Archaeology abroad - advice please

[Bones]

Hello all,

I'm after some advice about archaeology/heritage jobs abroad and wondered if any of you could help me?

My other half, who doesn't work in archaeology/heritage, has a job interview for a company in Ireland soon (found out yesterday). If he is successful I would move over to Ireland (Dublin area) with him.

What are the rules/regs of working in archaeology in Ireland? Do I need to get a licence? What's the job market like?

Any help/advice would be great

Thanks

[Jack]

I'm not sure, I've never worked there..............but I heard several rumours

[Doug]

There is a fair amount of cross border work between NI and Ireland with archeo firms. So many that work in UK also work in Ireland (rubican/old headland ireland, is the big one that comes to mind but any firm in NI also does work in ireland). However, the job market is complete and utter S$#%(##%$. They have a profiling the profession piece coming out soon on exact numbers but rumor was that it is now below 100 archaeologists working in all of Ireland.

That may be a bit of an exaggeration but not by much. It is truly dire there if you are looking for archaeology work.

[BAJR]

It is indeed fecked... Ask to join this group on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/485196161515778/
But is worse down south. The numbers of Field Archs left in less than 100 terrible

[Bones]

Thanks for the heads up Jack, Doug and Mr. Hosty.

I best polish up my transferable skills then.

[Ferris]

As the others said, the job market is almost non-existent following the onset of the recession - the vast majority of archaeologists I worked with are now either in the UK or have left the industry (or both). In terms of a licence, this is required for only for site directors/managers rather than site assistants/supervisors. I don't know what level you would be intending to work at, however in order to gain a licence it would be necessary to demonstrate both an ability to run sites and an in-depth knowledge of Irish archaeology. It probably wouldn't be something to aim for straight away.

Hope that helps and best of luck.

[Bones]

Thanks Ferris,
I would be going in at assistant level and I also have experience in post-ex work.