You made my day and similarly thank everyone who had chimed in (or didn't, but knows and understands)> I'm finding a lot of inspiration and, though I'd like to think I already regained my focus....I still have a way to go.

Thanks to Pamela's "lament" and her buoyant personality, we have all been reading some very informative and encouraging responses from the field. Hang in there, Pam and others, and don't be afraid to supplement your museum work with something in a better paid field while you stay in touch with museums through reading, visits, volunteering and conferences. It seems pretty clear that a glut of graduates on the market has impacted the job search process, and when you can't be as flexible as a footloose younger single person you will feel that impact much more heavily.But the opportunities do seem to be out there.  Pam, you are just about the most unsinkable person I have heard of since Molly Brown! I am in awe of your perseverance and ability to bounce back from some pretty negative experiences, and the thoroughness of your search for information. It sounds like you are building an impressive resume with a variety of museum work. Not only that-- but you have learned to say "No"! I think it took 25 years for me to smile and say "sorry, no"-- and doesn't it lighten your step!

 

The best job-seeking, resume-preparing advice I ever received was to start a "life experiences" resume as your own personal private document-- not a scholarly C.V. but a true life list, for your own perusal. When you have listed everything you have ever accomplished, whether as employment or because you had to do it and did it successfully, you will be pretty impressed with the person on that paper.  Then pick up your resume again, and look at how you can translate job titles into accomplishments. Rewrite your resume from the viewpoint of what you are proven capable of doing. A waitress doesn't just hand out food-- that job requires incredible skill in perceiving and satisfying customer needs, in multi-tasking, in stamina. An assistant registrar doesn't just sit in a cubie and record objects, she sifts and matches information, learns research skills, evaluates condition, understands donor relationships, handles objects, manages a database, confers with peers, networks with registrars across the state and through this list across the world!  As a person gains experiences, she can rewrite her resume for every single job application, because accumulated skills will range so broadly from collections management to grantwriting to education to public relations to volunteer management, on and on. Whatever the job needs,  reach into this sack of skills and polish them up. Job titles are misleading, what is important is your level of comfort and control of information learned in that job. Each job title should be followed by a well written, clear line about your responsibilities and accomplishments. Think of the application in terms of what you bring to the table, and what your potential employer wants to have at hand.  Those of us spread along the baby-boomer timeline accumulate too much experience, and we have to select the most appropriate and group it under a required or useful type of experience, and establish a cut-off date (old news is no news to that fatigued person reading your accomplishments). I do keep a full project list going back to ancient history, but any job I am interested in gets a one-page, concise and pertinent resume with a note that the full project list is available upon asking.

 

In closing, I sensed some misunderstanding about volunteers that may have been in response to something I wrote. Let me state here and now that I believe there is a special room in heaven for volunteers, who add enormous value to every task they take on, without exception are generous, sociable and caring people, and in return ask only that their time be respected and to hear an occasional thank you. I believe I said that volunteering is an excellent way to acquire training and skills, but it doesn't put dinner on the table. I didn't say volunteering has no value-- without volunteers, this country would grind to a halt at every level.  This is a unique aspect of our democratic society-- when working on a citizen diplomacy project in the Soviet Union in the 1980s, I learned that Soviet volunteers are people who are assigned to a job that is not listed on their internal visa.  They were not unpaid by any means, they were simply assigned to otherwise unauthorized work by an authority. Woe be to the citizen who showed up to add their skills after work or while on assigned holiday-- they were escorted outside and interrogated. Imagine a life where a schoolteacher would be intimidated if they tried to carve a duck or play a guitar or arrange museum objects for the love of it in their free time.  I treasure museum (and all) volunteers. I am also very fortunate to now be in a "mentor" position to a recent museum studies graduate, who is volunteering temporarily for hands-on experience while we raise funds for her salary. So rather than being jealous of new graduates, I value the opportunity to be of use and to pass the knowledge on, and besides that she's a lot of fun.

 

Hey Pam, I never had to work tobacco either, but when my family moved to the west coast I sure had to cut 'cots in the Central Valley. I lasted one week, and before my hands were damaged beyond repair I picked up my toolbox of brushes and poster paints and walked the downtown sidewalks, offered to paint ads on store windows for $10 each window. All it took was one merchant willing to take the risk (I didn't even have samples, all I had ever painted were Christmas scenes on our home windows!) and by the end of summer I had my tuition in hand (and was getting $25 per window). Sometimes you have to guide opportunity when it can't quite seem to find its way to you!

 

Micki Ryan

Museum & Archival Services