My Personal Statement
My Professional aspiration is to become a museum curator. I wanted to choose a career that involved working with people and not having to sit at a desk all day. I am currently working on my bachelor’s in history. The qualifications I would need to become a museum curator is a “master’s degree in art history, history, archaeology, or museum studies,” (Bureau of Labor Statistics). In small museum’s curator positions can be available to people with bachelor’s degrees because they may have administration and manager responsibilities. Other than the degree no other credentials are needed. Internships or working in related fields are recommended but not necessary. Class wise, to help me better prepare for my career I am taking a computer technology class. I have thought about taking any management classes but I am considering taking a few now to help me better prepare for the future.With the bachelor’s in history I can at least start working at the museum or I can continue on my path at the Newport Aquarium.
I discovered from one of my professional websites that aquariums are part of the museum setting. I never knew this and didn’t think my current job would be very relevant to my career, but it turns out it is relevant. If I continue on my Newport Aquarium career path, I would change departments and join the exhibits department. In exhibits I can work my way up to a coordinator. I have recently interviewed for a position in the exhibits department. I have heard back from them recently and they offered me a different position than the one I applied for. I accepted their offer. It is a lower position than the one I applied for but everyone has to start somewhere.
My other option is to finish my bachelor’s degree and then apply to a local museum for a museum technician position. I get my master’s degree and then apply for a museum curator position. At this point I would have experience in a history museum and would have a better chance of getting the job. I also may look for internships to apply to over the next couple of summers to help gain experiences. I did start looking at some internships the museum has and I have decided to apply to one of their summer camp positions for the summer. They have an internship position or they have a paying position. I am going to apply to both so that way I can get the experience needed. Both positions are almost the same expect for the paying position comes with a little more responsibility. I do plan on checking local museum websites for job opening and internship opportunities. I also plan on applying to as many as I can handle and hope I get a position.
My core values are that I am a people person. According to the personality test I took it says I am a campaigner (ENFP). A campaigner is a people person. They are called a “true free spirit” (16 Personalities) and are known as the life of the party. We enjoy social and emotional connections with others. It also states that ENFP’s “know how to relax” (16 Personalities). This is a good thing because any job can be stressful and it is a useful skill to know how relax after a stressful day. We are “charming, independent, energetic, compassionate and sociable people-pleasers” (16 Personalities). I relate to this because I love talking to people, especially while working. When I’m working I try to talk to as many people as possible and try to give them the best experience as possible. This is good for my career because in order to be a museum curator you have to have great people skills. I would be constantly working with many different people and many different types of people. I would have to be able to work with them all and have good relationships with them. I have to be able to promote my place of employment and in order to do that I would need people skills.
I need to be able to direct and supervise my staff. In a museum setting I would be able to try new and different things and wouldn’t have to do the same thing. Museums are constantly getting new and fresh exhibits to bring people in and I would get to help them do that. I also wouldn’t have to sit at a desk all day. I have had a desk job before and I didn’t like it too much. There was no interaction with any people expect by phone and I also couldn’t sit still in the desk too long without wanting to get up and walk around. I like being on my feet throughout part of the work day. I also like the idea of getting people excited about learning about history. If I can teach someone thing new I call that a successful day.
My professional goals and my long term goals go hand in hand. My long term goals are less specific than my professional goals. My long term goals are to have a stable job that I am happy with. I want to finish my college degree and be able to live a happy life and be able to support myself and not have to rely on anyone. I mainly just want to be self-supporting and maybe even travel a little. I would like to have enough money to do some traveling. My professional goals are to finish my degree in history and go back and get my masters in it. I would also like to get certified in ASL. I am currently taking ASL as my language for my degree and I would like to get certified in it. Depending on where I go that would be a two-year process. After all my schooling I would like to have a steady job as a museum curator and have steady pay and be self-supporting. I think I would like to work at the Cincinnati museum or be able to work at the Smithsonian museums. Working at the Smithsonian would be greatest dream job. I also would be happy if I could stay at Newport Aquarium and make a good pay while working there.
I would contribute to my community as a museum curator by teaching whoever I can. I would get the opportunity to teach different people so many different things. At the aquarium I enjoy teaching people new things about the animals there. I don’t know very much about them right now, but I am learning more and more about them each day. Right now I do a little volunteer work for the local schools. I use to volunteer for a science club with my father. I was thinking about doing that again but this time by myself. I would also like to keep volunteering locally and at my work. The aquarium has many opportunities to volunteer and they are always looking for new people to volunteer. I haven’t volunteer for many of their events because I usually schedule to work them but I would like to volunteer with them some.
16 Personalities. NERIS Analytics Limited, 2017. Web. www.16personalities.com/enfp-careers
Bureau of Labor Statistics. U.S. Department of Labor Statistics, 17 Dec. 2017. Web. 20 Jan. 2017. www.bls.gov/ooh/education-training-and-library/curators-museum-technician
Museum Curator 