Is archaeology using interns and is this and acceptable practice?

[Martin Locock]

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?

[Welsh Andy]

Especially when '6 months experience' is often '6 months commercial experience'.

[Welsh Andy]

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.

That wasn't an error. Tesco are a participant in the Workfare scheme whereby job seekers are forced to work at their stores or risk having sanctions applied to their benefits.

http://www.boycottworkfare.org/?p=488

[Ferris]

However, they should think carefully about their public persona if this type of
practice comes out in public.

True. I wonder if the company concerned is really aware of its legal obligations. If they are apparently so hard up that they can't afford to pay staff then would they really be able to cope with legal costs and damage to their reputation if an intern happens to take them to court over it?

[trowelfodder]

How can this be the standard now - it used to be that below 6 months was a trainee, who has made it standard at entry level? Those same companies who are so altruistic that they are letting poor struggling newbies gain the 6months they need by working for free!

If you are doing a job for a commercial unit which some one would other be paid to do then this is exploitation - you can bet your arse the client is paying for this work at a full rate, unless the job has been massively undertended for and this is a way of doing it on the cheap....... not that this would ever happen !

[kevin wooldridge]

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.

[Wax]

So before we all get our knickers in a twist are there actually any internships being offered by any archaological units commercial or otherwise? If so what terms and conditions are the interns working under?

And as many people have already asked what is the official IFA take on this (no guess here but written policy quoted)?

[trowelfodder]

They dont have to be officialy offered - the question should be how standard a practice is it for commercial units (or trusts with an attached commercial units) to use unpaid volunteers for projects for which they are themselves being paid? Do the volunteers believe that after a period they will have the skills to be employed as an archaeologist?

[Misty]

@Welsh Andy - I stand corrected about Tesco. What's the betting they pull out of the scheme soon as there is a groundswell of public opinion growing against it. Slave labour as you say.

@Wax - yes, see trowelfodder's first post. The three internships

[Ferris]

Originally posted by Wax: So before we all get our knickers in a twist are there actually
any internships being offered by any archaological units commercial or
otherwise? If so what terms and conditions are the interns working under?

http://www.wessexarch.co.uk/vacancies/bu...nternships


While the advert is not for an actual archaeologist post, the worry is that it'll catch on and it won't be long before it becomes standard practice in the industry.