Transferable skills - Listing the useful ones.

[BAJR]

There is some talk about transferable skills... to help you get jobs when mother archaeology boots you in the tenders and send you off without a backward glance.

Interpersonal skills... Literacy... Numeracy for example.

Can I ask... what would be a good list of Transferable skills and how the hell would you record them in such a way that an employer would go... oh yeah, that's a recognisable skill?

[Dinosaur]

Good thread! :face-approve:

- sadly can't think of any at the moment other than having a driving licence and literacy, both sadly rare commodities in archaeology....

[Land-Escapist]

ability to work to deadlines AND under pressure...

communication (I would hope!)

capacity to drink several pints and still be relatively sober (j/k)

Weirdly I was talking to someone about this, this morning and no matter what job you are going from then to, there are always transferable skills. This is a good thread to try and bash them out For those who get a chance to be in the office, i woud say written and verbal communication skills are a plus, and IT competency through the microsoft packages but also things like AutoCAD, GIS, photoshop etc.

On my CV and job applications I put things like 'compentency in...' or 'skills in...'

[kevin wooldridge]

For those who get a chance to be in the office, i woud say written and verbal communication skills are a plus, and IT competency through the microsoft packages but also things like AutoCAD, GIS, photoshop etc...'

Do we mean transferable skills that make you more employable as an archaeologist or transferable skills that make it easier to find work outside of archaeology or stretch the realms of archaeology to overlap with other professions i.e Museum curation, tour guiding etc etc. ?

I would say that the single biggest skill that anyone can possess in the current economic climate is flexibility coupled with a degree of mobility to be able to accept work at short notice in strange and odd places. Plus of course good references from trusted and experienced referees .... oh and perhaps a little bit of social nous through networking etc that means someone might pick-up the phone or send an e-mail offering you work before it goes out to advert etc etc. And sure if they do that, cos they know you can dig/survey/photograph/draw/heckle/graft/get wet, muddy and cold, I guess that's a given, but not so sure (at the moment anyway) that it works the other way round.

[Dinosaur]

The old trick of flicking a fag into your mouth from waist-level the right way round 9 times out of 10 always seem to impress, but maybe that wasn't what you had in mind? And of course digging stories bore non-diggers as well.....

[P Prentice]

how not to look like an archaeologist

[monty]

how not to look like an archaeologist

...................ooh stereotyping eh .......................and how does an archaeologist look............................... with his eyes and hands .........

[BAJR]

Ahem... returning to the thread... though I liked the digression...

Would you consider taking site tours or giving lectures.. or schools visit... would that be classed as " what?" and how would you show this as a skill that is learned and useful outside the wonderful world of archaeology.

Fag flipping would for example make you useful as a novelty cabaret act though.

[Wax]

There is indeed a great deal of skill required with dealing with the public which could be called " customer service skills" or "public liaison" all transferable. Analytical thinking and process management are all part of archaeology and in demand elsewhere.

[monty]

Literacy, analytical skills, numeracy, public/client/curator liaison, photography, IT, interpetation, adaptability, management, team morale......mmmmm... recording them in a way to impress non-archaeological prospective employer .......:face-thinks: