Another thought occurred to me over the weekend. Long, solitary drives will encourage that. One solid piece of advice I can offer young museum professionals is to gain experience and skills working with senior citizens. As the Baby Boom ages and edges into retirement they will make up more and more of our visitor populations. This is also the age group from which museums have traditionally drawn the overwhelming majority of its volunteers. And, for some reason I have yet to fathom, many museums give the job of volunteer management to young, entry level professionals who are looking to use it as a stepping stone to other "more serious" jobs. Personally, I think it is a museum specialization in its own right, and someone who is good at volunteer management is worth their weight in gold. If you have any skills or knowledge working with older adults and retired populations, highlight it on your resume. If you don't and you are looking to add to your skill set, this would be an excellent place to start. I know this works more for educators, programmers, HR people and others who work with the public or with volunteers, rather than curators or conservators, but that's what I know. Also, anyone looking to work for a small museum job would do well to take a course or read a book on working with the aging populations. Have fun, Matt White On Aug 6, 2007, at 9:26 AM, Lucy Sperlin wrote: > As a new week of job seeking begins, I thought I’d pop a light note > into this intense and angst-ridden topic about job applications and > interviews: > > > > A few years back when I was bridging to full retirement > ( “retired” but holding off taking my retirement income until it > had built up for a couple of more years), I was looking to > supplement other income, so interviewed for a job to be the single > paid person to oversee 3 small city-owned museums in one small > town. I was well qualified - college training, dozens of workshops > and over 25 years in museum work (maybe ‘overqualified’). > > > > They asked all the expected questions, and one interviewer was > someone I’d known for a long time, so it was going fine -- until > the final question which was : “…..and, do you make hors d’oeuvres?” > > > > I’ll always wonder what the look on my face was! > > > > (and I didn’t get the job because I lived in a nearby town, so did > not have local friends which they presumed was a necessity to get > more volunteers!) > > > > So…there are obviously some jobs that you are better off not > getting……….. > > > > Hang in there, all, and keep your sense of humor if you can! > > Lucy > > > > ========================================================= 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). > > ========================================================= 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).