Well this thread appears to have taken off, and unfortunately there is not
really a great deal I can add to this, which has never stopped me yet, so
here is my tuppence worth from a British perspective. Yes there are quite a
lot of jobs around in museums, galleries and country houses, and
unfortunately most of them are very poorly paid and short-term contracts.
Still there can be a lot of competition, especially for the full-time
positions, one assistant curators post I went for, had 300 applicants.
Therefore just like in the States, when thinking about applying for a post
here you must have some form of relevant experience behind you, I did a
years voluntary work in three different museums before doing my MA, other
people I know have done more. For a museum post a Museum Studies
qualification would be almost a necessity, as most of the other applicants
would have one, although in an art gallery or historic house position, this
may not be so vital as to have a relevant subject based knowledge. Salary
wise it does vary depending on the position and location, but dont expect
anything remotely liveable. I have retrained to move into a more stimulating
job in museums, and am currently on a wage that I last earned in 1984!!

So that is the reality of the job situation here, a few good full-time posts
and a few more not as good short-term ones that you need to build up
experience. To find these, as a previous lister said the 'Museums Journal'
is the place, not yet available online (and no plans to as far as I know),
although some jobs are advertised in national newspapers, The Guardian is
the main one, who do have a very good web site, as well as other regional
and local papers who might. Also some museums advertise on their own web
sites, if there was any particular museum you were interested in you could
always try there. The Virtual Library of Museums,
www.museums.reading.ac.uk/vlmp/ is a good portal.

As for employment law, that is not something I know a great deal about,
other than I have met Americans and other nationals working over here, the
head of the Tate Modern and the Baltic Exchange in Newcastle to give 2 high
profile examples, not that I have met either of them but should they ever
wish to come to tea.....
There is a lot of talk about freedom of movement for work in the EEC, but of
course the situation about people from the States would be more complicated,
and it is always much easier to catch a position the nearer you are to it.

As regards museum studies courses, there are departments which run them at
these universities;
Leicester
St Andrews
Newcastle
Manchester
Nottingham
London
East Anglia

and probably some more I have missed that I am sure other people could add.
All the universities should have web sites so check these out.

I know that Leicester for one gives their MA through distance learning, the
address is www.le.ac.uk/museumstudies/

And although we do not pay the same exorbitant fees that internationals
students do, who are generally provided with priority accommodation, it is
still expensive for us also to study here, with most people being forced
into taking out bank loans to pay off debts.

So there you are, good luck to all those people looking for work in the
field in whichever country you are in, and should anyone be looking for a
Collection Manager/Registrar in the next couple of months, anywhere in the
world will do, my CV is only the push of a button away.

Paul Connell
Godalming Museum UK

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