Hope McMath, Director of Education at the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens would be a valuable resource in this area. You can contact her at [log in to unmask] -----Original Message----- From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Carol Reid Sent: Thursday, January 31, 2002 2:44 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: MUSEUM-L Digest - 29 Jan 2002 to 30 Jan 2002 (#2002-31) Subject: Re: Getting a job *without* volunteering "Michael A. Lewis asked: Show of hands... how many of you got a job through volunteer work? " " What I'd like to know is how many (if any!) of you got jobs *without* doing any volunteer work (including unpaid internships), whether for the institution that hired you or somewhere else. If you didn't have volunteer experience, did you have other applicable experience? Has anyone found it possible to get a job without *any* experience of some sort?" There are a number of ways of looking at the value of volunteering and interning. One is from the aspect of the institution. A good supervisor should view volunteers and interns as a valuable resource, often only temporarily available, as people looking for opportunities to gain experience and as people seeking to contribute to something worthwhile. The tasks allotted should reflect this. The jobs should be interesting, necessary (no make work jobs), have a definite beginning and end, and provide you with a result, product or service not otherwise available from paid staff. There is a fine line between volunteer/intern jobs and paid/union jobs. A volunteer or intern should not be performing the tasks of a full or part time job (even though I know that they often do, especially in the much smaller museums) and it should be made clear that there may not be any opportunities for employment. The other aspect is from the aspect of the people volunteering. Often they are people starting out in a field and are seeking to gain experience in order to gain employment in their chosen field, either with you or elsewhere in the field. They are people who want to contribute to something that they see as worthwhile and wish to be a part of it. In our case many of our volunteers are retired and are seeking an activity to occupy their time and the chance to pass on some of the knowledge that they have gained through their lives and careers. (and all you volunteers/interns out there can contradict me if you wish) When I have had the chance to temporarily employ people, first consideration is often given to those who have done an internship with us because we know that they have the skills that we are looking for. When I have not been able to offer employment to interns (that's most of the time) and I have felt that they really have a lot to contribute to a museum/archives/gallery I have given them appropriately glowing recommendation and told them to use me as a reference on their resumes. Realistically, it is the skills you have acquired through internships and volunteering which is going to get your foot in the door, if I had a choice between someone with no experience and someone who has volunteered in the appropriate line of work, it is not difficult to guess who will be picked. Volunteering has worked for me. I started out needing experience, fortunately part of our museological training included hands on internships, my experience with the staff made me take on a volunteer job with them which lead to employment when an appropriate position came open, I applied and got a job! (this happened twice). And for many of our interns their experience with us has lead to summer employment and then given them that little extra on their resumes get them jobs with other museums. Carol [log in to unmask] Subject: reproductions for loan We too have a large collection of art (for which we have copyrights) and many people wish to borrow it. Unfortunately, few can meet the requirements for security and/or insurance. The best compromise has been the photo-reproduction route that you mention. But we do not loan or rent out the reproductions, people buy them as reproductions. We don't have to worry about tracking copies or storing them when they get returned, and the people purchasing don't have to worry about returning them either. It has worked well for us. Carol [log in to unmask] ========================================================= 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). ========================================================= 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).