Looking for a numismatic job?

Looking for a job in numismatics? The the American Numismatic Association maybe can help. Earlier this month, the ANA launched an online job service. You can find the service at https://www.money.org/job-board.

The Job Board is open to everyone regardless of membership status. Although it would be nice if you were a member, non-members can visit the Job Board and look at the listings.

Employers looking to post a job can post jobs for free until June 30, 2017. After, listing created by members will cost $50.00 and non-members must pay $100.00.

Now that this resource exists, I would love to see jobs that do not require physical presence. For example, one of the job listings is for a Research Assistant. Does this person have to be located onsite? Can this person do research remotely? What about potential catalogers for auction catalogs, websites, and other documentation? Given the information, someone could do this writing remotely.

It is time that the numismatic industry tries to look for ways to expand its ways of doing business and think about how work can be done by hiring someone who can do the work but is not sitting in your office? Even the federal government utilizes telework when it can.

I know that some jobs cannot be done remotely like someone who can take pictures of the items for a catalog or website. But once the inventory is imaged, does the person posting them to the website have to be sitting on your proverbial lap?

I can tell you from experience that telework can make the employee more productive. With the exception of the times I was involved in classified work, I would work from home 90-percent of the time. This included the ability to teleconference. There is a reason why online teleconference services like WebEx and GoToMeeting are popular with business. It is very effective and you do not have to be in the same location.

Sometimes, it is not possible to do everything remotely. That is why there are local employees. But face it, you can hire a part-time employee to take pictures and email the pictures along with the price to someone that will post them on your website and social media.

Now that we have this resource, it is time for the numismatic industry to consider how they can better engage the broader community.

BTW: Has any dealer thought about contracting someone in another area of the country to bring your inventory to a show you would not normally attend? Maybe, if two-or-three dealers want to try this, I may be talked into setting up a booth at the Whitman Show in Baltimore. It is another outlet to market your inventory. Send me a note if you think that this could work and we can discuss details.

Image courtesy of the ANA.

CCAC posts HELP WANTED Ad

United States MintAre you a numismatist with training, education or experience? Do you want to be part of the decisions making process in the design of new coins and medals? Can you do this with no compensation, minimal reimbursement, and make decisions with people looking and criticizing your decisions? Then do I have a job for you!

The Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee is looking for a member who is specially qualified in numismatics to fill one of its 11 seats. As one of the 11 members, you will provide one of the many inputs on themes and designs for circulating and bullion coinage, commemorative coins, Congressional Gold Medals, and other medals produced by the U.S. Mint. The other inputs will be the Commission of Fine Arts and the special interest organizations that has the ear of the decision makers including whomever is running the U.S. Mint and the Secretary of the Treasury.

Appointments to the CCAC are for four-year term and are classified as Special Government Employees who are subject to conflict of interest laws and ethics regulations. At the end of the four-year term you can be re-appointed as long as your application is approved.

If you want to be considered to be part of this sausage making process, should submit a resume, along with a cover letter, detailing specific educational credentials, skills, talents, and experience. Applications may be submitted by email to info@ccac.gov, by fax to 202-756-6525, or by snail mail to: United States Mint, 801 9th Street NW, Washington, DC 20220, Attn: Greg Weinman. Submissions must be postmarked no later than Friday, October 9, 2015.

Spend Nights at the Smithsonian

When I was a youngster and was asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, I gave the typical answers of a child too young for the 1960s to have an effect yet unknowing of what the future would bring. After graduating high school and going to college down one road, I was greeted with many forks in that road and ended up programming computers. In those days, it was the beginning of the explosive growth of an industry that set the stage to the Internet revolution. While it has been a fun ride, there are times when I had not travelled so far down this road. This may be one of those times.

The Smithsonian Institution, the museum and research facility founded on the bequeath by James Smithson following his death in 1829, has a job opening for curator of the National Numismatic Collection at the National Museum of American History. According to the job post, the person hired for this job will carry “out the research, collections management, exhibitions development and education mission of the museum.”

What a fantastic opportunity for someone who has an interest in numismatics and history as researched through numismatics. As part of the job, you could potentially handle some of the most priceless coins in history including the 1933 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle, 1804 silver dollar, and even the Series 1934 $100,000 gold certificate—though not a coin a very significant artifact of U.S. history. The Smithsonian has coins from the Byzantine Empire, the coinage of Spain that played a role in the early economic history of the United States, and gold rush coins.

The job is with the federal government and paid on the general schedule (GS) at grades 12 or 13, depending on previous experience. GS-12 ranges from $74,872 to $97,333 per year including the adjustment for locality pay. If you are hired as a GS-13, the range is from $89,033 to $115,742. As a Fed, you will be eligible for one of the best benefits packages available to all government workers, even members of congress. There is a competition for various insurance programs, the Thrift Savings Plan is a protected retirement plan for government workers, leadership training, and other programs that keeps good people working for the federal government. You can read more about working for the federal government at the website for the Office of Personnel Management.

If you are selected for the job, you would be working in Washington, D.C. on the National Mall where the Smithsonian museums are located. Within the same area are nearly all of the government agencies, monuments, memorials, the capital and the White House. Even for those of us who live here it is cool being able to pass by the U.S. Capital building and the White House on a regular basis.

The downside is that the job is in Washington, D.C., regularly rated as having the worst traffic problems after the Los Angeles area. Although the recession has lowered housing prices, they remain high since the presence of the federal government has kept unemployment low in this area. Good housing can be found in desirable areas of the region including further away from the District with access to mass transportation so you can commute downtown.

If this job was available 15 years ago, I would have applied. The job may will probably not be like Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian but it looks like a fantastic opportunity. I hope that someone with a love for numismatics is able to land this job.

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