intern

student intern

protective services officer

postdoctoral research associate

philanthropy manager

The Field Museum

My work experience at The Field Museum was meaningful and fulfilling. Meaningful because everyone at mostly every level cares deeply about their individual roles while also collectively driven by the Museum's common mission to "fuel a journey of discovery, enabling solutions for a brighter future rich in nature and culture."  I did not experience this as well in other museums I've worked in. Also unlike other museums, collaboration was organic and enjoyable. From building relationships and partnerships with scientists bridging their research with public education in new and exciting ways, I found it easy to collaborate with other staff.  The museum made great strides to build an inclusive and healthy work environment starting with an progressive HR department that is starting to recognize the importance of diversity and inclusion. The director is one of the best museum directors that cares deeply about climate and culture.  I especially enjoyed that he opened his office for open group conversations with any staff in the museum. I'm grateful to the many experiences where I've grown personally and professionally. There were many opportunities for staff to participate in lectures, research presentations, and social opportunities with and among staff. The museum would do itself better if it can provide better compensation and benefits to its employees through salaries that match the industry.  This sadly I think may affect some of the turnover that occurs more than it should.  Otherwise, overall a happy and meaningful place to work that has worldwide respect.

I worked in the Exhibits Department as a maintenance/production Technician.  Each day I worked on several assignments, repairing, maintaining, or cleaning different items or areas in several galleries.  I also helped with staging new temporary exhibits, or de-staging exhibits that are leaving the museum.  I worked with many other skilled co-workers.  I worked on site, or in the woodshop, where I learned many small tool skills, as well as worked with large machine tools.  I used my artistic skills as a painter, in the paint shop.  Very cool to work maintaining the animatronic characters throughout the museum.   Sometimes assignments were very challenging, but this helped me to find creative solutions, and not be afraid of any surprises.  I appreciated working at the Field, as it was an outlet for me to make use all my skills as an artist and woodshop worker, all the time.  The Museum has always been a place of learning and education for all past and future generations, and for me to be a part of this, was very fulfilling.  My only regret is that I left.

Incredibly thorough and educational, as well as extremely interesting and enjoyable, training process to serve as volunteer. Amazing team of devoted employees leading volunteer teams and communicating needs, working with volunteers to be as flexible as possible with scheduling, provide the volunteer with incredible new skills sets in learning to engage Field Museum visitors & learn to speak to parts of the collection that are normally never seen by the public. Just an immensely enjoyable, incredible opportunity. Loved being able to learn more and more and more about the Field and try to help enhance visitor experiences through the excellent training provided by the Field employees.

The Museum dedicates itself to teaching people of all ages about science. It is a fun place to work and you gain skills such as teamwork, patience, confidence, and communication. In a usual work day I would arrive early to check in and wait for early campers to be dropped off. I would check in each camper as they arrived and make sure they got to the room they needed to be in. Each week I was assigned to a different classroom as a helper and aid to the campers as they performed science experiments. There would be an outdoor break for lunch that I would supervise and sometimes work handing out snacks. At the end of the day I would make sure each child was picked up by their parent and would wait with the campers whose parents were late. The most enjoyable part of the job was working with all the children and teaching them new things about science. The hardest part was learning a sense of responsibility for so many children at once. Overall it was a wonderful first work experience that taught me many valuable skills I can apply to any job

While a professional workplace, there is an air of civility that eases tension. The fact that in the research department, it's very casual wear also means less pressure. As long as the work that you are assigned gets progress approximately equal to the time spent there, and in a manner expected of you; there is little headaches to be had.
Through my time here, I've learned how to be a bit more focused on my work and moved on from needing to have some sort of background noise in most situations. Granted, I still occasionally need it to block out my tinnitus from time to time, but that's a personal issue.
The most enjoyable part is that this is something I've wanted to do for years and have accomplished the goal. Hopefully, I will be able to be around for a long time.

My primary role was to ensure that all museum staff and guest were provided the best service possible the team and we did our level best to provide it.

I came in the security industry with strong customer service experience and left as sharp security professional.

The team I worked with was very helpful we got the job done and was praised for our efforts.

The hardest part of the job in the beginning was getting over doing interior rounds with the lights off. I overcame that in one week.

The most enjoyable part of the job was when the team was asked to assist with this one particular major project overnight and it turned out to be a great success and our leaders praised us for a job well done and when I was personally asked to participate in two major events and the friendships that were formed.

I really enjoyed my time at the Field Museum as a volunteer and as an employee! I feel I was fairly compensated when I worked there, and was paid more than other surrounding institutions in the same role. My department was short-staffed at the time, which contributed to a bit of poor structure, however they changed this the following year and the efforts greatly improved. I personally did not agree with my boss's management style, but she always tried her best for us and listened to our feedback, and was very kind and personable. I loved the colleagues I worked with, they were some of the most fun and kind people I've ever worked with, which made me excited to go to work every day. I wish I had been given more training, but I think this was improved in following years. Once again, our feedback was listened to and we were given opportunities to grow and take on leadership. I would love to return in the future!

The Field Museum of Natural history is grand in every sense of the word. As a fossil preparator or collections volunteer no day was boring, you could work on anything you wanted as long as the projects were finished in a timely matter. I learned to create a better life work balance as I was a full time student during the week and commuting downtown over the weekend to volunteer and eventually decreased my hours. The management of volunteers is somewhat broken, they won't keep you on if you don't work for 10-15 hours a week, I had a two hour commute each way and came in as often as possible but could not meet their requirements and was treated rudely by a volunteer manager. Other than that isolated incident there really was no hard part to the job; everyone was supportive, passionate, and creative.

A typical day working here would consist of group discussions focusing on the changes that are occurring in nature and why. Brainstorming about ideas to help nature and getting other people, specifically kids, to interact with nature and enjoy it. The day was always ran according to a schedule. Because i was there for a short amount of time I wasn't able to meet everyone, but the people that I did get a chance to meet were very nice, helpful, and encouraged me to do a good job. The hardest part of the job was me having to step out of my comfort zone a lot at the most random moments. The most enjoyable part of the job was being able to go out and actually explore nature in a way that I never thought I would have did on my own without having had this internship.

The quality of your experience at the Field Museum will largely depend upon what department you work for and your manager. Some departments are great to work in and have good cultures, other departments can seem tyrannical.

If you find yourself in a good position at the museum, stay and get your experience but don't stay too long. Compensation is abysmal compared to what you'll get at job market rate. You will likely be extremely underpaid.

Departments can feel isolated from one another, producing a silo-ing effect. Some efforts have been made to make departments work with each other but it still feels like each department can be working on their own thing without the rest of the institution knowing about it. Time flows very slow there and it feels like the museum is just "getting by."

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Intern 7 salaries reported	$18.00 per hour
Student intern 9 salaries reported	$17.47 per hour
Protective services officer 7 salaries reported	$21.25 per hour
Postdoctoral research associate 6 salaries reported	$50,833 per year
Philanthropy manager 2 salaries reported	$59,375 per year

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