19th February 2012, 04:36 PM
(This post was last modified: 19th February 2012, 04:38 PM by kevin wooldridge.)
Martin Locock Wrote:On the other hand ... it has become industry standard that nobody will be employed as a digger without 6 months experience. How can anyone get this experience?
Its not a conundrum all the time there is a steady supply of folk looking for jobs who have six months (commercial) experience or more......no doubt the criterion would change if that ready supply dried up.....
On the question of interns, I suggested back at the beginning of the year in my 'Fantasy Salary' thread, that the starting salary for archaeologists should be the minimum wage but with the guarantee of a 12 month contract so that entrants to the profession could train and acquire experience. I was particularly concerned with the missing last 3 or 4 years of undergraduates, that the profession seems largely to be ignoring. I was (probably correctly) rounded upon by some people who suggested I was undermining the advances that the profession had made in the past few years and might make in the future....... But I was anticipating something similar to the 'unpaid intern' or 'workfare' scheme eventually heading into archaeology...
I'm just very sad it has happened before the profession as a whole has had the chance to formulate an opinion let alone a policy to deal with this.
With peace and consolation hath dismist, And calm of mind all passion spent...