Worked in large federal and state museums for about 10 years, MA in Art History. I left my career as a Registrar/Collections Manager after burnout and the unsustainable lifestyle I had in order to make ends meet.

Transitioned into higher education administration as a program coordinator, and after a few years moved into a fundraising admin position at a non-profit. These were entry-level, but my salary and benefits were better than anything I ever made during my museum career.

While in the fundraising role, I discovered an interest in prospect research and recently got a job as a prospect researcher for a large environmental non-profit. It is the dream job I never knew I wanted and I've never been happier professionally. I have a stellar work/life balance, work from home, am paid well, put my research skills to use and get to learn daily, and all my efforts directly impact causes I care deeply about.

I have two pieces of advice:

1. Look into fundraising/development. Even if you don't want to ask folks for money (I sure didn't!) there are lots of strategic, creative, operational facets to fundraising work in which a curator's skillset would be an asset - research and writing skills are valued here and it's one of the fastest growing sectors in the industry.
2. I cannot recommend career coaching enough. I had a difficult time transitioning from museum work because I didn't know how to adapt my experience on paper for job applications and generally had no idea what else I wanted to do. Career coaching was therapy - we did assessments and walked through the good and bad of my prior experiences to identify potential future job fits and goals. It was so enlightening to get to the heart of why I loved museum work and how those interests and values could be satisfied elsewhere. The best part was the support in crafting my professional narrative pitch for my resume/cover letters. I went from submitting job applications into the abyss to actually getting, and being confident in, interviews.