19th February 2012, 01:06 PM
I started as a volunteer, one day a week, as I could live on the money I earned as a temp for the rest of the week. Eventually I was taken on very short (one week at a time) contracts and finally full-time. I was culled in 2008 and now work outside archaeology as I needed to eat.
Archaeology as an industry is often behind the rest of the commercial world. This is probably because units are run by archaeologists who pick up commercial ideas from outside, they usually deal with builders/developers or local authorities who are also slow to react to changes in workplace practice. The idea of interns is very unpopular with the public and has been dropped by commercial companies who care about their publicity. See today's news about a Tesco Express having to close down because a JobCentre mistakenly posted an advert which seemed to suggest they were offering a job on Job Seeker's Allowance plus expenses. Tesco immediately jumped in to say this was definitely not their policy. Archaeology units don't have to face the public commercially on a daily basis like Tesco so perhaps feel they can take on interns, full-time volunteers, whatever they want to call them. However, they should think carefully about their public persona if this type of practice comes out in public.
Archaeology as an industry is often behind the rest of the commercial world. This is probably because units are run by archaeologists who pick up commercial ideas from outside, they usually deal with builders/developers or local authorities who are also slow to react to changes in workplace practice. The idea of interns is very unpopular with the public and has been dropped by commercial companies who care about their publicity. See today's news about a Tesco Express having to close down because a JobCentre mistakenly posted an advert which seemed to suggest they were offering a job on Job Seeker's Allowance plus expenses. Tesco immediately jumped in to say this was definitely not their policy. Archaeology units don't have to face the public commercially on a daily basis like Tesco so perhaps feel they can take on interns, full-time volunteers, whatever they want to call them. However, they should think carefully about their public persona if this type of practice comes out in public.