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Museum Collection Manager Resume Examples
These professional collections manager resumes, from first-time managers to experienced team leads, demonstrate how to describe your wide range of museum experience and education. Use these free guidelines with our customizable resume templates to showcase your qualifications in style.
Want a stronger resume? Use our extensive library of professional resume examples as practical starting guides.
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Collection Manager Resume Example (Text Version)
[Your Name]
[City, State ZIP Code]
[Email Address]
[Phone Number LinkedIn]
Resume Summary
[Insert your summary here. This should be a brief statement highlighting your core qualifications and career goals.]
Summary of Qualifications
- [Insert qualification #1]
- [Insert qualification #2]
- [Insert qualification #3]
- [Insert qualification #4]
[Type of] Skills
- [Add relevant accomplishment or responsibility related to Skill 1]
- [Add relevant accomplishment or responsibility related to Skill 1]
- [Add relevant accomplishment or responsibility related to Skill 1]
- [Add relevant accomplishment or responsibility related to Skill 1]
[Type of] Skills
- [Add relevant accomplishment or responsibility related to Skill 2]
- [Add relevant accomplishment or responsibility related to Skill 2]
- [Add relevant accomplishment or responsibility related to Skill 2]
- [Add relevant accomplishment or responsibility related to Skill 2]
Education
[Degree Earned]
[High School Name, Location]
[Graduation Date or Estimated Graduation Date]
- [OPTIONAL: Add relevant coursework or academic achievements]
- [OPTIONAL: Add any honors or awards received]
Work History
[Job Title #1 | Club or Employer Name #1]
[Location, Year]
[Job Title #2 | Club or Employer Name #2]
[Location, Year]
How to Write a Museum Collection Manager Resume
This detailed resume-writing guide shows how to outline your experience documenting, maintaining and distributing museum objects and resources. This sample museum collection manager resume follows a standard combination resume format to showcase your expertise and skills in equal measure.
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Professional header and contact info:
Add your name, phone number and professional email address. Create a dedicated job search email to track responses easily.
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Compelling resume introduction:
A three-sentence resume summary or objective highlights two or three managerial skills, experience or accomplishments.
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Highlight your skills:
Create a dedicated section to showcase hard and soft skills specific to museum management, such as preservation, updating collection maintenance or improving item transfers.
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Emphasize your work history:
List your work experience in reverse chronological order. Include job titles, company names, dates of employment and key responsibilities and achievements for each role in a bullet list.
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Supporting education section:
Share your academic training with relevant degrees, diplomas or certifications obtained.
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Additional sections:
Create dedicated sections for licenses, certifications, professional museum memberships or spoken languages.
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How to Write a Museum Collection Manager Resume Summary
Your resume summary is hiring managers’ first chance to skim your accomplishments. Share two or three major accomplishments or skills to encourage them to carefully read and consider your resume.
Share relevant skills:
Highlight specific skills or accomplishments related to managing collections. For example, handling mummified or preserved biological specimens requires different knowledge from that of centuries-old books and documents.
Use evidence:
Add quantifiable information wherever possible. Share the size of your previously managed collections, former institutions, reduced damage results or number of direct reports to help hiring managers calculate your abilities.
Be brief:
Share relevant details, but limit yourself to two or three sentences. Hiring managers will find additional information throughout your resume.
Strong and weak Collection Manager summary
Experienced collections manager with 10 years of experience overseeing prehistory fossil collections, managing curatorial teams, and collaborating with partner museums to make and ship realistic casts. Enhanced collection accessibility through digital cataloging and implemented efficient inventory and cataloging systems. Committed to funding community outreach programs and recurring lecture series to foster interests in paleontology and archeology.
Why this resume example works:
This detailed introduction defines their years of experience and shares relevant responsibilities in digitizing museum collections and collaborating with partner museums. They use active language to show their proactive position in their past jobs.
Museum professional skills in managing collections. Strong collaborator with a passion for history and education.
How this resume example fails:
Although this job seeker shares relevant skills like collaboration and archive management, the descriptions could be more specific. A hiring manager won’t learn much about their qualifications, specialties or relevant education.
You can improve this by adding your previous employer’s collection size, academic focus, previous team size or experience with notable tools like Catalogit or Veevart.
Pro tip: A resume objective is best for first-time job seekers, freelancers or career changers. This alternative introduction highlights your transferable management skills and education while downplaying your relevant museum experience.
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How to Add Your Museum Collection Manager Work History
The work history section is the heart of your resume. Dedicate this section to promotions, gradual increases in responsibilities, or updated department procedures that add value or protection to existing collections.
Focus on relevant information:
Add your job title, employer, location and dates of employment, and three to four bullet points with collection-related tests or accomplishments. Match these descriptions to the job opening where possible.
Use bullet points:
Easy-to-skim bullet points clearly outline your qualifications and allow hiring managers to relocate relevant information.
Use active language:
Hiring managers can see up to 200 applicants per job. Describe your accomplishments with strong verbs like “implemented,” “enhanced,” “preserved” or “developed” to help you stand out.
Strong and weak Collection Manager work history
Collections Manager | Carnegie Museum of Natural History
Pittsburgh, PA | March 2023 – Oct. 2024
- Managed a collection of 20,000+ historical artifacts and fossils, ensuring proper temperature control, preservation, storage and cataloging.
- Oversaw the update and digital transfer of the museum’s physical catalog, enabling the museum to easily partner with sister museums throughout the city and country and enable cross-collaboration.
- Supervised a team of 10 curatorial and preservation staff, promoting best practices for artifact care and risk management.
Why this resume example works:
This job seeker shares the scope of their responsibilities and accomplishments with quantifiable information, such as managing over 20,000 artifacts and improving museum access via digital exhibitions and online resources.
This candidate also highlights training and management skills by sharing their team leadership experience.
Collections Manager | Carnegie Museum of Natural History
Pittsburgh, PA | March 2023 – Oct. 2024
- Handled artifacts and helped with exhibits.
- Supervised the paleontology department.
- Collaborated with the museum director to manage department funds.
How this resume example fails:
Unfortunately, this job seeker doesn’t share quantifiable information or improvements that benefited their former employers or improved public access to these collections. Their previous job descriptions focus on tasks instead of accomplishments, making it less compelling for a hiring manager.
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How to Write a Museum Collection Manager Education Section
Your education section will provide relevant training and education, museum-oriented certifications, and public-related presentations and conferences. Make the most of this space by adding the following information:
1Relevant degrees:
Depending on your career and professional field of interest, prioritize degrees in museum studies, history, archaeology or art.
2Share professional certifications:
Organizations like the American Alliance of Museums and universities offer museology-related certifications in document, copyright law, inventory, and collection assessment to help develop career skills.
3Ongoing education:
Share in-progress classes and certifications with estimated completion dates to demonstrate your continued commitment to professional improvement.
Sample Education Section:
Degrees:
Masters of Arts in Art History
University of California, Los Angeles, CA
Graduated: May 2017
Bachelor of Arts in Museum Studies
University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA
Graduated: May 2014
Workshops and Certifications:
Tackling Collections Backlogs for Small Museums Online Workshop
American Alliance of Museums, Dec 2021
Collections Management & Exhibition Development
University of Washington, May 2020
Museum & Gallery Practices Certificate
Cal Poly Humboldt, May 2018
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15 Skills for Your Museum Collection Manager Resume
Your collections manager resume will highlight soft skills like communication and collaboration and technical skills like presentation, exhibition design and proper artifact handling. Under your dedicated skills section, showcase up to eight unmentioned skills.
Soft Skills
Leadership and team management
Time management
Hard Skills
Budgeting and resource allocation
Exhibit planning and curation
Preservation and conservation
Risk management for collections
Technical Skills
Asset management computer software
Collection inventory software (e.g., TMS, EMu)
Condition tracking and reporting
Digital cataloging and database management
Environmental monitoring systems
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20 Museum Collection Manager Action Verbs
Use strong action verbs to demonstrate your active role in managing collections, leading teams, and overseeing projects. The following sample power words could tip your collections manager resume into the top candidate pile.
- Analyze
- Archive
- Assess
- Catalog
- Collaborate
- Coordinate
- Curate
- Develop
- Enhance
- Establish
- Implement
- Lead
- Manage
- Monitor
- Organize
- Oversee
- Preserve
- Review
- Supervise
- Train
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Additional Resume Sections
Consider adding the following sections to your museum collection manager resume based on your specific circumstances and to enhance your qualifications:
Use a Cover Letter to Express Yourself
A resume is a concise overview of your skills and experience — a museum employee cover letter expands on this foundation. Add a cover letter to share one or two examples of how you excelled in similar roles or how your skills match a company’s needs. Use this sample as a guide, or visit our helpful resources to boost your application.
Museum Collection Manager Resume FAQ
How do applicant tracking systems (ATS) affect your museum collection manager resume?
ATS digitally scans and compares your resume to the live museum collection manager job description. These programs scan from resume keywords or pre-programmed skills, education and experience to find matching candidates and narrow the candidate pool.
To successfully pass these programs, carefully scan the job description for these keywords. These phrases use unique font treatments like bold, underlined or highlighted text to train ATS. Use a simple, ATS-friendly template to ensure your work history and skills are accurately graded.
How much can a museum collection manager earn per year?
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, collections managers can earn between $59,790 and $94,420 annually. This salary will depend on the museum or archive’s endowment, fundraising and grant funding.
What essential skills should you prioritize under your museum collection resume?
While transferable resume skills are valuable, focus on technical skills like collection management, artifact preservation, negotiation and staff leadership.
These skills will help you illustrate your experience overseeing teams, managing delicate collection pieces, and preserving items despite frequent handling or display.
Gabriela Barcenas
CPRW, Content Writer IIGabriela is a Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW) and career adviser. With 10 years of digital media experience and five years of resume writing expertise, her publication history includes fashion, education, travel, social justice, equitable design and career advice.