How to Get a Job in a Museum Or Art Gallery - By Alison Baverstock Page 0,100
give blood and see how walking away having done something selfless makes you feel positive).
If you do find a mentor, don’t keep ringing up for advice – try to consolidate your thoughts and questions for discussion at an occasional opportunity to meet – limit sudden calls for genuine emergencies. Send the odd postcard or e-mail that fills them in briefly on what you have been doing, and don’t worry if you don’t hear back. When you do meet, do ensure that you listen – find out about their career and absorb all the anecdotes which can be very revealing, such as networking opportunities that led to hearing about a job opportunity or a specific project that turned out to be significant; guidance on the politics of how the profession works can be particularly instructive. And for whatever help or support you receive, even if it’s just the chance to listen and meet, bear in mind that your mentor probably has endless other ways they could use their time, so remember to say thank you. And don’t assume a mentor is only useful in the early stages of your career; objective and wise counsel is always valuable.
3. Build a network
Build a collection of colleagues, friends and other people you may be in touch with. Talk to them and be interested in what they have to say. Find out via this grapevine what is going on and acknowledge their input, particularly if you find out things you would not otherwise have known.
4. Make a plan
Prepare a plan based on where you want to be and what kind of person you think you are. Make it logical, taking into account your known strengths and weaknesses. Revisit it at regular intervals – most lives are not linear.
Along the same lines, consider your priorities and what you want from your job and your life. I remember being particularly struck by hearing journalist Katharine Whitehorn talking on Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs about how much she hated boarding school, but how in the process it gave her a very clear idea of what happiness was, and that thenceforth she could always tell if she was happy or not. I regularly run workshops for people who want to write, and often the audience consists of those who are well paid and highly valued by their organisations (as evinced through their job titles and salaries) but feel deeply unfulfilled.
So as you progress, keep a sharp eye out for what motivates you, where and when you are happy. Do you thrive best in a large or a small organisation? Do you like working in a team? What gives you job satisfaction? Does belonging to the organisation matter to you? How much does your job matter to you – is your job what allows you to live your life, or perhaps it IS your life? You don’t have to change your job or circumstances to fit this dawning awareness all at once, but a feeling of moving towards what motivates you is a healthy direction.
5. Lead an interesting life
Do different things. Trying out new things always gives you a fresh perspective. Without going out on a limb and being seen as awkwardly different, become known as someone who has interesting ideas and is not bound by convention to dismiss or sneer at something that is not a natural part of their cultural inheritance. Be aware of popular trends, as these impact on the public’s willingness (or not) to spend time in your institution and the values they place on leisure: by understanding trends, you can influence them. So visit new places and as well as spending time on the main attraction, visit the shop, the tea room or restaurant – and even the bathrooms.
Be willing to get involved with any experiments that are run within your organisation: new initiatives; working parties on issues that interest you, the management or both. Volunteer.
6. Think positively
When things don’t work out as planned and you find yourself in a difficult place, it is tempting just to keep going, all the while comforting yourself with the fact that the workplace, or life in general, is unfair. Rather than just keep going, try stepping off the hamster wheel and thinking about what you are doing and what is to be gained by simply carrying on. People who work with addicts often concentrate on how to change behaviour: predicting a different outcome without changing any of the parameters that put you in that position in the first