Curators
Administer collections, such as artwork, collectibles, historic items, or scientific specimens of museums or other institutions. May conduct instructional, research, or public service activities of institution.
Most important skills
- Reading Comprehension
- Speaking
- Active Listening
- Writing
- Critical Thinking
- Complex Problem Solving
- Active Learning
- Judgment and Decision Making
Key knowledge
- English Language
- History and Archeology
- Fine Arts
- Administration and Management
- Sociology and Anthropology
- Communications and Media
- Administrative
- Education and Training
What the work involves
- Develop and maintain an institution's registration, cataloging, and basic record-keeping systems, using computer databases.
- Provide information from the institution's holdings to other curators and to the public.
- Inspect premises to assess the need for repairs and to ensure that climate and pest control issues are addressed.
- Train and supervise curatorial, fiscal, technical, research, and clerical staff, as well as volunteers or interns.
- Negotiate and authorize purchase, sale, exchange, or loan of collections.
- Plan and conduct special research projects in area of interest or expertise.
- Confer with the board of directors to formulate and interpret policies, to determine budget requirements, and to plan overall operations.
- Attend meetings, conventions, and civic events to promote use of institution's services, to seek financing, and to maintain community alliances.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Conventional, Enterprising, Social.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Master's Degree (44.1% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 4 years, up to and including 6 years (32%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 6 months, up to and including 1 year (42.2%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 5: Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Curators is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Moderate | Lower on contact with others than 56% of occupations compared | 50% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | High | Higher on dealing with the public than 76% of occupations compared | 53% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | Moderate | Higher on teamwork than 50% of occupations compared | 58% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | High | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 79% of occupations compared | 69% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | Very low | Lower on time pressure than 88% of occupations compared | 50% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Conflict situations | Low | Lower on conflict situations than 60% of occupations compared | 38% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Low | Lower on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 79% of occupations compared | 55% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Consequence of error | Very low | Lower on consequence of error than 82% of occupations compared | 39% of surveyed respondents chose “Not serious at all” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: very low
- Conflict situations: low
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: low
- Consequence of error: very low
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 5.89%
- Contact with others about half the time: 7.69%
- Contact with others most of the time: 36.14%
- Constant contact with others: 50.28%
n = 35, Incumbent 08/2018
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 6.05%
- Fairly important: 5.05%
- Important: 15.1%
- Very important: 21.18%
- Extremely important: 52.62%
n = 35, Incumbent 08/2018
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 2.58%
- Fairly important: 3.53%
- Important: 14.01%
- Very important: 21.5%
- Extremely important: 58.38%
n = 35, Incumbent 08/2018
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 6.77%
- Limited freedom: 7.41%
- Some freedom: 16.8%
- A lot of freedom: 69.02%
n = 35, Incumbent 08/2018
Time pressure
- Never: 1.51%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 13.01%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 50.24%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 30.01%
- Every day: 5.23%
n = 35, Incumbent 08/2018
Conflict situations
- Never: 10.6%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 37.59%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 29.45%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 17.05%
- Every day: 5.32%
n = 34, Incumbent 08/2018
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 13.21%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 55.31%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 22.21%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 5.34%
- Every day: 3.93%
n = 34, Incumbent 08/2018
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 39.1%
- Fairly serious: 22.46%
- Serious: 13.41%
- Very serious: 21.1%
- Extremely serious: 3.92%
n = 35, Incumbent 08/2018
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O*NET-SOC 25-4012.00 · SOC 25-4012 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8