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Frequently Asked Questions
The last update to this page was 2-3-10.
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 internet and received our two millionth visitor on September 12, 2008.
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 4 week period from January 3 through January 30, 2010.
Total Visitors (measuring only unique sessions) - 33,584 (1,199.43 average per day)
Total Site Page Views - 75,276 (2,688.43 per day)During the period listed above, visitors came to the Museum Employment Resource Center via links placed on 720 other job or cultural resource-related websites. (Additional website links to MERC exist, but only visits from 1/3 to 1/30 were counted for this summary.) Being a web presence for nearly 14 years adds up to quite a bit of exposure.
Between 1/3 and 1/30, MERC was visited by people in 63 different countries. Most of our visitors were from North America and Northern Europe. However, a large number of people from other countries such as China, India, Singapore, Poland, and Estonia, to name a few, also visited our site.
Love statistics? Okay, in addition 25.64% of our visitors were using Internet Explorer, 23.31% were using Firefox, and 11.96% were using Safari.
Why do you only charge $29 when other cultural resource job listing services charge up to $450?
To be honest, placing information on the internet 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. With e-mail, we can receive and answer questions just about anywhere in the world and we don't have to pay someone to sit next to a phone. 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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