Open Forum

Hello Museum Community,

As I find myself with weeks off from work amidst this crisis, I am exploring ways to better myself professionally by developing hard skills. I am early in my museum career and without a master's degree I would like to supplement my resume with hard skills. So far I have downloaded Adobe Creative Cloud and am trying to increase my design experience. Other ideas I have are to take a grant writing course, does anyone recommend a certain program?

And then what other hard skills do you say really stand out in museum job interviews? I know it depends on the job, but I am looking for general advice for someone interested in nonprofit management, interpretation, Education/visitor services, admin assistance, development etc. on what I can be doing during my down time to make me stand out.

Thank you, any ideas are appreciated!!

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Visitor Services
Washington DC
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In Curatorial work, I find all these useful: Photoshop, PowerPoint, Excel (and Google Docs versions of the lay 2). It's also good to have passable photo skills. And I learned to edit video for one project. The one I know is Final Cut X because I have a Mac at home but there are simpler ones that are cheaper. And if you think you might do video, knowing something about mic'ing people is useful.

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Laura Vookles
Chief Curator of Collections
Hudson River Museum
Yonkers NY
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Original Message:
Sent: 03-16-2020 02:54 PM
From: Hannah Hicks
Subject: Developing hard skills while out of work?

Hello Museum Community,

As I find myself with weeks off from work amidst this crisis, I am exploring ways to better myself professionally by developing hard skills. I am early in my museum career and without a master's degree I would like to supplement my resume with hard skills. So far I have downloaded Adobe Creative Cloud and am trying to increase my design experience. Other ideas I have are to take a grant writing course, does anyone recommend a certain program?

And then what other hard skills do you say really stand out in museum job interviews? I know it depends on the job, but I am looking for general advice for someone interested in nonprofit management, interpretation, Education/visitor services, admin assistance, development etc. on what I can be doing during my down time to make me stand out.

Thank you, any ideas are appreciated!!

------------------------------
Visitor Services
Washington DC
------------------------------

Original Message------

Hello Museum Community,

As I find myself with weeks off from work amidst this crisis, I am exploring ways to better myself professionally by developing hard skills. I am early in my museum career and without a master's degree I would like to supplement my resume with hard skills. So far I have downloaded Adobe Creative Cloud and am trying to increase my design experience. Other ideas I have are to take a grant writing course, does anyone recommend a certain program?

And then what other hard skills do you say really stand out in museum job interviews? I know it depends on the job, but I am looking for general advice for someone interested in nonprofit management, interpretation, Education/visitor services, admin assistance, development etc. on what I can be doing during my down time to make me stand out.

Thank you, any ideas are appreciated!!

------------------------------
Visitor Services
Washington DC
------------------------------

Hi Hannah,

I have the strong belief that our field could really benefit more from formal project management skills. There are many online courses. Being a great project manager is a powerful asset. 

Another thing to think about: it's an opportunity to learn more about racial equity, access, and inclusion. Familiarity with the principles, resources, and how to facilitate learning processes for groups is another strong attribute.

Good luck, and good thinking!

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Michelle Moon
Chief Program Officer
Tenement Museum
New York, NY
mmoon@tenement.org
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Original Message:
Sent: 03-16-2020 02:54 PM
From: Hannah Hicks
Subject: Developing hard skills while out of work?

Hello Museum Community,

As I find myself with weeks off from work amidst this crisis, I am exploring ways to better myself professionally by developing hard skills. I am early in my museum career and without a master's degree I would like to supplement my resume with hard skills. So far I have downloaded Adobe Creative Cloud and am trying to increase my design experience. Other ideas I have are to take a grant writing course, does anyone recommend a certain program?

And then what other hard skills do you say really stand out in museum job interviews? I know it depends on the job, but I am looking for general advice for someone interested in nonprofit management, interpretation, Education/visitor services, admin assistance, development etc. on what I can be doing during my down time to make me stand out.

Thank you, any ideas are appreciated!!

------------------------------
Visitor Services
Washington DC
------------------------------

I commend you for recognizing the value that will come from adding grant writing skills to your portfolio. I don't have a particular class to suggest but would encourage you to start with the basics, which is learning how to research grant opportunities.

Lots of databases out there, and lots of places periodically offer free workshops on how to navigate them. Sometimes a university whose library has a subscription to such resources will offer a free tutorial on how to navigate them, open to anyone who is allowed to use the library, which might include the general public, not just students and faculty. Another free resource is grants.gov but of course their tutorials and guides will be limited to federal grant opportunities.

Being able to say you have taken a class on grant writing is a great thing to drop into the conversation during an interview. Being able to say, "Have you thought about X, Y, and Z Foundations as possible funders for your [name the program]?" might be even more impressive.

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Deborah Smith
Consultant Belfast Maine
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Original Message:
Sent: 03-16-2020 02:54 PM
From: Hannah Hicks
Subject: Developing hard skills while out of work?

Hello Museum Community,

As I find myself with weeks off from work amidst this crisis, I am exploring ways to better myself professionally by developing hard skills. I am early in my museum career and without a master's degree I would like to supplement my resume with hard skills. So far I have downloaded Adobe Creative Cloud and am trying to increase my design experience. Other ideas I have are to take a grant writing course, does anyone recommend a certain program?

And then what other hard skills do you say really stand out in museum job interviews? I know it depends on the job, but I am looking for general advice for someone interested in nonprofit management, interpretation, Education/visitor services, admin assistance, development etc. on what I can be doing during my down time to make me stand out.

Thank you, any ideas are appreciated!!

------------------------------
Visitor Services
Washington DC
------------------------------