Home Conservator Resume template
Conservator resume template
A clean starting structure with example content grounded in what conservators actually do day to day, not generic filler. Download and replace the bracketed placeholders with your own details.
Which resume format should you use?
Reverse chronological
You have a steady work history. This is the format almost every recruiter and ATS expects by default.
Functional
You're changing fields or have gaps in your employment. Leads with skills rather than a job-by-job timeline.
Combination
You're early career or have worked consistently but for only a few employers. Blends a skills summary with a shorter chronological history.
This template uses the reverse chronological format: the one most conservators should default to, since most Australian recruiters and ATS software expect it.
Professional summary
Conservator with postgraduate training in cultural materials conservation and hands-on experience treating and stabilising collection material across paper, textile and mixed-media objects. Works at the intersection of scientific analysis and craft, using instruments such as XRF and FTIR to inform treatment decisions and documenting everything in TMS so treatment histories remain traceable. Focused on preventive care and reversible intervention that keeps objects accessible without compromising their long-term integrity.
Key skills
- Preventive conservation and collection care
- Condition assessment and treatment documentation
- Remedial treatment of paper, textile and mixed-media objects
- Reversibility and minimal intervention principles
- Environmental monitoring (temperature, relative humidity, light, pests)
- Laboratory analysis using XRF and FTIR spectroscopy
- Materials identification and solvent compatibility testing
- Emergency salvage and disaster response for collection material
- Handling, mounting, packing and loan transit advice
- Treatment project management and exhibition deadlines
- Compliance with collection care standards and loan agreements
- The Museum System (TMS)
- Adobe Photoshop for before-and-after treatment imaging
- ImageJ for surface and damage analysis
- X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometer
- FTIR spectrometer
- Environmental data loggers and light meters
Experience: example bullet points
- Assessed the condition of incoming collection material and produced condition reports that curators used to set display priorities and loan approvals.
- Cleaned, stabilised and repaired deteriorating objects using reversible treatments, returning items to display without further loss of original material.
- Monitored temperature, relative humidity and light levels across storage and gallery spaces, adjusting enclosures and climate settings before fluctuations caused damage.
- Analysed pigments, corrosion products and coatings with XRF and FTIR to guide treatment choices and rule out incompatible solvents.
- Recorded examinations and treatments in TMS with before-and-after photography in Photoshop, keeping treatment histories clear for the conservators who follow.
- Advised registrars and installation crews on safe handling, mounting and packing for loan transit, reducing handling incidents during exhibition changeovers.
- Coordinated the salvage response for water-affected collection material, triaging items and organising drying and freezing within the first two days of the incident.
- Managed treatment schedules, materials and external contractors across concurrent exhibition projects, delivering work to agreed installation dates.
Education
Bachelor degree in science, art history, fine arts or a related field, followed by postgraduate training in cultural materials conservation such as a Master of Cultural Materials Conservation; some technical roles accept a diploma combined with supervised treatment experience.
Keywords an ATS is likely to scan for
Applicant tracking systems match your resume against terms in the job ad before a person ever sees it. Only include the ones that actually apply to your experience, but if a term below matches something you've done, use the same wording the job ad uses.
- cultural materials conservation
- preventive conservation
- remedial conservation
- condition report
- treatment proposal
- reversibility
- minimal intervention
- collection management system
- The Museum System (TMS)
- environmental monitoring
- integrated pest management
- emergency salvage
- significance assessment
- Significance 2.0
- Australia ICOMOS Burra Charter
- National Standards for Australian Museums and Galleries
- Australian Institute for the Conservation of Cultural Heritage (AICCM)
- handling and transport of cultural material
- loan agreements
- National Police Check
Getting past ATS screening
- Match the specific skills, certifications and terms used in the job ad, not just your own wording for the same thing.
- Keep formatting simple: no tables, text boxes, columns, headers/footers or graphics. Parsers frequently drop content placed in these.
- Submit as .docx or PDF unless the job ad specifies otherwise.
- Use standard section headings (Experience, Education, Skills) rather than creative alternatives.
- List your core skills and technical competencies in their own section so a keyword scan can find them instantly.
This is a starting point, not a guarantee of interviews. Tailor every bullet point to your own real experience and the specific job ad.