Museum Director Resume Example & Writing Guide
Use this Museum Director resume example and guide to improve your career and write a powerful resume that will separate you from the competition.
Museum directors are responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of their organizations. They’re in charge of managing staff, planning programming, and establishing new initiatives to help their museums thrive. And because museums have such diverse audiences, directors need to be highly adaptable—able to connect with donors, children, historians, artists, and school groups all in the same day.
Before you can make an impact as a museum director, you need a resume that showcases your unique skills and experience. Here are some tips for writing a great museum director resume plus an example for reference.
How to Write a Museum Director Resume
Here’s how to write a museum director resume of your own.
Write Compelling Bullet Points
Bullet points are the most effective way to showcase your experience and qualifications. But rather than simply listing your responsibilities, you can make your resume much more interesting by using bullet points to tell a story about your work.
For example, rather than saying you “managed museum staff,” you could say that you “led team of 15+ employees in developing new exhibit on ancient Egyptian art, resulting in record-breaking attendance during opening weekend.”
The second bullet point paints a much more vivid picture of what you did and the results of your work. And it also provides specific numbers to demonstrate how successful the project was.
Identify and Include Relevant Keywords
When you apply for a museum director role, your resume is likely to go through an applicant tracking system (ATS). This system will scan your resume for specific keywords related to the job opening. If your resume doesn’t have enough of the right terms, your application might not make it past the initial screening.
To increase your chances of getting an interview, use this list of keywords as a starting point and then add, remove, and rearrange them as needed:
- Museology
- Museum Studies
- Artifacts
- Collections Management
- Conservation
- Historic Preservation
- Curatorial Studies
- Art
- Cultural Heritage
- Archaeology
- Event Planning
- Conservation Studies
- Museum Development
- Art History
- Community Outreach
- Higher Education
- Exhibit Design
- Nonprofit Organizations
- Fundraising
- Leadership
- Strategic Planning
- Program Development
- Public Speaking
- Event Management
- Program Management
- Artifacts Conservation
- Internal Communications
- Visitor Experience
- Artifacts Handling
- Exhibitions
Showcase Your Technical Skills
Museum directors are responsible for overseeing all aspects of the museum, from exhibits and collections to staffing and marketing. And as technology continues to play a more important role in museums, directors must be familiar with a variety of technological systems.
Some of the systems and programs that museum directors are typically expected to be familiar with include: museum exhibit design software, content management systems, digital asset management systems, and ticketing and visitor management systems. Additionally, directors must be able to use technology to effectively communicate with staff, donors, and the public.