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10th October 2008, 10:21 AM
Hello.
I was just wondering how other companies are getting on at the moment. Its VERY quiet where we are and have had to loose quite a few staff recently.
What are peoples opinions about work over the next 12 months?
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10th October 2008, 10:57 AM
Our unit has lost a number of people lately, and incoming tenders are VERY thin on the ground. The fact that the assorted overpaid f**kwits who got us in this mess don't seem to have a clue how to get us out of it (lots of use of the term 'unprecedented') doesn't leave me brimming with optimism (although, as my ex- would testify ad nauseum, I am prone to be a bit of a glass half empty type of person).
One small piece of schadenfreude though - all the City types who voted for Tory tax cuts over the years may now be regretting it as they peruse their tiny benefit cheques from the dole office. What a tragedy if they take all the good, honest and useful people down with them.
Hope that helps
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10th October 2008, 11:10 AM
6 weeks, three jobs buy luckily (or not) they came in last week!
Expand your area and be lethal, undercut to get your foot in the door. I donât advise this but last time and the time before a lot of backlogs seemed to end up in mysterious fires although I think the more subtle go for rising damp. Have you thought about pointing out to your local councillors that you could undercut the curators jobs? Have you considered setting your self up in a charity. Theres going to be a lot of begging on its way and its best to dress the part.
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10th October 2008, 11:52 AM
Ignore him.... undercutting is the last gasp before the belly up corpse floats down the creek, unable to even hold the paddle let alone not have one.
Look at what you have... look at your skills.. (if you have any skilled workers left!) Look at what else you can do... look at real archaeology outreach... look at alternative income streams... be creative... do not run about shouting PANIC PANIC.... and then decide the best idea is cut the cost of a watching brief down to 50 quid... as that will be like giving a thirsty man a thimble of water..
This has been coming for the past 6 months.. so its not a complete surprise.
"I don't have an archaeological imagination.."
Borekickers
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10th October 2008, 12:20 PM
Quote:quote:Originally posted by Unitof1
6 weeks, three jobs buy luckily (or not) they came in last week!
Expand your area and be lethal, undercut to get your foot in the door. I donât advise this but last time and the time before a lot of backlogs seemed to end up in mysterious fires although I think the more subtle go for rising damp. Have you thought about pointing out to your local councillors that you could undercut the curators jobs? Have you considered setting your self up in a charity. Theres going to be a lot of begging on its way and its best to dress the part.
Hi
Don't forget to slash your own throats and sell you future to the lowest bidder in order to ensure all your bridges are burnt.[xx(]
Steven
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10th October 2008, 12:28 PM
Hi
Seriously though, there is hope!
Many developers are now land banking and obtaining planning permissions on large sites. This means pre-determination evaluation and mitigation work to "clear" the site so that they can quickly capatilise on the inevitable economic upturn. There seems to be a concurrent level of ecology work as environmental issues are sorted out on allocation sites. I'm not saying its all roses but don't go throwing away your trowels yet chaps.
Steven
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10th October 2008, 12:49 PM
So this is whats happening
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_wave
£49.99 watching brief it is then
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10th October 2008, 01:02 PM
If it turns out to be the end of the world I would like to be the first to use age wave as a reason for the end of the romans, the babylonians, the persians, the ....
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10th October 2008, 02:12 PM
We should be generating a few buildings recording jobs in the NW in the next couple of months - wont exactly keep the entire profession afloat but we have finally got the budget to fund buildings repairs under HLS sorted out - should be some in other regions too.
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10th October 2008, 02:36 PM
I has certainly gone very quiet all of a sudden, lots of tenders in August then suddenly nothing. However, it does tend to get like that at this time of year so that might account for some of it.
Time for training, getting archives sorted, finds dealt with, generally clearing up etc. Would be a good time for someone like EH to come up with some nice funded projects to make sure we don't lose a generation of skilled archaeologists. Assuming EH didn't invest all their money in Icelandic banks...