I’m a retired museum professional, but still working as a museum volunteer, so this is an observation rather than an job hunting experience. It relates to the fact that this is a multi-faceted problem and that there should be many more professional museum job openings than there are:

I believe there is a critical need to develop a more wide-spread understanding of the benefits of having trained, professional staff, as well as better ways to help fund positions.

I live in a large county in which the largest town, pop. 120,000 +, has at least 4 museums run entirely by untrained people, plus in the greater county at least ten more museums similarly without any professional staff. And this is in spite of having a museum studies program at our local state university! Needless to say, poor practices are evident way too often.

These museum’s boards or leadership believe they can’t afford staff at all, OR they do have staff but hire people with no museum background, not understanding why they should hire people trained in collection care and management, and with understanding of Museum Ethics and legal issues.

I believe this is probably common nation-wide….people observe museums without knowing what goes on behind the scenes, and believe that ‘anyone can do it.’

Lucy Sperlin

From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Anne W. Ackerson
Sent: Monday, October 23, 2017 9:25 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [MUSEUM-L] The Museum Job Search: Hunter or Hunted?

Or perhaps exhausted. This week Leadership Matters considers the museum job market -- a not so pretty picture. If you'd like to guest write a post about your job hunting experiences, let us know.

http://bit.ly/2zKR8Wj

Happy reading,

Anne and Joan

Anne W. Ackerson
Creative Leadership & Management Solutions
1914 Burdett Avenue
Troy, New York 12180
T: 518-271-2455
E: [log in to unmask]

Co-Author: Women in the Museum: Lessons from the Workplace; Leadership Matters; and the Leadership Matters Blog

Co-founder: Gender Equity in Museums Movement

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