Overtime

[kevin wooldridge]

People work for A because it does work in a more or less local area. Working for B would still involve long commutes. Diggers dnt get paid enough to continuely move- what of the fair expectation of a home life and career development? I am tired of 'works work, times tough' field staff should not beo. expected to put up with anything thrown at us, yet the office is always safe! (Same old Gripes)

Don't believe that office jobs these days are any safer than field posts. I can name a number of units over the past 3 years that have been as brutal lopping posts in the office as they have in the field. At the end of the day what will guarantee you work in UK archaeology is if you can generate funding. It strikes me that at present that is equally likely in the field as in the office or as many of us have found, by combining a mix of the two, rather than committing totally to the dark side or the side of the angels!!

Based on previous experience of hard times in archaeology, people make choices. Some will put up with regressive changes in terms and conditions to protect what little they have, others will look for ways out of the trade. It has to be said though that waiting until the tough times hit archaeology. BEFORE starting to look for an alternative career (particularly with the current dearth of alternatives positions) is perhaps akin to looking for needles in haystacks. As has often been quoted on these pages, nobody is owed a living in archaeology and there are very few giveaways. Of course staff 'should not be expected' to put up with loads of things, but unless you make a decision to do something about it, either as an individual or as part of a collective, nothing will change.....simple logic really.

I have worked in archaeology for 30+ years and know a lot of archaeologists in the UK and abroad. Most of those that I would consider successful and content have at sometime in their career taken charge of their destiny. Sometimes having to take a sideways or even backward step to eventually move forward; the important thing being to keep moving and present as small a target as possible whilst doing so (we use to call that 'Maoism' in the good old days!). I have posted a couple of times on this site asking for folk to tell us how they are doing in the current climate and relate strategies they have adopted or are adopting. Few people reply in the first person, although as this thread demonstrates, third person narrative suggests there are a lot of people adopting a pragmatic approach to protecting some form of archaeological career. I am sure that maintaining a home life and a career structure is still important to many archaeologists, but long term unemployment can be a great leveller of aspiration. I'm sure we all know any number of archaeologists who at present lack any kind of stable family or home life as a result of career 'choices'...

That said in my 30 years spent as an archaeologist, this current 'hard time' seems to be both the longest and the toughest, especially for students and new entrants to the trade. Just hope there are a few of us left in 5 years time...