✍️ The newsletter: Feedback for Conservators #17
On money (part 3): the Bible CV
This is a monthly free newsletter project that came from the Initiative Feedback for Conservators ✍️: a place to bring a little bit of professional advice to help on topics that I wish I knew more about at the start of my art conservation career. Topics discussed here are recurrent ones that I see over Zoom sessions! So I thought would be useful to discuss them here. It’s also not a perfect newsletter and doesn’t intend to, but rather a space to share. Read here past newsletters. And as always, some disclamers1
So! With the last posts (1 and 2), we inaugurated a selection that will all fit into the same theme: Money and conservators because we do not talk about it! Before diving into it a quick reminder: this is not money advice, is what has been my experience.
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On money 💰(part 3): The Bible CV
I finished the last post with this paragraph:
Finally, I would like to point out that part of negotiating is also understanding your work value, which is something that most colleagues struggle with voicing out or simply finding out in their profile. Even if you’re an emerging conservator you can have it. But also, it is something that you must, at least partially, be able to plan to archive, which is not something that most of us are comfortable with it since is related to strategy, a word that has such a bad connotation (and yet has none of it). Both topics I will talk soon about it, so stay tuned.
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Today we will start discussing the first part: Understanding and finding your work value. This is not something that comes from one thing, but several. I mentioned creating a job database, what should be your motivation letter about (parts 1 and 2) and the movie technique about your CV. In this last one, I mentioned that there are two types of CV. The one that was not mentioned but you were interested in was the Bible CV. Today we dive into this one, because how you can find your value if you don’t list it first?
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From the start: every art conservator should be able to have these two types of CVs, the tailored CV and the Bible CV. This last one I called this like this because in it you will write everything that you did to the detail. Because I can assure you something, time will pass and you will forget. Yes, you will: That wonderful project that you’re now doing? You will forget from which collection exactly came. The great team that you worked with? You will forget some names. That extended retouching that took you quite some time? You will forget the length it took. Because with time, you will do more and more projects and, naturally, this happens.
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So, It is important to keep a very detailed record and for many purposes:
you will eventually have to do a tailored CV for interviews where you will need to highlight a certain type of information to prove your suitability/experience: e.g. quantify how many work team projects have you been part of or how many artworks of XVI century have you been able to work on. The Bible CV will be sort of your “supermarket” where you will pick the ingredients that you need to create the dish of your wish: “the tailored CV”.
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for contacting X person to request a past document, to put you in contact with someone or simply to work together again.
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especially if you’re in countries like Spain or France, where proof documents or detailed information is needed to access certain public contracts/grants, is extremely important to not miss any small info.
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to be able to track down past projects that you need certain info on.
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in many cases also to be able to see where you’re lacking more experience on to be able to be work attractive for an institution, position or project team. For example, after listing all you did perhaps you realise that most of your work is in teams but very few of them individually, or maybe you have a higher proportion of work in a certain material than another and this is not enough to prove enough experience for X project that you wish to get.
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Still not convinced? Some years ago I had to detail every. single. project. that I carried out for a job offer, including title, author, year, collection, task developed and if I was or was not team leader. I can only thank my old version for being so precise in collecting all this data because it only took me a little bit more than an hour to put it all together.
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So what you should note down in your Bible CV? 🧐
Let’s get into the details:
title
year of creation
author
type of material (wood, stone, textile etc).
origin or collection
place that you worked (maybe was a sculpture from a local church now in X museum)
if you were part or not of a team, how many people and what name of the people in the team? Here is very important: if there was a team leader the name of an email as well as the exact work title
task developed (e.g.: consolidation, surface cleaning, inpainting, retouching, varnishing… etc.)
context: note down the exact period that you worked on it. It is not the same as a retouch of 3 months than 1 week.
for general context (such as information about your internship, freelance etc) write down the period and the schedule. Certain countries (hello Spain!) take into account the exact amount of time that you spent on it to evaluate your CV. That means that a part-time internship is not the same as a full-time internship, it does not matter where you did it.
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Tips ✨
some people hesitate how to describe if they took part in a project that they did not do alone. In that case put: collaboration in/with... If you just work in a part of the conservation treatment put: collaboration in the last stages of varnishing.
was there a link or publication made about this project? Write down the link. If you can download it in PDF version too. Sometimes links disappear and it is a pity, but at least you still have the PDFs as proof.
mandatory in case you come from Spain (and very advisable to the rest) as a complement to your Bible CV: request always a document that states a brief with the period and hours done of your internship/fellowship etc and a full list of projects undertaken. In it, super important:
write down before-hand the final draft before and offer it to your supervisor just to supervise it and sign it. Everyone loves to have part of the work done and you ensure that all the details that you need will be there. Ask it just before you leave, not after. Otherwise, chances are that it will take forever to get it.
if you can, ask for two original copies (not PDF, original ones. Many countries do not accept PDFs. I had to write on more than one occasion to UK institutions to explain that I needed a handwritten certificate otherwise it could not be accepted. If you find in this case, offer always to pay the cost of sending it. Usually, they will kindly not make you pay).
scan ALL. Always-always have everything scanned and ready to send.
if you can, create this document in your desired language but also English. Why? If you’re applying internationally in many cases requires a sworn translation. It is expensive. If the document is already originally written in English you will save time and money.
make sure that the logo of the institution is there.
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It is an exercise that over and over, I see that is very revealing for the art conservator who does it. You will be surprised by how many things you do not remember, or the proportion of projects done in X or X material. But also to see how many cool projects you did in certain areas that you felt very junior, but turns out that you started to have enough projects to feel more confident that you have quite some experience.
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Finally, with all this information in hand, usually helps you to get much more confidence in discussing topics such as money retributions when you need to negotiate or request a higher rate because of your expertise in a certain area. It is work yes, but truly pays off 😎.
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That’s a warp for today. More next month, see you then?
This is my personal opinion, which means also that I could be wrong! You do you✨.
Please do not share extracts of this newsletter without my consent.
I have a Bible CV too! :D