Dear Elizabeth & Robert:
I agree totally with everything Elizabeth wrote to Robert, EXCEPT the comment that concluded "museums are hard-pressed to employ enough people to do anything well, so you'd have to be ready to work (overwork?) under difficult circumstances" [emphasis added].
Quite apart from the fact that the emphasized portion is encouraging Robert to take on unpaid work that is ILLEGAL in most jurisdictions--putting his employer in legal jeopardy that requires risk management consideration--this kind of all too common collegial & management pressure in our current museum culture puts Robert himself at risk of physical, mental, family, & social ill-health by burnout.
I strongly believe that museums must avoid operating unethically & illegally, thereby unconscionably exploiting paid staff & their love for the work. The 'more with less' museum management strategy sooner than later will drive Robert out of the museum business & DEFEAT HIS MUSEUM CAREER DREAM as it has done in the past--& will apparently continue--for increasing numbers of committed museum workers. For example, see the overwork reason among others given by one EMP after giving up her museum career:
Milldrum, Claire. 2017. "Why I Left The Museum Field: A Guest Post By Claire Milldrum." ExhibiTricks: A Museum/Exhibit/Design Blog posted 11 September http://blog.orselli.net/2017/09/why-i-left-museum-field-guest-post-by.html (accessed 18 May 2021).
Everyone--especially EMPs--also would benefit from my blog post that documents why Elizabeth's & The AAM's parallel "DO YOU JOB & THEN SOME" career advice actually is dangerous to museum workers' health & thus their aspirations for a long-term career in the museum industry. This is to say nothing about its illegality in many jurisdictions:
Thistle, Paul C. 2013b. "Expectation Inflation: 'DO YOUR JOB AND THEN SOME'." Solving Task Saturation for Museum Workers blog posted 14 January 2013 at https://solvetasksaturation.wordpress.com/2013/01/14/expectation-inflation-do-your-job-and-then-some/ (accessed 23 November 2020) in response to one particular piece of poor career advice in the AAM's 2012 book A Life in Museums: Managing Your Museum Career.
Similarly, Stimler (2020: 4-5) in his "DYNAMIC SUSTAINABILITY PLATFORM STRATEGY" reports museums & related institutions are,
. . . setting overly ambitious agendas that they do not have the agency or ability to deliver successfully. . . Without a strong strategy, GLAMs can alienate customers, exhaust budgets, waste precious resources, and burn out staff [emphasis added].
Stimler, Neal. 2020. WHITE PAPER: GLAMs' (GALLERIES, LIBRARIES, ARCHIVES, AND MUSEUMS) DYNAMIC SUSTAINABILITY PLATFORM STRATEGY. SAN DIEGO, CA: Balboa Park Online Collaborative (BPOC), BPOC.ORG posted October 6, 2020 at DOI: https://doi.org/10.47786/TLOU3193 (accessed 29 March 2021).
I am sorry but, in my evidence-based view, the emphasized word overwork above in Elizabeth's response is not at all good career advice for Robert or others in his position. The same goes for AMPs ( Aging Museum Professionals ;-)
Thanks for thinking about this.
Respectfully yours------------------------------
Paul C.Thistle
Director/Curator (retired)
Stratford, Ontario
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Original Message:
Sent: 06-03-2021 11:36 AM
From: Elizabeth Stewart
Subject: Entering Museum Profession
Robert,
While Paul is on-point, that you need to be aware of the generally underpaid nature of museum work, you probably won't find a career that is more rewarding in other ways. If you are self-motivated, enjoy problem-solving and exercising creativity on the job, then museums are the place for you. And you'd be entering at a time when the museum field has shifted its focus toward education and community engagement. That said, coming out of COVID many museums are hard-pressed to employ enough people to do anything well, so you'd have to be ready to work (overwork?) under difficult circumstances.
My advice to people entering the field in any area is to be a generalist, but have one or two specializations that make you stand out from a crowd of applicants--many with museum studies degrees. A specialization might be in a subject area--Black history or Hmong art--or it might be a skill or technique--web development or curriculum development. You may want to volunteer or consult with a museum, to develop a curriculum they need or institute a partnership--anything that helps them and is a completed portfolio piece or project on your cv and/or LinkedIn. Volunteering or consulting will also generate recommendations from people working in the field, as well as strengthen your network of museum people. (When I was job-hunting, I kept an actual chart of museum people I could rely on and my contacts with them--I sent this person an article or introduced these two contacts to one another--to help keep my contacts fresh.)
One e-newsletter I love and read a lot is the one from the Center for the Future of Museums. Best of luck--it's a great time to try something new, because so many people are reconsidering what they want to do with the rest of their lives!
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Elizabeth Stewart PhD
Director
Renton History Museum
Renton WA
Original Message:
Sent: 06-01-2021 12:46 PM
From: Robert Weiner
Subject: Entering Museum Profession
Good Afternoon,
I recently joined the AAM and I am looking for any insight or advice that can be offered to those who are seeking to enter the profession. I currently work in an educational support role but would like to contribute to the success of a museum. I'm utilizing the EMP Facebook page and have received several leads already in terms of cultivating contacts with museum professionals. Any additional information is absolutely appreciated. Thank you for your help.
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Robert Weiner
School Paraprofessional
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