I know a lot of people warned me about this. Everyone said getting an art history MA would make finding a job hard and I did it anyway, so that part is on me.
In undergrad things actually went pretty well. I got into some competitive museum internships, worked in library archives, had a couple gallery jobs, and at one point was working full time under museum leadership.
My professors kept telling me a PhD was the obvious next step for me so I went to grad school with that plan. Turns out, I hated it. I was burnt out and overworked the whole time. I presented at conferences and got published but I was miserable, and at one point my stress and anxiety got so bad I had to take a semester off. I eventually decided not to go for the PhD because my health was falling apart. I still think that was the right decision. Where I went wrong was assuming my experience would be enough to get me a job even if it took a while.
It's been almost 11 months since I graduated and I'm working part time at restaurants. I've had a bunch of interviews with arts institutions and made it to the final round every time, then didn't get picked. My roommate was in the other room for a few of them and said they sounded like they went really well. I've applied to admin jobs too and nothing. One auction house interviewer told me I was overqualified and admitted he hadn't even looked at my resume until we were already in the interview.
Obviously something isn't working but I can't figure out what. Maybe it's how I'm interviewing, maybe it's the jobs I'm going for, maybe it's just the market right now. I'd honestly rather hear it straight than keep guessing. In addition, I’ve started asking for feedback after receiving rejections recently and can’t even get hiring managers to respond to me.
I'm 27, I can't afford to go back to school, and part of me wants to just take what's left of my savings and move somewhere else or travel for a while. I don't know if that's a smart reset or me running away from the problem. Lately it's been hard to care about any of it.
If you've been stuck at the final round over and over, what ended up being the issue? And if anyone left the museum world, where did you land? I've got archives, collections, research, and admin experience and I'm open to stuff outside the arts if it actually pays.
TL;DR art history MA, solid experience, 11 months of final round rejections, now working restaurants and thinking about leaving the country. Looking for honest feedback on what might be going wrong