Back to School Special
Finding a Job after Graduation
BY ANDREW CAPPETTA and LINA SONI
You are 22 years old, newly graduated from,
most likely, a small liberal arts college, with a
bachelor's degree in art history. Unlike your cor-
porate-bound friends who underwent the slings
and arrows of recruitment week on campus
while you were writing about the conception of
the body and health in Balinese art, you have
just begun to pound the pavement, wondering
how will you ever pay your bills-or at least your
student loans.
Choosing little pay and long hours to pur-
sue your passion is not easy. As we all know,
jobs in the art world are rare. When one
appears, at least a hundred people (most of
them way overqualified) apply and you think,
"What chance do I have?" We would like to
offer some advice as two people who have sur-
vived this process with favorable results.
Before an experience in the art world
becomes central to your five-year plan, you
must realize that not all jobs emphasize the
scholarly abilities that you perfected as a stu-
dent. The art world encompasses varied and,
at times, opposing relationships, a fact that
many people confront during their careers.
Academia, being the springboard for art and
art history students, remains essential to any
career in this field, but how one uses that
knowledge is often diverse. For example, auc-
tion houses and galleries ascertain the value of
a particular object through traditional research
methods, yet education is neither the goal nor
intent of these institutions.
At graduation, your crying mother and
proud father will surround you bearing gradua-
tion cards filled with your first month's rent and
security deposit. But before this moment, you
must remember that opportunities abound to
gain useful work-related experience in those
prime four undergraduate years. Between three
summer and four winter breaks, you have
ample time to get your foot in the door at many
of our foremost art institutions. GET INVOLVED
as soon as possible. Sure, some internship pro-
grams are as competitive as entry-level jobs, but
nobody will turn down free help! If not at the
Met, then volunteer at the local community
museum or galleries in a nearby city. Be a
docent, sit at the membership desk, file and
Xerox until your fingers have more band-aids
than your 5-year-old brother's and you lose an
all-out fight with the toner cartridge one day.
Experience is key; the more you have, the easier
it will be to find that first "real" job.
Let's say you live or study in a small farm
community where the closest thing to culture is
the local cheese factory. Even experiences far
8 A R T P A P E R S M A G A Z I N E
looking to fill entry-level positions are not seek-
ing knowledgeable applicants. Instead, they're
looking for people who can think and work cre-
atively while nurturing a genuine love for the
field. Rather than desperately scouring libraries
on the topic and cramming for the interview
like your first freshman final, be confident with
what you do know. Decide what you will focus
on throughout the exchange, think of engag-
ing questions to discuss with your interviewer
and try to emphasize your strengths and
potential contributions.
Once you have become a 'dynamic mem-
ber" of the "fast-paced," "cosmopolitan" art
community, there are still a few tips that will
help you during your first years. After the initial
excitement has passed and you find that four
years of art historical study has prepared you for
a life of creating slide labels, taking minutes and
ordering lunch, hang in there! Don't let disillu-
From buried in books to buried in files: Andrew Cappetto at the sionment take hold. Your boss was once an
Whitney Museum (photo courtesy Andrew Cappetta).
envelope stuffing, closet organizing, coffee
making upstart fresh out of college too. Entry-
removed from art can provide you with basic level positions are far from the most glamorous
office skills that are underrated by employees in any field but remaining positive and cooper-
but greatly sought after by employers, not to ative will get you further than griping any day.
mention producing a more dynamic CV. Also, in Demonstrating eagerness in something as small
this age of mass marketing and advertising, as picking up the department's mail shows
museums are mirroring corporate practices, so them your willingness to be part of the team
they view individuals with business experience and makes you more valuable. The more that
as appealing applicants. If your uncle lands you you are valued as an employee, the more
a job at his firm making twelve dollars an hour responsibility you will be entrusted with: this is
and your parents insist you take it over them a universal pattern of the working world. If you
supporting you in New York for a summer, stop keep this adage in mind, things will improve!
cursing them. Your uncle's offer could well Even if you never get the chance to
prove advantageous. research the museum's rare book collection or
Perhaps you have had some valuable expe- court an up-and-coming artist, don't throw in
rience as an undergrad and it's time to find your the towel. To get yourself out of the doldrums
dream job. Please keep in mind that you will not you have to put some perspective on your situ-
become the leading authority on German ation. Think of the institution as a painting by
ephemeral contemporary art overnight. In fact Mondrian: you as a small patch of color or a
you will probably not find work related to your black line the breadth of a hair are essential to
cherished thesis topic at all. Take anything that the overall balance and harmony of the compo-
you feel will give you insight into the nuts and sition despite your relative size. When an exhi-
bolts of the art world. Even if it's not what you bition opens or an event is a success, you are
expected as an undergrad, you will learn valu- just as much a part of the team as the director,
able lessons that can take you to the next job, whether you assist with promotion, education,
and one step closer to your goal. fundraising, installation or ticket sales. Your
With some luck, after perusing the job list- work may seem to go unheralded but it is cer-
ings and nearly posting your resume on the tainly needed-at a non-profit organization,
sides of buses, you find yourself preparing for where not much money goes unused, every
an interview. If during the interview (or prefer- employee's efforts are highly valued.
ably beforehand) you realize that you know We hope that these few words of advice
nothing about the position-relax! Just because and encouragement will help many of you on
you didn't study the domestic textile art of your way to a career in the arts. It is not the eas-
Northern Gujarat doesn't mean you are not iest path, but for those who have mastered its
qualified for this position. Most employers difficulties, it is the only one worthwhile. E
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TITLE: Back to School Special: Finding a Job after Graduation

SOURCE: Art Papers 26 no5 S/O 2002
WN: 0224404393001

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