By Louise Ogle, Careers Consultant
It's been a tough time for museums recently. Lots of Royal Holloway students tell us they’re not optimistic about their chances of getting into the sector at the moment, but pre-pandemic in 2019, the heritage sector provided over 206,000 jobs directly and supported a further 357,000 jobs through indirect mechanisms (source: Historic England), and there are signs of things bouncing back. Heritage employment growth outstripped the rest of the UK economy over the past few years, growing almost twice as fast between 2011 to 2019. So with foreign holidays off the cards for many, and as restrictions ease, how can you join the recovery and maximise your chances of employment?
- Volunteer: The heritage sector has become increasingly dependent on volunteers to maintain services, and volunteers become very professional and skilled. Volunteering provides possibilities for you to gain experience while still at university and build essential networks. Talk to the volunteering team about opportunities
- Look beyond curating: There are so many exciting and creative roles within museums – check out this excellent list on Prospects.ac.uk
- Look beyond the nationals: Large, government-funded museums might appear to offer the most impressive opportunities, but look beyond these at the local, regimental, university, independent and private museums and you’ll find comparable rates of pay, easier recruitment processes and an opportunity to get earlier responsibility
- Think carefully about MA study: Masters-level study is not a necessity. Some organisations use MAs as a blunt shortlisting tool, so will require everyone to have one simply to cut down the number of applicants. In some cases, the research skills and knowledge you develop doing an MA will be valuable (for example in some learning departments or when curating a collection where you have specialist knowledge), but in other places the practical skills you gain from volunteering and other work experience will be more highly regarded
- Get connected: Get involved in online events to learn the language and issues relating to the industry, such as Twitter’s regular Museum Hour and Archive Hour, plus try @AskACurator and @MuseumNext. Other websites/social media offer job listings online, latest industry news and careers advice. They include the Archives and Records Association, the Association for Heritage Interpretation, the Collections Trust, Digital Culture Network, Engage, Front of House Museums, theheritagealliance.org.uk, Museums Crush and the BEFS Bulletin
- Think laterally: You could work for a specialist company that “serves” the heritage sector - consider architects, printers, events companies, marketers, consultancies, packagers, conservators, insurers, trainers, recruiters and many more
- Know where to look for vacancies: The Leicester University Museums Jobs Desk has become the go-to site for museum jobs. You’ll find a full list of other sites at the end of our Museums and Heitage Sector Guide
- Look for a sideways move: The kinds of skills you need in this sector can be developed in lots of other sectors, so moving from, for example, a project management or events role in another industry to a similar role in a museum isn’t unusual. So don’t be disheartened if you don’t land your dream heritage role at first – there is plenty of time!