S01E05: Emerging Professionals

We tackle life as an emerging conservation professional (ECP): Jenny and Kloe talk to guest host Marie Jordan about their collective experiences as new conservators and share a few of our listeners’ stories. We talk about the struggles of both British and American ECPs and the importance of making a fuss. Christina interviews Jonathan Ashley-Smith about conservation training, craft skills (the other c word!), and why it’s important to play nice as an ECP. 00:00:25 News in brief 00:04:22 We’re on Patreon! 00:04:47 Marie, Kloe, and Jenny talk about being emerging professionals 00:06:03 What is an emerging conservation professional, anyway? 00:08:57 Who has had the worst job rejection? 00:13:15 Silent employers are the worst 00:15:40 Listener stories: travelling far and wide, the phenomenon of Skype interviews, short contracts, and working away from spouses 00:28:18 Resume gaps, volunteering, and how to deal with unemployment 00:39:10 Working away from partners and families 00:40:52 Listener stories: worst distance-to-contract-length ratio 00:41:41 Impossibly expensive cities to work in: London and San Fransisco 00:46:30 The need for empathy from employers 00:47:50 Status quo, diversity, and why you should be angry 00:53:21 Listener stories: inexperience, commuting times, and job security 00:56:17 Vital skills you need to get hired 00:58:52 Comments, suggestions, questions, corrections 00:59:20 Interview with Jonathan Ashley-Smith 01:17:33 Research and the possibly disillusioned graduate 01:19:32 Craft skills and extracurricular CV material 01:23:55 Resources for ECPs Show Notes: - IIC 2017 Student & Emerging Conservator Conference in Bern - save the date: https://www.iiconservation.org/node/6935 - Museums Day 2017: https://www.museumsassociation.org/news/07032017-advocate-for-your-museum-on-museums-day - Oddy Testing and Off-Gassing Analysis Opportunity: Contribute your list of frequently-used materials! https://www.mail-archive.com/consdistlist@cool.conservation-us.org/msg00597.html - New emerging professionals group established in Australia: https://www.facebook.com/AICCM/posts/1302744763128633 - Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thecword - Marie’s homies at the American Swedish Historical Museum: http://www.americanswedish.org/ - MuseumPros on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/MuseumPros/ Resources: - Emerging Museum Professionals: https://www.facebook.com/groups/nempn - Emerging Conservation Professionals Network: https://www.facebook.com/groups/419707523031 - Student Conservators @ Melbourne: http://www.studentconservators.com/ - Fistful of Cinctans blog entry on applying for museum jobs: https://fistfulofcinctans.wordpress.com/2016/01/12/museum-careers-advice-how-to-apply-for-jobs/ - Leicester Museums Jobs Desk: http://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/museumstudies/JobsDesk - ICON Jobs: https://icon.org.uk/jobs - Museum Jobs: http://www.museumjobs.com/ - National Museum Jobs: http://www.nationalmuseums.org.uk/jobs/ - Conservation List List archive: http://cool.conservation-us.org/byform/mailing-lists/cdl/ - NEW! Emerging Conservators Australia: https://www.facebook.com/groups/emergingconservatorsaustralia/ Support us on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/thecword Hosted by Jenny Mathiasson, Kloe Rumsey, and Christina Rozeik. Special guest host: Marie Jordan. Intro and outro music by DDmyzik used under a Creative Commons Attribution license. Made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International license. A Wooden Dice production, 2017.

Om Podcasten

We talk about all sorts of things from the perspective of conservation professionals, from museum trends and new technology to the big issues like pay and staying safe at work. In some museums conservation can be a bit of a naughty word but we think it ought to be celebrated!