specialist

philanthropy manager

human resources specialist

program specialist

associate

Smithsonian-Institution

I've been a contractor in various departments at the Smithsonian for 6 years. Although management, curators, facility and security staff receive excellent benefits, an unacceptable number of the people working in collection management, visitor services, and public programming are employed on an annual contract basis, with no benefits or job security. Though one of the four COTRs I had explicitly gave me 12 day of vacation and 12 sick days with my contract, the others have all had an official policy of NO paid sick leave or vacation, but had an understanding that I could take some sick days or vacation but if I took "too many" (exact number never stated) I would have to deduct the hours from my monthly  invoice. Out of fear of losing out on my paycheck, I would come to work sick and take only a few long weekends per year. For one of my contracts, I had to work weekends and holidays, but because the funding was continuous, I could at least expect to keep my job from year to year as long as I didn't bid too high when I reapplied. For another contract, my COTR was clear from the beginning that there was only funding for my position for a year. For the contract I'm currently working, the funding is continuous, but my COTR decided halfway through my contract that he wanted someone else to take over the contract after my year was up. 

I started working for the Smithsonian with stars in my eyes, having grown up in the DC area and spent countless hours at their free museums. After starting my first contract, I spent $60,000 on a Master's in Museum Studies with the hope that I could get a staff position. Two years after graduating, I'm worn out and disillusioned. I know one person who worked on contract for 12 years before he got a staff position. Most people leave contracting for jobs at other institutions, since they can't get a Smithsonian staff position. Often, when staff at the Smithsonian retire or quit, their position is never filled again, and their duties are shifted onto other staff or contractors. The hiring emails we get once a month are extremely depressing. I don't want to work for the Smithsonian anymore.

Loved working around the animals with the keepers.
Safety and employee relations are VERY poor, managers are all afraid of their jobs and refuse to discipline anyone no matter how egregious the infraction.
Incompetence and stupidity abound at all levels and departments at the Smithsonian. The level of incompetence in upper management GS-11, 12, 13 and department heads are all poor examples of managers. 
If this were a private business it would go broke in a week. 
No accountability by management for multi-thousands of dollars mismanaged, squandered and wasted on stupid projects with no repercussions.
Complaint to Office of Inspector General [Internal Office] is "investigated" and no basis is found for wasting money. These people are a joke and nothing but a shill. 
This is how these people spend our tax dollars. 
Zoo director believes he walks on water, is arrogant and does not know how to talk to staff. 
Zone manager is incompetent and a friend to the OFMR director and was promoted because of his boot licking and brown nosing making a 6 figure salary.
If you want a job and a paycheck this is about it unless of course you join the "in crowd". 
I could retire very comfortably if I could have all the money these people waste in one year.
When it snows they expect you to sleep on cots in the shop area with no privacy. They expect you to leave your family to shovel snow so they can say they are "open to the public". If you manage to get there it is up to you how you get home in a snow storm.

- Part of my responsibilities were managing the department's annual budget that included preparing spending plans and handle the end of the year close out. I also prepared a variety of contracts and overseen them through their life cycle. Paid invoices and processed purchases.  Have been responsible for travel arrangements and time and attendance. Provided guidance for management and staff regarding federal regulations and agency policies. I also acted in the capacity of an office manager.  Handled the onboarding of new employees/contractors.
- I extended on my knowledge in procurement, contracting and managerial skills. In addition, I learned a great deal about the culture and history of the Native Americans. 
- Local managers were willing to listen to recommendations and improvements.
- Since this is an educational organization, the agency is heavily geared toward this goal. The staff always ensured that there were a variety of public programs available not only through exhibits but also for school field trips. Management always encouraged staff to attend these events that aside of their educational benefits, were also highly entertaining.
- The hardest part of the job was the preparation for the upcoming events that generally involved a wide variety of administrative actions and collaboration with different agency departments.
- The most enjoyable part of the job was the success of the programming staff and the productive team-work. Seeing the hard work coming to fruition.

A typical day at work consists of interaction with customers from all over the world. I truly enjoy working at museums and interacting with customers all over the world. I have learned of places and traditions I had never heard much about all while adding a pleasant experience to their visit at the Smithsonian. I see working working at the museum as an opportunity many others don't necessarily have. During extremely slow seasons- such as winter- management allows us to go walk the museum and see the exhibits they have added throughout the year. Management is also extremely understanding when it comes to school and family emergencies and my co-workers all come together to make the workplace fun yet professional. The most challenging part of the job would be trying to communicate and assist with customers that are non-English speaking. Another challenging aspect is when the busy seasons roll in. Cherry Blossom, Kite Festivals, Parades, etc bring the customers into the free Smithsonian museums and cause long lines to form- but while keeping calm and keeping conversation with my customer, I feel I am able to make the wait in the long line worth it!

First you have to understand the Smithsonian Institution is part civilian and part law enforcement. A lot of times one have nothing to do with the other. One part is run by Donors and the other is run by US Congress. Which makes Smithsonian a unique place of business.

A typical day at the Smithsonian Institution National Zoo as a Zoological Police is constant observation. Staying vigilant and customer service. Patrolling the zoo grounds and responding to calls of service.  

As a former police officer assigned to the Smithsonian Institution National Zoological Park Police. I found it lack good leadership skills, training for the police officers and unhealthy safety issues. The Smithsonian Institution Police also have a high turn around rate. Meaning that they can not keep Police Officers, which puts a strain on the Officers that are assigned. The supervisors have little knowledge of the city, court procedure's and how to process prisoners.

The hardest part of that job is realizing that my Supervisors had no clue in how to police. The policies that they are covered under was designed for the Smithsonian Security Guards. New polices needs to be implemented to fit the needs of the police officers.

Most Smithsonian units, especially the art museums, provide wonderful opportunities to employ best professional practices and work with highly educated and skilled professional colleagues.  The opportunities for collaboration with others throughout the Institution are available for those you enjoy working on pan-Institutional projects.

I will admit, however, that most Smithsonian Institution units value a wide breath of experience and are less likely to recruit external candidates that have only worked for one or two cultural heritage organizations throughout their careers.  For example, ten-plus years working solely for an organization such as the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art would hardly suffice.

One issue that job candidates fail to recognize is that the Smithsonian Institution, in general, places a lot of value on the diversity of ones experience in working for different museums and related cultural heritage organizations.

Since I had volunteered online and not worked in person for Smithsonian, there are definitely areas, like benefits and interviews, that did not apply to me. However, the volunteer registry process is easy since it's the same as creating a regular online account. The main requirement is a to be at least 14 years old, which might help build a high schooler's resume. However, it's too bad that the work time cannot be logged as the amount of time spent per transcription greatly varies. The good news is that the pages transcribed are logged into the user's profile.

The work/life balance is excellent since there are no scheduled hours. Volunteers can transcribe as much of a page as they like and leave the rest for others to edit. In this case, one can say the work culture is very altruistic. As long as volunteers respect the rules, there is no reason to not have job security. Even though I'm not sure how this position affects job advancement, I could see it potentially leading to an in-person volunteer or paid job for Smithsonian, libraries, or schools.

I was employed as an Associate in the Central Office of the Smithsonian Institution. Working for such a large organization is a great opportunity but unfortunately it was overshadowed by the incredibly difficult environment in my specific department.
 There is a significant lack of effort in training new employees from outside of the organization, possibly due to the fact that many people move around within the Smithsonian and are somewhat familiar already. I’m my experience, my team did not dedicate the time, effort, or resources to properly onboarding me. There was also an unspoken expectation to work outside of your normal hours, from working lunches to logging back in after the commute home.
 Lastly, I believe that there are little systems set up in places for proper knowledge transfer, and often knowledge of a position is just lost when someone leaves or transfers. 
My positive to this, is I believe this may be specific to just my department/team. The Smithsonian is big, and each museum functions as its own workplace. I hope to apply to work there again in the future, with a much better outcome. 

Accessing all incoming parcels with specimens, processes in timely manner for researcher(s); processing all outgoing specimens in timely manner; learned DOT and IATA regulations regarding the transport of dangerous goods, as well as protective species regulations & permits to ensure specimens acquired legally to protect the Public Trust.  Most managers are efficient, fair in their appraisals and proactive when it comes to collection acquisition, inventory and accountability. Co-workers are Team Oriented. The hardest part of collections management is that it is continuous, sometimes straight forward always challenging and oft times requiring an innovate approach to ensure safety of the specimens, and availability to colleagues.  This always means being prepared  100% of the time and become an over achiever to protect the Public Trust - my forty-one year career can attest to that achievement and labelled an 'ambassador for collections management'.

Along with other duties, I was assigned to provide 10 and 30 hour construction training classes to Smithsonian personnel.  Conducted new construction, demolition, and repair worksite safety assessments in coordination with Museum Safety Coordinators.     
My other assigned duties at the Smithsonian included, assembling the Safety Culture Survey data into an assessment report to evaluate safety performance for identifying areas of concern and establishing action plans to address those concerns.
Established Smithsonian Institution Safety Person of the Year Recognition Program.
Conduct Management Evaluation and Technical Reviews (METR’s) to assess/analyze injury and illness trend data on facilities and assist Museum/Facility Safety Coordinators with abatements in a timely manner.
Met with Museum/Facility Safety Coordinators on their concerns and provided assistance and/or training to safety committees and other facility personnel identify and resolve safety issues as required.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Specialist 25 salaries reported	$106,317 per year
Philanthropy manager 28 salaries reported	$142,924 per year
Human resources specialist 8 salaries reported	$122,764 per year
Program specialist 18 salaries reported	$106,000 per year
Associate 12 salaries reported	$70,719 per year

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