Presented October 2016 at Museums Australia (Victoria) conference.

1. Future Careers – hiring at Museum Victoria
Paul Bowers, Head Exhibitions
@paulrbowers

2. Caveats
We aren’t doing enough to achieve a diverse workforce
I can’t speak for entire sector
Lots of amazing applicants – but we can’t hire everyone
Specific work culture at Museum Victoria that we recruit to
We recruit using diverse panels – to avoid bias

3. My intent
Share my experience of about 8 recruitments in a year
Give you food for thought in your career management
Encourage broader thinking about museum roles
Provoke some good questions for later

4. Evolving requirements for staff at the museum
Audience-centred, less object/design/education specific
Increasing commercial and partner considerations
Increasing transparency and audit considerations
Increasing diversity of perspectives
Increasing amount of, and rate of, change

5. Candidates we didn’t hire – some commonalities
Basics: lacking evidence of achievements. Typos.
Only one ‘type’ of experience
Old thinking – ‘do an App’; ‘first, write your object labels’
Spoke in absolutes: ‘museums should…’
Didn’t know basic facts about Museum Victoria

6. Candidates we did hire - commonalities
Digital is normal – not ‘new’
Evidence of emotional intelligence – working across domains
Demonstrated reflection and self-development
Treated commercial, philanthropy etc as a given
Demonstrated delivery with teams and partners, not alone
Driven by values of service and a desire to improve the world

7. Advice? Highly personal, but..
Do different things. Weird things. Know yourself.
Love your strengths. How do you apply them?
Love your weaknesses. Tell me how you work through them
An MA? Great. What can you do in this role?
No MA? Great. What can you do in this role?
Check your application for typos