Nice work if you can get it

“Mention at a party that you are a dentist or an accountant and people tend to look away. Mention that you work in a museum or gallery and their reaction is likely to be quite different. People may not be interested in your actual job status but simply have an image of you ambling around the gallery having fine thoughts in the presence of masterpieces. It is a job with a high level of kudos.”

So says Alison Baverstock in her book How to get a job in a museum or art gallery. Baverstock has eight key points she reckons makes the job a must-have including, “The chance to meet interesting people. Working in a pleasant place and having a job that people find fascinating.” Nice work if you can get it but given the vast numbers of students passing through the fine arts courses the chance to have people believe you amble around a gallery all day and be paid for it is going to be subject of increasingly tough competition.