This article will discuss how to start looking for, and how to prepare for applying for museum jobs.
You've gone and got the right education. You've interned. You've done your research and now you've found a job opening that looks just right. Is there anything you can do to make your application better? With so many people applying for museum positions these days, do you even stand a chance? This article is intended to attempt to help guide you through that process.
Before you start looking for a job posting, it is a good idea to try to narrow down what exactly it is that you are looking for. In my article on interning at museums, I advised that you start scoping out what types of positions museums typically have to offer. You should, at the very least, attempt to set some sort of goal as to where you would like to end up in your museum career. If you start with the idea of, "I would like to work in museum education . . ." and have gained at least some background or experience in education and the discipline or disciplines that the museum focuses on, you are well on you way.
The next step you should take is to think about what type of museum you would like to work in. Obviously, you have the best chance of gaining employment in a museum if you consider yourself willing to move anywhere and work for anything, however, reality typically asks us to think about family and friends, and so forth. You might be willing to move for the right job, but not for a position that does not seem appropriate, or you might simply narrow your search down to the museums in a certain region.
Keep in mind that your job search could take several months. Horror stories in the museum community abound of applicants sending out hundreds of applications and resumes for several years. Very few individuals will send out fewer than a handful of applications to museums before finding gainful employment. During this period of time it is important that you strongly consider volunteering at a museum, even if just for a day or two a week. This way, even if your job hunt winds of taking several months, you are still gaining "museum related experience". You will notice that most job descriptions for museum related positions do not specify if that museum related experience was paid or not, and as long as you are honest in relating the fact that some of your museum related experience was as a volunteer, museums will see this as a positive. You will quickly notice that many museum positions request at least 1-2 years of "related" or "museum" experience, and you will quickly be grateful for having worked as an intern and/or a volunteer at a museum.
It might also be a wise idea to find some sort of interim job while searching for a museum position. This job might be slightly easier to obtain while still giving you relevant experience. If you would like to work with a museums collections or archives in the future, working at a library is not a bad place to interim. If you are looking to gain employment in a museums education department, you might temporarily find a job working at a day-care center, or if you hope to work in a museums public relations department, working for the local newspaper could be beneficial. Next week, we will start discussing the actual process of applying for museum jobs.
