In job hunting it is mostly who you know, it always has been. Talking to people and working with people and being someone they want to work with makes all the difference in the world. Keep in mind that full time professional jobs in museums have hundreds of applicants, many have been in the field for a decade or three. Also, search the archive, we get this question every year. On Feb 20, 2013 5:14 PM, "Ball, Bailey" <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Hi Ashley, > > I noticed that your internship experience was completed at the > Smithsonian. Many of my colleagues and I also interned and volunteered at > the Smithsonian at one point in our careers. It is an incredibly popular > place for internships. It is a great institution to gain experience, > however when it comes to employment, the Smithsonian literally has a world > of applicants to choose from. Therefore, the institution tends to value > full-time work experience. Most employees of SI have honed their skills and > gotten years of experience within another institution before making the > move to the highly competitive government jobs at the Smithsonian. > Basically the timing of a job opening would have to be perfect and you'd > have to beat out thousands of applicants who have years of experience at > the full-time level. > > While I'm sure you've done a great job at the internships you've > completed, SI is a tough place to have the opportunity to begin your > career. I would recommend volunteering or interning at smaller/non-profit > museums, who tend to be more quick to hire from within and evaluate their > volunteers and interns when full-time positions open up. Non-profits and > private institutions also have the advantage of some flexibility in regards > to their positions and job titles. Therefore, if you exhibit some skills > that a certain department needs and would like to have full time, and a > staff member in another department leaves a position where another employee > could take over most of their responsibilities, the museum would have the > option of maneuvering the budget to create a full-time position for you > with whatever appropriate title the department deems relevant, and perhaps > shift the other position to part-time. The government has very strictly > defined positions with pre-determined pay grades, so this is often not an > option. > > I hope this makes sense! > > Best, > > Bailey > > -----Original Message----- > From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On > Behalf Of Ashley Watson > Sent: Wednesday, February 20, 2013 3:49 PM > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: [MUSEUM-L] Employment Search Frustrations for the recent graduates > > Hello, > I graduated with masters in the museum studies at Syracuse University > last May and have not found a job yet despite aggressively applying for > various openings within my experience and skill range. I have completed an > internship at National Museum of Natural History in the exhibits department > and is currently a zooarchaeological/collections intern at the Museum > Support Center till this May. Any recent graduates here that have the > same frustrating experience? Those internships certainly help keep me > sane professionally and personally but I certainly need to begin LIVING. I > want to add one thing that I was more than qualified for one position at > National Museum of Natural History but didn't break through the annoying > human resources "wall". My colleague who was qualified to the maximum also > applied for the same position got the same result. > > ========================================================= > 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] . 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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).