Get out while the going's bad?

[benmoore]

I'd value some opinions. After doing this job for about 11 years, I have now been unemployed for about three months.

Is it time to give up or time to dig my heels in, keep my head down and hope things get better?

Sorry for the self centred post!

[trowelmonkey]

Have you thought about getting out to stay in?

I guess you're about the same vintage as me. I'm currently coming to terms with there not being a niche for me in archaeology and as this is the only thing I've ever wanted to do it's breaking my heart. My joints have packed it in (still have my back though), I'm stranded in the wrong end of the country and I am too poor to move, too poor to retrain, and with the incoming changes to housing benefit rules getting stuck between jobs whilst living on hand-to-mouth wages will literally put me on the street. So, with a heavy heart I have to bid archaeology adieu shortly, though I secretly hope it's au revoir.

What really saddens me is that I've spent 18 years trying to become the best possible excavator (I started young) and it's really only in the last five years that I feel that I really understand archaeology and I want to pass the torch on... and amn't in a position to do so. I actually feel guilty.

I suppose you need to ask yourself what you want to be doing five years hence. I'd settle for being able to fully open my hands and not living in fear of being chucked out. Sorry, now I'm starting to whine too. Back to being up beat. How about doing something new and keeping your hand in on a voluntary basis? Archaeology always needs ambassadors and benefactors and just about anything else pays better to give you a chance of being one of those. Do you see a future in community archaeology? Or, you could be one of those eccentrics who write up ancient archives in their spare time. Just a thought. Those are the thoughts that keep me going.

[BAJR]

I took the Com Arch path and love it... dig where you want with people who care, and a feeling of actually making a difference. I now have 8 projects lined up for this year... and although it is 'charity rates' It will see me through, plus give me a smile.

Stay with us Ben... just find your place.

[kevin wooldridge]

I wouldn't take it too hard Ben. It's nothing personal - times are tough everywhere. Try and stick with it mate .... remember the better times!!

[GnomeKing]

Nothing is black and white
'Nothing Is True, All Things Are Permitted'

you might be surprised how quickly SOME other jobs will becoming satisfying and rewarding - archaeologists tend to have more skills and abilities than average UK employee - go out there - OWN those other jobs.......................
..............................................if there were any.

I actually enjoyed escaping the petty corporate bullshit of wannabe, over-aspiring, inwardlooking yuppie self-servers, and their underskilled clipboard waving nazi minions..............

It gave me back some Faith in Archaeology ... and in aspiring to work with People Who Actually Care.

[troll]

:face-approve:Mister Hosty.....
Is it an appropriate time to put a new BAJR Guide in place? In times like these, one of the uphill struggles is being able to get our transferable skills across to potential employers outside of the heritage market. Most employers and the Department of Stealth and Total Obscurity have no idea of what an archaeologist actually is. A guide on here that clearly defines our core transferable skills would be extremely useful and the process of putting such a guide together would be a useful exercise?

Periodic bouts of unemployment are a fact of life for many of us, particularly those of us who work in the field and it can be soul-destroying. Many of the older lags in the game have stuck it out through thick and thin simply because they care and are passionate about the job. It is precisely those people that should have been seen as vital assets to commercial concerns a long time ago but sadly, disposable labour seems to be the watchword in today`s market. The lack of in-house training and opportunities for meaningful advancement in the industry has meant that a large workforce is seen as having nothing of value to offer unless there is a need for excavation. People like Trowley and Ben have accumulated a wealth of experience that the industry really can`t afford to lose. The reputation of many of the commercial units relies heavily upon the quality of work carried out at the coal face and in a progressive and dynamic industry-one would imagine that employers would fight to retain and advance quality staff assets.

Hey ho. I`m only in my first month of unemployment and it`s driving me bonkers. I keep sane by indulging in research that I had always meant to indulge in but was far too busy unpicking sites at the time. I`ve also volunteered (can do 16 weeks whilst claiming) for a few social projects locally. Most of my days are spent designing yet another c.v specifically targetting job requirements. Since December 10th, I`ve applied for over 140 jobs outside of archaeology and I have to be honest- being a recovering archaeologist! is actually an impedement to civvie job-hunting! I`ve actually been advised to remove my education and experience details from any c.v` that I submit! Amusingly, I was rejected in my application to become a rat-catcher! It really is a nightmare-it seems that we have specialised to such a level that we are virtually unemployable outside of archaeology. Not a fun place to be.

To be upbeat- I love my job as most of the fieldies I have been lucky enough to work with do. I don`t see this current economic issue as being an end to my chosen career but, an opportunity for me to double the amount of reading, research and keeping up with new theoretical trends that have flown over my back whilst my head was in a trench! There really are some exciting new papers out there. I`ve also been lucky enough to write up some reports for a researcher so have got my hand back into the stuff I love. Trowley and Ben- your wealth of experience is a hugely positive asset to the industry and to see you walk away would be an enormous waste. Whilst things are a bit slow, can I suggest that you offer 16 hours a week max to a local college/uni? Probation services? Get hold of student union Archsocs and offer to present talks/skills sessions/training days......Whilst your at it, have a good read of the excellent free online magazine Past Horizons-write some pieces for them and have a look at some of the worldwide volunteering opportunities there are out there. Bottom line is, don`t go away...sit tight, retune old skills, diversify and reinvigorate your passion! Your industry needs you!

[BAJR]

Good post there Troll... passioned writing of the troll I know and love.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con...03891.html

and interseting use of archaeology for US veterns..

however one line struck me... which seems to fly in the face of what people are saying here.

There are similar programs for veterans in St. Louis and Augusta, Ga. They started in 2009, the brainchild of Michael "Sonny" Trimble, an archaeologist with the Corps of Engineers who spent three years in Iraq working to uncover mass graves. In that time, he got very close to the U.S. soldiers who kept his team safe.
"When I came back here, I really felt kind of frustrated," Sonny told me during a phone interview. "I wanted to do something to help them out."
The program is funded by federal stimulus money. Students receive an hourly wage - they're processing records, after all - and training that, it's hoped, will transfer to even non-archaeological jobs: records management, database support, forensics. Sessions cover topics including resume writing and job hunting. Thirty-one of the program's 77 participants have either found work or started earning a degree.

[troll]

There we go! A veritable `tanaaaaaaa!` moment. Says it all doesn`t it? Archaeology can be a hugely beneficial social tool...it inspires, draws people together, promotes diversity in identity and a whole host of other juicy catch-phrases that my caffiene-deprived brain can`t conjure at the mo......there really is no `I` in team but there is `unity` in community!

[kevin wooldridge]

I think Troll rather than a guide to transferable skills we just need a BAJR guide containing yours and 'Trowel Fodders' and Ben's and mine and Davids etc etc testimonials. We could call it 'Archaeology -she's a bitch, but....'. I agree regarding Past Horizons magazine BTW....

[Pedant]

My other half is in the same position - over 20 yrs experience, unemployed since August (barring a couple of weeks in Oct/Nov), applying to any unit asking for diggers and getting nothing back. Since I have a more stable job, it's marginally less of a problem financially - though if it goes on too long it'll become one - but at the moment it's more about his feelings of being on the scrapheap after all these years. He's also tried the 'transferable skills' route but most employers don't really seem to care, probably because they assume he'd be off the minute an archaeology job came up, which isn't necessarily the case.