My last week at my internship passed in a blur. I got to hang out with my coworkers a fair amount in and out of the workplace. I even got to go to an anime convention with one of them, which was a lot of fun! We were just intending to check it out a little on the last day but then realized that it was a massive event and still busy even in the last few hours.
After having spent two whole months in Paris and with my team, it seems that success in France is determined more on how motivated you are to work, how well you can collaborate and communicate with others, and how well you can utilize or learn to apply your strongest skills to complete certain projects. Quality of work is valued a lot more than the quantity completed. Efficiency is great, but projects can sometimes stall if a “not good enough” is not acceptable for a certain project. For example, with some of my research projects or tasks to update content on our displays, I would sometimes only find less credible sources or content that did not match our original ideas. In these situations, it essentially just meant that my work on that project was finished since I had to leave it to my boss to figure out what to do with my findings.
It’s hard to say what success looks like in this industry since my museum is the type of “small passion project,” but networking, creativity, and enthusiasm are some traits that are necessary to have as these types of tiny museums must prioritize finding ways to keep regular visitors and museum revenue. We don’t always have the funds to hire a specialist for each one of our problems or projects, so we would have to figure out creative solutions or try and reach through our networks to find a friend or a friend of a friend who could help. It is sort of similar to community-based programs or projects in a way, such as working/volunteering for library or school events. Not to mention that we must be flexible in case things like weather causes our schedules to change (cough cough… heat wave cancelling school…) or sudden issues arise with the workspace itself.
While it is fairly uncommon for jobs in the U.S. to define an effective employee in these ways, I don’t believe it is impossible to find an environment similar to this. I would have to do more research, but I think France seems to value community more than the U.S., which is why they often work less, have regular time to socialize amongst workers, and take into consideration what the local community needs (depending on the business, of course). People live so close together that you end up frequenting the same cafes, bakeries, and shops sometimes. If you have a niche interest, usually the small businesses related to it know the others in the vicinity well (in my area I began going to Pokemon card stores and board game stores, and they usually would recommend others or just know the other owners of the stores nearby). Sometimes friends of shop owners and the like just stop by to say hello if they live close or have something they think the owner may want–it has happened at my museum a few times.
Unfortunately, due to the spread out nature of many U.S. cities, I feel like community work has to be sought out and is less common to see in workplaces as a result. Cities like Pittsburgh sometimes have this energy with the small businesses, but cities in the U.S. are a bit more fast-paced and prioritization of efficiency means workers and customers don’t really have the downtime to just talk or relax in a space. As a part-time worker, you always have to be busy with a task, even with no customers. And I think as a customer it can make one feel either hesitant to take up some of the worker’s time or slightly unwelcome if you feel like you are being watched? I can’t quite explain it, but community just seems to be a big thing in Paris in living and working. Even more so for smaller establishments like mine. It takes a while to grow, but it is highly rewarding and makes the work environment more lively. I think I would like to look for more volunteer or work experiences that are community based in the future no matter where I live since I really enjoyed this more connected work environment.
