I did not technically volunteer anywhere.  I had a low-paid internship that
I stopped out of graduate school to do; then I paid my dues summers by
working for slave wages in various capacities in the field.  When I finished
graduate school (M.A., Art History) I took a position that started out as a
clerical position, which I worked into more of a curatorial-admin job (while
still fulfilling the clerical aspects of the job description), and did that
for 3 1/2 years while pursuing a M.B.A at night.  During this time I was
offered a job as the Asst. Dir. of a small art museum, which I turned down
for a variety of reasons.  After I finished the M.B.A. I heard of an open
curatorial position in a small institution, which I applied for and got, and
after nearly 12 years I am still here and have grown the position as the
institution has grown, professionalized and expanded.

After talking with many people, both in job-hunting and in hiring people to
work for me, I have found that although education may qualify you to be
considered, it is experience that will win or lose the job.  It doesn't have
to be the exact same job you are looking for--just something that shows you
know "how it all works" and can be trusted to accomplish things for other
people.  Academic experience (even a Ph.D.) is no guarantee--I have passed
over Ph.D.'s  in favor of people with less education but more knowledge of
life in a museum (even if they were "only a secretary").  If you can get
that experience while being paid for it, wonderful; if not, just grit your
teeth for six months to a year, wait tables and volunteer.  Keep your ears
open and your mouth shut, and do everything at the highest level of effort.
It WILL pay off.

Julia Moore
Director of Exhibitions and Artist Services
Indianapolis Art Center

-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
Behalf Of Deb Fuller
Sent: Wednesday, January 30, 2002 6:47 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Getting a job *without* volunteering


--- Ehr Nine <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> What I'd like to know is how many (if any!) of you got
> jobs *without* doing any volunteer work (including
> unpaid internships), whether for the institution that
> hired you or somewhere else. If you didn't have
> volunteer experience, did you have other applicable
> experience? Has anyone found it possible to get a job
> without *any* experience of some sort?

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