23rd June 2011, 12:57 PM
I can't offer any comfort, as the situation has been largely the same since I left University, well over 10 years ago now, and I'm sure other people on here can provide comments to the effect that it's been the same for considerably longer. You're unfortunate in that you're starting out at a particularly bad time, though, when there's significantly less development-related work around. When I started, there was an abundance of work available on the circuit, so at least if you left one site under the last-in-first-out policy, you'd be able to pick up something else (albeit you needed to be able and willing to move to the other end of the country at short notice). Obviously, this type of lifestyle wasn't for everyone, so there was a general attrition of people leaving after a couple of years to get more secure or better paid jobs, by which time those who wanted to continue were better-placed to get kept on somewhere on a more permanent basis.
I know it'll be no comfort to you, but I can remember sitting in a site hut some time around '98, complaining that the university hadn't warned me about the poor pay and job prospects for archaeology graduates who actually wanted to work in archaeology, but in a sense, that's not really their job. Their role is to provide education for people who want to study archaeology, and it's for the students to decide what they want to do with this education - out of my graduating year of about 50, I think there's maybe 5 of us who still work in archaeology. I know that when I announced I was going to study archaeology, my parents asked lots of questions about what sort of job this would get me and how much I could expect to earn, but I was so determined that I didn't really listen. In retrospect, they were pretty sensible questions, and I'd certainly advise anyone thinking of studying archaeology to consider them before committing to spending a large sum of money on fees.
Sorry, I know this isn't particularly encouraging, but the situation at the moment is as bad as I've seen in terms of availability of work. The only thing I could suggest is to make sure you're able to start on a site at the drop of a hat, even if the only job you're offered is at the other end of the country. Hopefully, things will pick up a bit in the future.
I know it'll be no comfort to you, but I can remember sitting in a site hut some time around '98, complaining that the university hadn't warned me about the poor pay and job prospects for archaeology graduates who actually wanted to work in archaeology, but in a sense, that's not really their job. Their role is to provide education for people who want to study archaeology, and it's for the students to decide what they want to do with this education - out of my graduating year of about 50, I think there's maybe 5 of us who still work in archaeology. I know that when I announced I was going to study archaeology, my parents asked lots of questions about what sort of job this would get me and how much I could expect to earn, but I was so determined that I didn't really listen. In retrospect, they were pretty sensible questions, and I'd certainly advise anyone thinking of studying archaeology to consider them before committing to spending a large sum of money on fees.
Sorry, I know this isn't particularly encouraging, but the situation at the moment is as bad as I've seen in terms of availability of work. The only thing I could suggest is to make sure you're able to start on a site at the drop of a hat, even if the only job you're offered is at the other end of the country. Hopefully, things will pick up a bit in the future.
You know Marcus. He once got lost in his own museum