1. Could you describe one of your typical work days?

One of the things I like about my job is that there’s no typical day! I have so many
varying responsibilities that it really depends on the day. For the most part, my
mornings are spent either in planning meetings with staff or administrative work,
like checking email, etc, and the afternoons are ‘public-facing’ time, where I do
tours, work with volunteers, etc.

2. What skills are required in your position on a day-to-day basis?

Flexibility is key! There are so many times when I’ve come into work planning for
one task and had to jump into a completely different task. Being able to take that in
stride, while also keeping track of all the rest of the ‘plates in the air’ is very
important. Effective project management is important, since most museum folks
wear many hats, as well as really fantastic customer service skills. Between giving
tours, running the front desk, managing volunteers, and interviewing would-be
donors (artifacts, not money), I spend most of my day talking to people.

3. What parts of your job do you find most challenging?

There is always more to do and no time to do it. It’s difficult to be able to

recognize when we don’t have the capacity to do one more thing. Museums, and
nonprofits in general, often get caught in a trap of “how we’ve always done it.”
Things don’t change because “that’s how we’ve always done it.” It’s hard to push
against that thought process. It’s compounded by the fact that most museums are
led by an entirely different generation than they are staffed by. You have to know
how to work effectively across generations.

4. What do find most enjoyable?

I actually enjoy giving tours and talking to visitors! I like teaching people
something new or unexpected. I also enjoy visualizing and guiding projects and
events, from start to finish. Seeing that end product be successful is a great feeling.
 5. Are there any negatives to your job?

There are negatives to any job, especially any job in a nonprofit. Low pay, long
hours, high stress, too many responsibilities for too few staff. Some nonprofits,
including CMH, also struggle with job security because of lack of funding.

6. How many hours do you work in a typical day? A typical week?

A typical day is usually 9-5 or 6ish. I usually have an evening meeting once a
week, which can make it a 9-9 day. Most weeks I clock about 50 hours a week.
(also important, I’m salaried, so no overtime)

7. Which seasons of the year are toughest at your job?

This one! The end of summer and early fall are the busiest time for us, with several
big events and the beginning of field trip season.

8. How do most people enter this profession?

On purpose! Most people who work in museums joined the field intentionally. It’s
not a field you stay in if you don’t want to be there. Most museum folks have some
kind of relevant academic background, including an advanced degree. The field
can be hard to break into, so there are many people who start out as volunteers or
interns and then transition to paid staff.

9. How long did it take to get where you are today?

I knew I wanted to work in museums, but I didn’t start volunteering or interning

until after college. I did an archaeology/historic preservation field school (basically
a graduate class) and volunteered until I got a 6-month internship. From there, I got
my first job through networking. I was lucky (and not-so-lucky) that the museum I
worked at was going through a lot of changes, so I had several promotions while
working there. I also made sure to network with surrounding museums, which is
how I got my current job.

10.What drew you to working in a museum over other jobs in the field of
history like archaeology or teaching?

I was never really interested in teaching at the grade-school level and I was
fortunate to have a better understanding of college-level instruction because I went
to an early-college high school. So I knew that being a professor was a lot different
than how it was usually portrayed in pop culture, and not something that I was
interested in - mostly the competitive environment.
My dream job was, and still mostly is, in historic preservation. I did an archeology
and historic preservation field school at Mount Vernon right after college. A lot of
preservation work is either very hands-on and scientific, requiring chemistry or
architectural degrees, or academic and policy-related. I’m interested in the
on-the-ground work of preservation, saving structures and restoring them. I do get
to participate in that in my current job, which is nice.
I work in museums now, rather than preservation or archaeology, because there are
more jobs in museums than there are in preservation and research-based
archaeology. (Also, in my college-freshman mind, history = professor or curator,
so I went towards the curator role)

11.If you could start all over again, would you change your career path in any
way? Why?

I would think long and hard about what kind of job I wanted to have. I didn’t want
to have a deadline-driven, stressful job with a lot of bureaucracy and I thought
museums weren’t that. So now I have a consistently under-funded and
under-staffed job. I would spend more time exploring what my career options are
instead of pushing for a specific job that I didn’t really understand. (this is why
volunteering and interning are important!!)
 12. ​Is there anything else you think I need to know?

Think about what kind of environment you want to work in - do you enjoy public
interaction, do you need structure or can you handle variety, how do you handle
stress, etc. Ninety-nine percent of museums are small (1-5 staff), privately funded
(meaning you may be responsible for raising the money to pay your salary), and in
a suburban or rural area. Think about what you want your life to look like - where
do you want to live, how much does it cost, do you want a family? Working in a
nonprofit or local government-run museum makes all of these decisions much
harder, mostly because of the low pay. Also consider the unusual hours - working
every Saturday and lots of evenings didn’t seem like a big deal when I was 22 and
not thinking about having a family or spending time with my partner, who works a
more normal schedule.

On a more positive note - museums are some of the most trusted organizations
today (over government and news outlets, not surprisingly), so you have the
opportunity to create real change. I also get the chance to learn about some of the
most significant events in our community’s history - seeing and handling the
documents and artifacts, talking to those who were involved. Understanding why
these things happened helps make sense of the world today. The whole point of
museums, in my opinion, is to answer that “Why?” question. Working in a
museum is not just a job you leave at your desk when you go home, it has to be
something you love doing, despite all of its downsides.