Building My Brand

I started this blog as part of a course at the University of Leicester where I am earning my MA in Museum Studies. I am currently working on "building my brand" during this course on online networking and employability. Here is what I have planned:

• Which social media channels you have chosen to build up your personal brand and why
• I am using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, and this blog to  build my personal brand. I chose those channels because I am familiar with them and already have many connections on each platform. Facebook is great for staying connected with classmates and friends who share similar interests, such as museums. Twitter is a quick way to share information and interact with various organizations. LinkedIn, of course, is a valuable tool for connecting with colleagues and educators. Instagram is a good way to share bits of my professional accomplishments through photos, and as they say, a picture is worth 1,000 words. Finally Pinterest is perfect for sharing resources and ideas with fellow educators and museum professionals. 
• Who you are trying to target with your brand and why
• I am targeting fellow educators and museum professionals who might be able to help me further my career, but also families who I can reach out to for educational purposes. Connecting with colleagues and others who have similar career goals will be helpful for sharing ideas and resources and could also help with my job search. My career objective is to help families by supporting them with fun and educational programs, so I love sharing ideas for learning activities.
• Why you chose the visual identity that you have decided to use
•  I designed the visual identity of this blog to be representative of my personality. The script style font is "old fashioned yet girly" and it is also similar to my handwriting. I liked the pretty blue background and it reminds me of a nice summer day with blue skies. I wanted the blog to represent my style and be visually appealing to readers without being to busy or overwhelming.
  

The Elusive Full Time Museum Job

If you read my little profile blurb, you know that I work 4 part time jobs, an internship, and am in grad school. Who knew that it would be so crazy difficult to find a full time museum job? My undergrad museum classes did not prepare me for this fact.

I was one of the lucky ones who was hired for a full time, management level museum job right out of college. I finished student teaching on a Thursday, donned my cap and gown on Saturday, and started my big-girl job on Monday. I absolutely loved my work and was ridiculously passionate about the organization I worked for. I put in my 40 hours each week and felt amazing about the work I did. Unfortunately it was not "happily ever after" at this job. I moved and my new home was over an hour away from my museum. I made this commute 5 or 6 days a week for 6 months while gas money ate up a large portion of my pay. Around this time an opportunity came up to build a house and my boyfriend and I decided to take it. This new home would be almost two hours from my museum. Clearly, that would not work. So when the time was right, I left my full time job for a part time job close to my current and work-in-progress homes. And that is how I ended up working multiple jobs just to keep the student loan payments in check.

People thought I was crazy because I had been so lucky to find such a great job right out of school. While working so many jobs is not ideal, I have gained experience in so many different areas! (Especially time management, you should see the color-coded calendar I have to keep everything straight.)

I know many of my friends and classmates are in the same boat. I'm not sure if that makes me feel better or worse? Here's to hoping that 2015 will be a great year for museums and we will all find great jobs that will satisfy our loves of museums, history, science, etc. (Hopefully they will satisfy our piggy banks too!)

 Good luck museum geeks!