20th September 2011, 12:37 PM
Most contracts these days specify a set number of months/years of "commercial experience". Work on university, community and voluntary digs, no longer even blips on a fresh graduate's CV. There's no way you'd get even sort-of-paid work at that level these days.
Even paying to go on digs doesn't cut it. I've only seen a couple of commercial contracts, but those have specified that only professional archaeologists will work on the site and that volunteers/amateurs will not be used. Would just be more non-commercial work.
Same old same old. Can't get a commercial job, unless you already have commercial experience. Can only get commercial experience by doing a commercial job. Will only change when the pool of available commercially experienced diggers finally fall off their perches.
Even paying to go on digs doesn't cut it. I've only seen a couple of commercial contracts, but those have specified that only professional archaeologists will work on the site and that volunteers/amateurs will not be used. Would just be more non-commercial work.
Same old same old. Can't get a commercial job, unless you already have commercial experience. Can only get commercial experience by doing a commercial job. Will only change when the pool of available commercially experienced diggers finally fall off their perches.