maintenance person

research associate

security officer

ambassador

curator

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

I have worked at the Metropolitan Museum of Art at different positions and at different points in time. I can honestly say without a shadow of doubt that as soon I left that place my life has gotten exponentially better.  You may be wondering why the 3 stars, because unlike most people I try to be impartial in reviews. You can and will have a different experience than me but I'm going to tell you what's wrong with the place. 

Job Work/Life Balance:
Depending on what you do, you will probably have a 9-5 job there. As I said before I have had different positions in the place. This allowed me to interact with various people in the departments. The one thing I have noticed is that no one really does much. You won't notice it right away but when you start to decipher through all the talk. You will realize that's all it is, talk. I know people in there who boast that they napped through an overtime stay.  5 Stars if you want a job where you don't do much for a while. 1 Star if you actually wanted to work. 

Compensation/Benefits:

When I was working there, I thought I was making decent money. That's until I worked somewhere else. In reality you're getting the below 10% the medium salary. The rest of the benefits are pretty much standard. Health Insurance, pension, they may pay for your tuition they might not! 3 Stars!

Job Security/Advancement:

Oh boy! For a place that wants the bare minimum for the majority of the jobs it's sure hard moving up. The saying "it's not what you know, it's who you know" is very prominent here. If you don't schmooze with the correct person, don't bother applying. My suggestions for those new people who are interested coming into the museum be a social butterfly from day one. If the manager likes you, you can be a complete imbecile and get the job. 

After a certain point in employment (basically when you complete your probation) the likelihood of being fired is very low. You have to do something pretty stupid to get fired. 


Management:

If I can put zero stars for this I would. It seems, no matter what department (I'm sure they are exceptions) I worked at or who I asked.
A lot of these fossils are in the position that they are just for the fact they have been in the Museum longer than most of their subordinates have been alive. Many of them just don't know how to manage their own computer let alone a full team. Some of the younger folk that get hired are also in over their head, they try to run a museum like a business and fail dramatically. 

A lot of the older crowd don't leave, which is makes a new management hard to manifest. A lot of the upper management either stay to they eventually die or are pushed out. 

Job Culture:

This place is a like a giant high-school. It doesn't matter if you're 22 or 52, be expected to have people find out your business through the grapevine especially if you are dating someone who works there too. 

Speaking of dating it's happens pretty often there, I know a few people are married and are working in different departments. If you're into mixing work and dating, by all means go nuts.

Overall the museum is a great place to work to gain experience, and maybe some friends.The culture will suck you up and make you apart of it, if you like or not. Also, if you love art you will love it!

If you like politics, you will also love it here too.

Every new employee here is awestruck by the amazing interior, the overwhelming proximity to the architecture and works of art, and the inner workings of this vast and unique organization. You can spend hours willfully lost, surrounded by works through the ages.

The staff by and large are great. The administrative departments can take a lot of abuse due to their slashing under the former director, but people continue to work, and to thrive, and to keep the great institution running. 

I can only speak to my experience in the technical department of the museum.

Unfortunately, it only takes one bad manager in a position of power to significantly ruin morale for the team, ruin the department's reputation, waste exorbitant resources reorganizing the department to their liking, and ruin overall productivity by only keeping their political lackeys close by while running out the honest and hard-workers for fear of looking bad in comparison. Such managers maintain their standing by hiding behind their employees (getting rid of those who do not make for good shields), creating a "fall guy" for themselves under the company budget, misusing their knowledge of technical errors in the system for their own fiscal advancement (!!), and intentionally ensuring that all employees within the team are at each other's throats by pitting them against one another through "confidential" meetings and conversations all the while taking pain to ensure that they do not actually know what the others are doing for work.

The leader of the newest technical team in the museum is one that has a reputation within the entire museum. The direct manager of the team is guilty of spreading lies that have impacted the entire organization, discriminatory remarks and practices, abusing personnel (later lying about it), and generally abusing their power without fear of recourse in order to secure their many unique benefits. 

The major benefits go to their main direct enablers, despite their general inability to do what those earning a fraction of what they do are able to accomplish.

It is unfortunate that they are allowed to go unchecked.

To work at the Metropolitan Museum of Art was wonderful.  As an employee I was able to work my way up.  I started working in sales and from sales went onto sales financial, to the membership department and finally onto the maintenance department, where I worked until my retirement in 2013.
For anyone that wants to be challenged, the museum is a good place to work.  There are many job opportunities available for someone who truly loves the arts and wants to be part of the history of the museum and what it offers.
What I learned while working at the museum is that you have to learn to be able to work with all types of people, whether it be management or your coworkers.  It was also a good place to learn about different languages and different cultures.  This was valuable experience in that it helped me in my job, dealing with the different visitors that came to the museum.  
The hardest part of the job, especially in being a gallery attendant was being able to make sure that all of my areas were the large areas that had to be covered and done.  What I most enjoyed was being able to see all of the shows, and when I worked in sales being able to read the books that were being sold in the gift shops.  It was like being in a candy store with so many varieties to choose from.  Being able to read the different books helped me to impart information to the visitors that were interested in purchasing these books for themselves.
Like anything in life you have your good days and you have your bad days at work.  My 27 years at the museum were good.

The Met is a beautiful place, but a peek behind the curtains would shock most people. There are some good people that work at The Met, but there are a lot of terrible people that work there too. All curators are pretentious, security guards (particularly those that check employees out at 5-6pm) are on power trips, HR is mostly unhelpful & unresourceful, and some managers pretend to have your best interests at heart, but prove the opposite.

The Met overall is not a place that provides or encourages career advancement, especially if you don't work in any of the Conservationist departments or in upper management. They are notorious for cutting jobs & forcing employees to do multiple tasks outside of their job descriptions without paying them to do so. Pay raises are highly unlikely, and if you're a part-timer, you'll have to work a considerable amount of hours before you're eligible for company health benefits. And even when you reach that point, HR will try to deny you. 

But again, there are some good people who work there. Unfortunately, the Met is not good at incentivizing good people to stay there. So do like a lot of former employees have done: put in a few years of work, keep your resume sharp, and move on to bigger & better opportunities. 

My typical day at work would either consist opening the stock room, refiling the floor and shops the first couple of hours. Then after lunch break I would go back to stock room and break down skids, ticket merchandise, and put out on the floor. Or if on register get money bag and ring up customers and help customers to provide great customer service and clean up the floor. At the end of the day we would clear the floor and fill up the floor as much as possible. I learned what the retail environment is like how to adapted to certain situations and customers. The coworkers at my job were either very knowledgeable of there job position and did there job well or did not know what to do due to the lack of training and did the absolute minimum. Hardest part of the job would be overall how unfair that place is. Management is especially is completely unfair and doesn't train there new employees correctly thus the decline of the actual work being done at the place and overall terrible management experience. Most enjoyable part of my job would probably learning new things from the few people who actually do there jobs at the place.

My day at the museum begins with me swiping into the museum promptly before 9:00am. I am given my assigned post for the day by dispatch. At each area in the museum there is a Chief Security Officer who gives each guard their posts for the day. What I've learned from my job is the importance of communication. The museum is a large institution and each department tries very hard to disseminate information to one another in a quick manner. I've also learn the value of management. The demeanor of higher level professionals definitely impacts and influences how security officers view themselves and their roles.

Most of my coworkers went to school for Art. They are exceptionally talented and utilize the museum as a muse for their individual crafts.

The hardest part about working at my job is standing. It is a physically demanding job on the lower limbs.

The most enjoyable part of my job is being able to see beautiful works of art all day. I am able to time travel through the museum and learn another world every day.

Pros:
Discounts, Health Benefits, Salary Advancements, 401(b) retirements, Local DC 37 Union, career advancements, consecutive days off, parking discounts to all employees and bike rack included, Ability to bring up to 4 guests per day to visit the museum as an employee, Tuition assistance for future classes in specialized universities, free financial help in retirement and daily life

Cons:
Inconsistent Salary Raises, Disorganized Management, Miscommunication all over the board, Horrible Financial spending across all departments, "divisive" attitude among departments including lack of respect for most Security personnel, Lack of respect for outside contractors who help with Museum daily maintenance, Drive for improvement leaves much to be desired when it comes to taking leaps and bounds to give employees breathing room and salaries, Non-unified conferences for both Union and non-Union employees as focus groups to raise up ideas and comments about Museums progress are non-existent

When I arrive at work I inspect all of the galleries, emergency exits and stairwells. Then I assign the security officers their assignments for the day. Once the museum opens I interact with the public and above all I watch and protect the art. Any emergencies that occur I am the first to evaluate and assess the situation to see what needs to be done. 
I have learned to deal with many different people whether it be our diverse work force or the thousands of visitors that enter the museum each day. I also learned how to work with others in terms of emergency situations etc.
Our security managers are very professional and you can always ask them anything if you have a question regarding the job or if you need assistance of some kind in your personal life.
Hardest part of the job is working a lot of long days. The most enjoyable part of the job is interacting with so many different people from different backgrounds. I learn something new from our visitors each day.

A typical day involved overseeing object movement, conducting inventories, updating TMS records, and collaborating with various departments to ensure the safe handling and storage of artworks. I gained valuable experience in large-scale installations, deinstallations, and collection care standards for a world-renowned institution.

Management was generally supportive, though like any large institution, communication between departments sometimes posed challenges. The workplace culture was collaborative, with a strong emphasis on precision, accountability, and teamwork.

The hardest part of the job was navigating tight deadlines and complex logistics for high-profile exhibitions while maintaining collection care protocols. The most enjoyable part was working hands-on with remarkable objects and contributing to projects that engaged millions of visitors globally.

I work as a Security officer for 3 years, and did not enjoy much beyond the beautiful art - some of the most amazing art in the world.

Supervision is all about criticizing and putting down those below them.
Management is worse.  They more or less HATE the floor personnel. 
 We were a necessary Evil - required for insurance reasons. 
Not respected at all for the efforts made to to the job correctly,
unless you are a chosen favorite child, usually through spying on fellow employees to report minor / poor behavior.  Very back stabbing environment.

The "LIFE-ERS" are the dangerous ones; poorly educated embedded for 20+ years, and "play" all day at undermining the newer employees. 

I am highly educated and experienced in management and supervision; was difficult to participate in this destructive culture......needed to pay the bills.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Maintenance person 6 salaries reported	$25.96 per hour
Research associate 7 salaries reported	$73,000 per year
Security officer 6 salaries reported	$19.14 per hour
Ambassador 3 salaries reported	$26.98 per hour
Curator 9 salaries reported	$126,111 per year

Working at The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Company Overview and Reviews

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Metropolitan Museum of Art Ratings

Popular jobs at The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Salary Satisfaction

Job Seeker Tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected