To quote John Martinson, "As Roybn stated, without being a volunteer it is very difficult to get the experience or land a position." It is very difficult, but not impossible. My first experience in a history-related "job" was two years as a graduate research assistant. I then got a part time job on a project at the NJ State Archives through a professor at one of the undergrad schools I attended. I was there less than a year when I was tipped off to an opening at a major historic site near my home. The position was Coordinator of Interpretation and Museum Education. The outgoing incumbent was a fellow student in my program and I was told when he was leaving and when to send the resume. Everything else was up to me. (Although working in American - nay, New Jersey- history was a distinct advantage considering my predecessor's qualifications were being a Civil War reenactor and being an Eastern Europeanist.) Oddly enough, with my relatively meager qualifications, I did get the job. A year later, I was Interim Executive Director as well head of interpretation and education. When I left, I realized that there was a big downside to my fortuitous situation: I did not have enough time in service to get similar positions. At once I was overqualified for entry level positions and underexperienced for management level positions. Consequently, despite having roughly ten interviews in five states, I had to endure a two year return to the retail footwear industry - where, oddly enough, I went from seasonal part-time to Store Manager within a year and a half. Further irony: the company I worked for closed one of our local stores and brought the staff to my store. I was told to take a demotion and pay cut, or hit the bricks. I already had one interview scheduled at another major living history site in NJ when this happened. Two days later I got the call and an interview for my current position. Instead of hell, I knew something would come out of either interview. I was offered BOTH positions. The job I turned down would have paid $10K more than I am now making, but for a number of family reasons, I chose the lower paying position. What did I turn down? My dream job: Lead Interpreter (a position that actually started out as Assistant Director) with a big salary. What am I doing now? Look at the title on my sig. I got this position through people: I got in good with certain people in the field in my area, impressed them with my abilities and talents, more than proved myself in every facet of museum administration, publicity, education and interpretation in my previous position and was making a name for myself through my research. I got my job because of who I knew, as well as what I knew. The people who influenced the decision to hire me had always been colleagues, not employers. So make those contacts. The job I declined? I was offered it because I had successfully done the same thing at a comparable site in the same state with a nearly identical time period and had references who worked with me at the previous site who also were close to the person making the hiring decision. Again- I proved my abilities, I had the right field of study, I was in the right place at the right time with the right people around me. And you want to know what (since we're on this track)? The job I declined went to a friend of mine from my graduate program. A Civil War reenactor who did a lot of work (as a volunteer) at our county historical society (Monmouth, not Ocean) transcribing diaries and letters of Civil War soldiers and editing them for publication. He also had the right knowledge set and skills. And guess what? It was his first job in the field. Went from 14 years in retail to a $37,000 a year assistant director position at a living history museum overnight. For that reason alone I do not regret declining the position. Sometimes you can start at the top. But you have to know the right people, gain the right experience and prove your abilities better than anyone else. You can get a job with no volunteer experience. But the time in service you can get as a volunteer can be critical when it comes time to compare candidates. Think about it. Sorry for the long-winded post. Scott D. Peters Research Director/Archivist Ocean County Historical Society 26 Hadley Ave., P.O. Box 2191 Toms River, NJ 08754-2191 (732) 341-1880 [log in to unmask] [log in to unmask] "Telling the Stories of Ocean County" ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).