Kaia,
Adaptability is important too. It is important to gain experience from
various museums, and levels of work. Not all opportunities are necessarily going
to be costly, so carefully consider the feasibility on a case by case
basis.
Despite having several years of museum experience, I am considering an
unpaid internship in order to enhance my experience and better my chance for
employment.
Though I've worked for a few museums, they were relatively young
organizations and lacked some of the technology, resources, etc., that limited
my opportunities to learn. The internship I'm looking at is at a state of the
art museum.
I am still in the process of determining if the internship is doable for
me. I am willing to make the sacrifice, because of the potential benefits. For
this internship, I would have to drive 70 miles (RT) 2 days a week. The
internship is 12 hours a week for 6 months. The main issue for me is the
condition of my car.
Since it takes awhile to process the internship application, I have time to
work on the transportation issue.
It did help me ALOT to work at different museums. The first position I held
for 3 1/2 years was tremendous, and I learned more than I ever expected I would.
It was great to apply my experience in my next museum job and to keep building
upon that.
The more you do, the more opportunities, etc you will have so my
advice is to not limit yourself to one degree or to not take advantage of
volunteer and internship possibilities. In retrospect, some of the volunteer
time I spent was a REAL sacrifice...but this is how I learned to determine the
feasibility.
Pam
In a message dated 8/25/2005 11:21:02 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
What is
the "best" way to improve one's job
possibilities? Extensive
volunteer experience? A
wider range of degrees?
(I'm
currently completing an MA in my subject, and
have pondered the idea of an
MLS, or an MA in Museum
Studies, or Public History, or Historic
Preservation,
or something. Would something of this nature help
provide
more/different job oppotunities, or just
provide more debt?)
Thanks for the great discussion on this
subject!
Kaia