16th March 2011, 09:59 AM
I have said for the last few years that I would only do a PhD if it gave me the opportunity to teach myself significantly more skills, and skills which would be useful outside of archaeology at that. I mean things like databases, GIS, surveying, statistics. Even things like interviewing people and questionaries. Someone more sciencey than me might include materials analysis, soil chemistry, etc. A friend of mine worked on a CASE studentship looking at perceptions of landscape. She was then able to get a job in the department of law looking at perceptions of crime. Now she is back in the archaeology department looking at something else. There is no way that I would (or even could) proceed without funding. A PhD like 'lets look at all the archaeology from period X in area Y' might just be too vague to be useful, not add to a skillset, and be too general to get some really good publications from.
Another thing to worry about is that you may be overqualified for certain roles. when we needed someone new, some bod with a PhD turned up. All right, he did come across as a bit of a know it all, which not everyone necessarily would, but that may have been a reason why he didn't get the job.
Another thing to worry about is that you may be overqualified for certain roles. when we needed someone new, some bod with a PhD turned up. All right, he did come across as a bit of a know it all, which not everyone necessarily would, but that may have been a reason why he didn't get the job.