Job Hunting in a Cultural Field
January 21, 2016 11:42 AM Subscribe
For the last five years I've been at the same small cultural institution in a large US city. During that time I worked my way up to a (non-executive) director role managing a few employees. I'm ready for a change, but I'm having trouble making that change happen. I've been semi-seriously looking for a year now without luck, and would love to hear experience and advice from other people who've grown or maintained careers in similar fields or situations.
Background
I'm interested in cultural programming, particularly in relation to art and artifacts. I have a masters in a niche but work-relevant field, and track record of successful project management at a cultural non-profit. I'm willing to relocate, and have so far looked at jobs in Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, LA, and a handful of other cities. I also realize that opportunities in larger organizations might not be at the same level, which is not a problem.
What I've Done so Far
I regularly search the following boards:
Networked at industry conferences.
I interviewed with several organizations: in a couple cases I made it to the end of the process without an offer; in another couple I bowed out of the process when it became clear that any offer would be a significant salary cut.
The career resources at my small graduate program are non existent (as we were preparing to graduate the only advice I received was "apply to six jobs a day and you will find something even if it feels hopeless"), and surprisingly I can’t seem to find any helpful resources through my much larger undergraduate university.
Problems
I've never job-searched at a managerial level before.
My field and education are fairly niche.
I can’t identify anyone in my field with whom I could talk in person and share my resume. I don't know how to get informed feedback.
Questions
Are there options I've missed beyond endlessly checking job boards and occasionally networking? Are there employment agencies that would work with someone in cultural institutions?
While the rest of my life is going pretty well, the job angst can really start getting me down. Are there career counselors (not in the high school sense) who would talk through this with me, provide feedback, and look at a resume?
Going in another direction: are there other sorts of jobs I should be looking at? Something in the private sector? I have consistently kept fairly high-cost projects on schedule and within budget and I have some management experience. My education may seem specialized (think more niche than the stereotypical "useless art history degree") but my skills seem more universal than that.
Specific answers and general experience are both welcome!
Background
I'm interested in cultural programming, particularly in relation to art and artifacts. I have a masters in a niche but work-relevant field, and track record of successful project management at a cultural non-profit. I'm willing to relocate, and have so far looked at jobs in Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, LA, and a handful of other cities. I also realize that opportunities in larger organizations might not be at the same level, which is not a problem.
What I've Done so Far
I regularly search the following boards:
- NYFA
- American Association of Museums
- National Council on Public History
- New England Museum Association
- Idealist
- Various HigherEd boards
Networked at industry conferences.
I interviewed with several organizations: in a couple cases I made it to the end of the process without an offer; in another couple I bowed out of the process when it became clear that any offer would be a significant salary cut.
The career resources at my small graduate program are non existent (as we were preparing to graduate the only advice I received was "apply to six jobs a day and you will find something even if it feels hopeless"), and surprisingly I can’t seem to find any helpful resources through my much larger undergraduate university.
Problems
I've never job-searched at a managerial level before.
My field and education are fairly niche.
I can’t identify anyone in my field with whom I could talk in person and share my resume. I don't know how to get informed feedback.
Questions
Are there options I've missed beyond endlessly checking job boards and occasionally networking? Are there employment agencies that would work with someone in cultural institutions?
While the rest of my life is going pretty well, the job angst can really start getting me down. Are there career counselors (not in the high school sense) who would talk through this with me, provide feedback, and look at a resume?
Going in another direction: are there other sorts of jobs I should be looking at? Something in the private sector? I have consistently kept fairly high-cost projects on schedule and within budget and I have some management experience. My education may seem specialized (think more niche than the stereotypical "useless art history degree") but my skills seem more universal than that.
Specific answers and general experience are both welcome!
Please memail me if you want to talk about becoming a museum consultant or you want somebody neutral to take a look at your resume. Also, add the AASLH job listings to your list.
posted by carmicha at 2:13 PM on January 21, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by carmicha at 2:13 PM on January 21, 2016 [1 favorite]
You can check the Jobs section of Global Museum. Also the Museum discussion list/museum-l regularly has job announcements. Here's a link to the archives (and a subscribe option is there also).
posted by gudrun at 6:03 PM on January 21, 2016
posted by gudrun at 6:03 PM on January 21, 2016
I can’t identify anyone in my field with whom I could talk in person and share my resume. I don't know how to get informed feedback.
Ok, this is the crux of the issue. You need to do some informational interviewing. You aren't able to crack into the job network because you don't have enough contacts. Just start identifying people who have jobs similar to the ones you want in places like the ones you want to work in, and write them an email asking for 20 minutes of their time to talk about their advice for success in the field, critique of your resume, etc. This is a short, quick, answer, but have a google for "informational interviewing." It will expand your horizons rapidly.
Also, it's worth noting that your list is comprised of the most competitive cultural job markets in the US. It will be hard to get noticed in those markets without a good network of contacts.
MeMail me, and I'd be happy to contact you on LinkedIn to see if anything/anyone there might be helpful to you!
posted by Miko at 8:42 PM on January 21, 2016
Ok, this is the crux of the issue. You need to do some informational interviewing. You aren't able to crack into the job network because you don't have enough contacts. Just start identifying people who have jobs similar to the ones you want in places like the ones you want to work in, and write them an email asking for 20 minutes of their time to talk about their advice for success in the field, critique of your resume, etc. This is a short, quick, answer, but have a google for "informational interviewing." It will expand your horizons rapidly.
Also, it's worth noting that your list is comprised of the most competitive cultural job markets in the US. It will be hard to get noticed in those markets without a good network of contacts.
MeMail me, and I'd be happy to contact you on LinkedIn to see if anything/anyone there might be helpful to you!
posted by Miko at 8:42 PM on January 21, 2016
I work in a programming role at a national museum (UK) but I started out in smaller cultural institutions. I think there is quite a big difference, culturally, between small and large orgs in this sector. The bigger the org the more complex the structures and the more specialist the skills required so you have to step it up quite considerably to stand out at your level. This is because, as Miko says, there is so much competition - the low attrition rate means lots of managerial-level candidates are out there, with similar levels of experience.
The museum sector can be a bit incestuous (at least here in the UK) so I agree that networking is really effective in making yourself known and seen, but I took a different route by moving away from cultural gigs for a few years and making upwards moves in a different industry. When I came back I was operating at managerial level with additional skills and knowledge, but also had the previous sector experience to show I knew what I was getting into, and it's working out well so far.
An alternative might be just a more vocationally related certification in something museums don't usually recruit for, like product development or service design. You mentioned project management, this is a great skill to bring to the table so you could look at formalising that with a professional credential to help you stand out.
In terms of job hunting the Leicester School of Museum Studies Job Desk advertises posts from across the globe, might be worth a look.
posted by freya_lamb at 1:24 PM on January 22, 2016
The museum sector can be a bit incestuous (at least here in the UK) so I agree that networking is really effective in making yourself known and seen, but I took a different route by moving away from cultural gigs for a few years and making upwards moves in a different industry. When I came back I was operating at managerial level with additional skills and knowledge, but also had the previous sector experience to show I knew what I was getting into, and it's working out well so far.
An alternative might be just a more vocationally related certification in something museums don't usually recruit for, like product development or service design. You mentioned project management, this is a great skill to bring to the table so you could look at formalising that with a professional credential to help you stand out.
In terms of job hunting the Leicester School of Museum Studies Job Desk advertises posts from across the globe, might be worth a look.
posted by freya_lamb at 1:24 PM on January 22, 2016
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Riverine at 1:02 PM on January 21, 2016