23rd July 2013, 07:43 PM
Tool - ignore Unit having fun, a lot of the best diggers I've worked with either didn't have a degree or it wasn't in anything to do with archaeology. I doubt there are any figures to back this up, but I'd imagine a fair number of Unit Managers don't have one, especially ones who got into it through job-creation schemes back in the '80s. An expectation seems to have crept in that diggers need a degree, in the same way that they seem to expect one for working in a call-centre, but it sure as hell isn't necessary whatever anyone tells you, I know plenty of guys who make a 'living' from digging without one. Wierdly your background in construction is actually an asset, we took on a guy years back who wasn't even interested in archaeology (at least when he started) but his background in offshore and construction (up to foreman) proved an incredible asset, always handy having someone there who can tell at a glance that the wrong plant has turned up before it's been off-loaded, for instance. He turned out to be a great digger too, and didn't have any trouble at all getting jobs with other units once he'd got some digging experience on his CV. If you've got any valid tickets (eg for pneumatic tools, confined working, dumper driving, first aid at any level, pretty much anything), tell someone, you'd be amazed how rare such things are amongst archaeologists, and sometimes, depending on the job at hand, ten times more valuable than any degree