters; > or you really loved going to your local museum as a > kid and want to work > there. Whatever the reason, the museum job hunt is > challenging, demanding > and > ultimately rewarding. Expect your job hunt to take 6 > months to a couple of > years. Yes people get jobs first shot but those are > the exceptions. The job > hunt is like a job in itself. It will take time and > effort to get where you > want to be in the museum world. > > 1. Research museum jobs. There are many different > types of positions and > fields out there to go into. Museum educators, > curators, registrars, > development/grant writers, administration, special > events, exhibits, > computer > specialists and volunteer coordinators just to name > a few. The smaller the > museum, the more areas each person will have to > cover. > > 2. Network, Network, Network. Find museum > professionals and talk to them. > Find out what experiences they have and what > education they got. Most > museum > professionals are friendly and will take time out to > talk to you. Ask for > informational interviews. DON'T bring your resume to > them. It's bad form. > After you talk to someone, thank them profusely and > ask them to refer you > to > someone else. Send them a nice note after you leave. > You never know when > they > might call you back or pass a job lead on to you. > Make a schedule of > networking like one a week, every two weeks or every > month. Keep it up and > keep meeting people. > > 3. Think Small. This comes in two parts. First off, > don't apply for that > director position straight off. Go for the executive > assistant instead. > Don't > go for full curator, go for registrar or curatorial > assistant. You need > experience even if you are coming from another > career field and have job > experience. > Secondly, look at smaller, local museums. > Smaller museums usually will > allow you to get a lot of work experience in > different areas. In a large > museum, you might be stuck in one area like > registrar of a certain > collection. But in a smaller museum, you might be a > registrar, lead > educational programs and help coordinate volunteers. > > 4. Volunteer, Intern or Work Part-time. If there are > no positions open or > you > aren't sure if you really want to work in the museum > field, look at > volunteering or interning or getting a part-time > position. Most museums > won't > turn down someone who is eager to work and is > willing to learn. Don't > expect > to come in and take over either. Again, start small. > If you want to be a > registrar, start out by volunteering to clean > artifacts from a local > archaeology dig. If you want to do museum education, > volunteer to help out > with summer camps. If you stick around long enough > and show people that you > are responsible, you will get more and more > responsibilities. Larger > museums > usually have formal intern or volunteer programs. > For the Smithsonian, > Elena > Mayberry is a treasure-trove of information. (I > always have to plug Elena > because she helped me get my first museum job. :) > Interning and > volunteering > are good ways to meet people and NETWORK. > > 5. NETWORK! Did I mention networking? > > 6. Professional Organizations. Find out what the > professionals in your area > belong to and pay your dues. A good one to start out > with is the American > Association of Museums. Not only will you keep > current on what is > happening, > you also can put it on your resume. All > professionals should be a member of > at least one professional organization in their > profession. > > 7. Go to Professional Conferences. Have VISA will > travel. Pay it off later. > Take advantage of student discounts. This is > probably the best way to meet > people and NETWORK. A lot of conferences also have > job boards and resume > drops. There are usually jobs posted at these > conferences that aren't > listed > anywhere else. Come with plenty of resumes and > business cards. Thanks to > ink > jet printers, you too can have decent looking > business cards. > > 8. You're competing with people with Master's > degrees and 5 years of > experience. Get used to it. You may be just as > competent to do the job as > the > next guy but his MA with 5 years of experience will > get his foot in the > door > while it slams on yours. Keep applying for jobs but > volunteer, intern or > work > part-time to get you that experience. If you want to > be a curator of > pre-Celtic French Impressionist painters, you'll > have to get an advanced > degree in pre-Celtic French Impressionist painters. > Museum educators > usually > have advanced degrees in either a subject area > and/or education of some > sort. > Exhibit designers usually have degrees in > architecture or design. Other > fields like development or computers can have > backgrounds from a variety > of > fields but will have experience in their area. If > you only have a > bachelors, > don't expect much. Bite the bullet, get those > student loans and get an > advanced degree. Regardless of what degree you end > up with, you'll still > need > experience. > > 9. Look at companies that work with museums or > similar fields. If you can't > get a job in a museum, get a job with a company that > works with museums. > There are plenty of companies that do exhibit > design, artifact restoration > and shipping, educational materials and bunches of > other stuff. Clients > with > those companies are a good way to find people and > NETWORK. There are also > similar fields that you can go into that will give > you job experience for > museum work. If you want to curate, work for an > auction house; if you want > to > do education, try libraries or local schools. > Computer or design people can > get a job practically anywhere. Combine similar job > experience with some > museum volunteering and you'll have a resume that > can compete with the > Masters + 5 years of experience. > > 10. Don't expect to get rich. Most museum salaries > are === message truncated === __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? 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