10th February 2007, 05:52 PM
If, by letting amateurs on a commercial site, you mean having a half dozen members of the local archaeological/historical society tramping around then I'd say no. The contracting unit has a paid job to do, probably won via competitive tender, and using amateurs en masse to cut costs isnt ethical.
However I'm happy to take on occasional volunteers, on a case by case basis, whilst working on commercial sites. After all that's how I got started.
However this tends to be limited to only one at a time and is often a local person or who's gone out of their way to contact us, book a weeks leave from their own job, just to have a go. Yes, they're working for nothing on a commercial contract but it doesnt provide us with any benefit as they'll need/expect someone to take time out to explain everything and supervise them.
If they had any experience and could be left alone we'd be hiring them from the start.
However I'm happy to take on occasional volunteers, on a case by case basis, whilst working on commercial sites. After all that's how I got started.
However this tends to be limited to only one at a time and is often a local person or who's gone out of their way to contact us, book a weeks leave from their own job, just to have a go. Yes, they're working for nothing on a commercial contract but it doesnt provide us with any benefit as they'll need/expect someone to take time out to explain everything and supervise them.
If they had any experience and could be left alone we'd be hiring them from the start.