Frequently Asked Questions

The last update to this page was 11-12-07.



How long has the Museum Employment Resource Center been in existence?

MERC has been posting jobs for museums and other cultural resource organizations since March, 1996. We are the oldest such service on the world wide web and received our one millionth visitor on February 17, 2005.

What can you tell me about your site visitation?

MERC uses Urchin 5.7 to track its site visitation.
The information listed below is a summary of the 5 week period from September 30 through November 3, 2007.

Total Visitors (measuring only unique sessions) - 32,830 (938 average per day)

Total Site Page Views - 84,983 (2,428.09 per day)

During the period listed above, visitors came to the Museum Employment Resource Center via links placed on 711 other job or cultural resource-related websites. (Additional website links to MERC exist, but only visits from 9/30 to 11/03 were counted for this summary.) Being a web presence for almost twelve years adds up to quite a bit of exposure.

Between 9/30 and 11/03, MERC was visited by people in 64 different countries. Most of our visitors were from the United States. However, a large number of people from other countries such as Uganda, Poland, Bulgaria, Turkey, and Jordan, to name a few, also visited our site.

Love statistics? Okay, in addition 55.09% of our visitors were using Internet Explorer, 24.46% were using Firefox, 10.85% were using Safari, and 1.18% were using Netscape.

Why do you only charge $29 when other cultural resource job listing services charge up to $450?

To be honest, placing information on the world wide web is not rocket science. We believe the fee we charge is reasonable for covering staff time and current overhead costs. We also take pride in the fact that a small city or county museum with a staff of two can afford to list its job openings on MERC right next to a large urban institution with hundreds of employees.

Why don't you have an office phone?

MERC communicates entirely through e-mail to keep our overhead down. This allows us to charge a low posting fee and still make a profit.

Why don't you allow graphics in job listings?

The technology for placing graphics in ads is simple, but downloading graphics to your computer when you visit a website slows the process down - especially if you don't have high speed internet access. We don't post graphics in ads because we want all our visitors (both high speed AND dial-up) to have the quickest page download times possible.

Do you track how many jobs are successfully filled after being listed on MERC?

We do not. Since job applicants communicate directly with employers listing jobs, we have no way of tracking such information. However, anecdotal evidence and feedback from those who post jobs with us suggest a very high success rate.

Why do you use PayPal to process credit cards?

Again, it's all about keeping down our overhead. Establishing a secure website that can safely process credit cards can include several additional monthly fees. PayPal charges us one small transaction fee and no monthly fees. PayPal is the world's largest online payment service with over 56 million member accounts worldwide. It's also secure. The company uses 128-bit encryption with one of the best user information protection systems in the world.

Do you make any of the information you gather in the course of business available to others?

No.

Do you post more than museum jobs?

Yes, we have listed jobs for a variety of cultural resource organizations: visitor centers, zoos, arts organizations, archive centers, exhibit design firms, research centers, botanic gardens, and many others.

Still have questions? Let us know! questions@museum-employment.com



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