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13th April 2010, 01:04 PM
:face-topic: Returning to topic... though the above is interesting and warrants a separate thread.
There are now more digging jobs going up... though I do seem to be on the phone a lot, ensuring that everyone is happy with what is on offer (self employed archaeologists especially! - which needs some serious thought... remember your rates will have to take into account tax, NI, and loss of holiday, pension, sickness and other employment rights - Don't consider it unless you know what you are doing. You can of course be self employed... however, this comes with responsibilities from yourself. A new guide will be forthcoming, that will look at how, why, what, etc) The other jobs are employed ones, - and remember ... always check to see what is on offer... accommodation? travel? subs etc? what's on offer? The employment market is getting complicated just now - again, this is why the BAJR guide to pay and condition 2010/11 is late this year- after waiting to see how the market went. )
Don't sell yourself short... and remember that BAJR can only check and help at the point where the advert goes up... you must consider and check it yourself. :face-huh:
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13th April 2010, 01:48 PM
Also you could try, with respect to the companies that don't advertise for new staff, the old ways - in the pre-badger days the best method of securing a job was to get on the 'temporary staff' list of several units. The best way to do this is to send your CV to as many companies you can find, But this works best if you follow up with a phone call.
Also I always found county archaeological staff a helpful source of information.
Due to the often last-minuteness of the construction industry, archaeological employers often find themselves in the awkward position of not needing staff on monday, but then desperate for diggers the day after. I always reckoned a phone-call every friday morning was a good way of showing keen and keeping up to date on possible work (but I've always been a pest!).
Employers are always on the look out for drivers with a clean license and are wary of the 'unknown' digger. I've heard several horror stories relating to taking on new 'untried' staff ranging from incompetence, fraudulant CV's to indecent exposure, prostitution and drug-dealing in the site accomodation!
(These are exceptions though. I've met lots of great, keen, honest, hardworking new diggers over the passed few years.)
Also, If a company is to continue, it needs to regularly take on new staff as people leave the industry, grow up or move on. Its just a case of positioning yourself to be in the right place at the right time and taking advantage of opportunities. Archaeology is not like working in the real world, its a chaotic career often with no easily visible progression or structure. You often have to hunt it, chase it, beat it into shape, then keep it on a short leash.
Archaeology is more of a pursuit than a structured career. It's not for everyone.
Sorry if this isn't helpful, its just my observation of the passed 12 years in the industry. But it is getting a bit better.
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13th April 2010, 02:17 PM
It is indeed helpful and indeed close to the truth, though I may add that the "horror stories relating to taking on new 'untried' staff ranging from incompetence, fraudulant CV's to indecent exposure, prostitution and drug-dealing in the site accomodation!" can be taken with both a pinch of the proverbials as well. Where the percentage chance of that happening is quite low. Fraudulent CVs.. people should check references.. and hopefully, with verified CPD logs and Skills Passports this will become a thing of the past. The other stories.. alright I admit it... but hey I was young and needed the money.. (I am joking before anyone phones the papers) - They are not nice, but not enough to say no to everyone else. Digging with mates is nice, I did it for years with a core staff, but we also had people who drifted in and out... some good some bad... but it eventually comes to an end and can be a clique rather than a team sometimes.
Nice recovery with the " great, keen, honest, hardworking new diggers" 
However, the suggestion is often pushed that you should not wait for a job to come to you... its go out and get it. When I talk at Unis, about getting a job, it centres around, being aware of what is happening and where. and then there is getting in early, being personable and not too pushy, but building up a rapore with the local unit. getting into a local society and meeting people as Jack says, follow up a CV with a phone call... "Did you get it?" "Is there anything I should do to make it better... can you give me advice... thank you very much" Don't sit on teh phone for ages... they are busy, if you are not... you don't have to be a pushover... " sorry sir... apologies for contacting such a great being such as yourself...!" but don't hide your light under a bushel either
Quote:Archaeology is more of a pursuit than a structured career. It's not for everyone.
Read it and weep people! REad it and weep....
One day though! One day...there will be room for unstructured flare wearing archaeology and tough headed commercial archaeology
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13th April 2010, 06:10 PM
There are a lot more jobs today it seems, but how appealing are they? 11 hr days @ basic rate. Is 55hrs a wk at basic pay even legal? Plus then you'd have to work the saturday, oh but lucky u, time & a hlaf for that!
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13th April 2010, 06:30 PM
On of the reasons I bang on about professionalism between bouts of despair is exactly that "Old Boys'" network. To a certain extent we all keep a mental check list of who knows whom and who we'd rather work with. When it comes to the actual hiring though, I strongly feel that there needs to be transparency and clearly laid out criteria. How many times hasn't it happened that X falls out with Y, fairly or unfairly. (We lead pretty strange lives with really intense, often short, relationships both during and after the working day.) X is the more established archaeologist and tells all their mates that Y is rubbish. A decade on, Y still can't work in a whole region, even though nobody can remember what it is that's so bad about Y. Really, we should be ashamed of ourselves as an industry.:I
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13th April 2010, 07:18 PM
You are dead right - archaeologists can be a really small minded - inward looking - self-refferential lot....at worst. Because of the lack of accreditation and the mean spirits of Persons In Authority (who frequently appear to value staff very liitle) it seems easy to completely ruin a career, or stunt it into non-existence...'personal issues' frequently outrank actual performance in determining, for example, redundancies...some Persons In Authority are genuinley unable to distinguish good work from bad, but find issues of 'charecter' and 'in vs out' group positionings much easier to deal with....
Some of these people have behaved in absolutley disgraceful ways in the fairly recent past, and have got away with it scot-free and smelling of roses.
Because so little value is placed on the quality of work compared to its quanity and conformity, and because Authority generally judges on 'charecter' ratehr than archaeological performance, it is easy for Dissent to be suppressed and good work buried.
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13th April 2010, 07:50 PM
I couldn't have put it better myself Gnomeking. We are due for a cull at the end of next week and I'm forced to wonder who will stay and go!? 
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13th April 2010, 08:11 PM
if , by 'character' you mean inter-personal skills or simply how well you get on with the rest of the team - I wouldn't underrate this aspect of performance. Obnoxious, but a damn good excavator? Good/average all rounder but a pleasure to work with... Who would you choose to keep given an ultimatum on resourcing?
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13th April 2010, 09:08 PM
i would chose the Best Archaeologist and use MY personal skills to deal with THIER defficits - i have seen too many 'happy-shiny' teams who unfortunatley lack significant archaeological talent of the firey kind that can, admitadley be harder to manage...
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13th April 2010, 09:26 PM
I think inter-personal skills are part of the skill set, but all merits have to be weighed and balanced. Somebody who never gets the knack of seeing features, but is really, really, really nice or married to the director doesn't belong on site. Nor does the super excavator who pulls a knife on anyone who looks at them funny. But that wasn't really the point I was making in my usually badly spelled way.
I've seen purely personal spats that have been blown out of all proportion throughout the British Isles. Everybody knows somebody who's been a victim or done this. If we can't constructively evaluate people's real skills and abilities we allow this sort of petty bullying to go on with far reaching consequences. I suppose this is part of the archaeological culture of closing ranks when something goes wrong as well, but that's another thread for another time.
If nobody knows why X and Y fell all those years ago, maybe it's better just to really read the cv, interview Y and if they don't sound like the demon spawn hire them. People change, too. There's no law that says you have to employ them perpetually if they turn out to be rubbish. For all we know X and Y might've fallen out over a girl in uni. Wouldn't that be a stupid thing to stymie a career for?
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