17th August 2008, 01:54 PM
It's not fair is it? Some years, units are falling over themselves to hire undergrads with no experience, then the economy wobbles and you guys suffer the crunch. I started out in the mid-nineties, when it was also pretty dire. MoLAS weren't hiring anyone with less than 6 years experience; hardly any of my mates even tried to get a job. I did volly work and went to work in an Elvis theme restaurant. There was an up-side though; a lot of people left, including the most talented ones who could excel in other fields. By the time I was going for supervisory and (especially) PO jobs the economy had recovered and there were a lot of projects around but a serious shortage of people with my skills. There's always a reward for tenacity.
Speaking of which, here's my advice.
Send CVs to everyone (see BAJR for addresses), regardless of whether they are advertising. Wait a few days and phone up everyone, ask to talk to the head of HR, ask them whether they got your CV and whether they need someone with your talent, drive, enthusiasm, or whatever skill you think they might most like. If they can't hire you, ask them to keep your CV and let you know if something comes up, and ask them (a) when would be a good time to contact them again (b) what skills or experience would improve your chances of being hired in future. If they seem nice and not too keen to get off the phone, you might ask for leads; they might have heard that the unit up the road is hiring. As long as you are charming, don't be afraid to hassle people (I hate to sound mercenary but if they can't help you, you can risk irritating them). How often to use this tactic is a tricky question. I once worked with one totally unqualified guy who phoned his local unit every Monday at 09:15 until eventually they gave him a job. Overkill perhaps, but it worked.
One thing about this: prepare yourself for everyone to say 'no', sometimes quite rudely. It may well be that everyone will say no; that doesn't matter, you are advertising yourself for future work as well as current vacancies. In other words, just making the call is the first indicator of success, not hearing them say 'yes'. Most importantly, keep your fiance on hand to periodically remind you of how marvelous you are. That will make it a hundred times easier than sitting alone for a day or two on the phone to strangers telling you that they don't need you. This is soul-destroying. You will need a hug.
Kev's last point is well made; and he's been married for about 75 years now. It's not something that I ever considered, and I lost a few good women that way. However, if you get offered a job in Swindon (for example) and hubby is just kicking his heels with not much going on, then he can move to Swindon too, and might find a wonderful and fulfilling new job there himself (ring any bells, Oxbeast?). If you can get non-archaeological work near 'home' where he's got something good going on career-wise, that's good too; there's no law saying you have to be an archaeologist and nothing wrong with having a few non-dig jobs on your CV, as any employer knows how the economy goes. However, if you and hubby are both doing jobs you hate just so you can stay in your home town, that's time to consider both of you upping sticks to somewhere random just because you can dig there. Furthermore, if you think the strain of your being apart for a few months isn't worth it, get out of archaeology or move to London, because almost all companies will want you to work away from home some of the time.
Hope that helps.
Tom
freeburmarangers.org
Speaking of which, here's my advice.
Send CVs to everyone (see BAJR for addresses), regardless of whether they are advertising. Wait a few days and phone up everyone, ask to talk to the head of HR, ask them whether they got your CV and whether they need someone with your talent, drive, enthusiasm, or whatever skill you think they might most like. If they can't hire you, ask them to keep your CV and let you know if something comes up, and ask them (a) when would be a good time to contact them again (b) what skills or experience would improve your chances of being hired in future. If they seem nice and not too keen to get off the phone, you might ask for leads; they might have heard that the unit up the road is hiring. As long as you are charming, don't be afraid to hassle people (I hate to sound mercenary but if they can't help you, you can risk irritating them). How often to use this tactic is a tricky question. I once worked with one totally unqualified guy who phoned his local unit every Monday at 09:15 until eventually they gave him a job. Overkill perhaps, but it worked.
One thing about this: prepare yourself for everyone to say 'no', sometimes quite rudely. It may well be that everyone will say no; that doesn't matter, you are advertising yourself for future work as well as current vacancies. In other words, just making the call is the first indicator of success, not hearing them say 'yes'. Most importantly, keep your fiance on hand to periodically remind you of how marvelous you are. That will make it a hundred times easier than sitting alone for a day or two on the phone to strangers telling you that they don't need you. This is soul-destroying. You will need a hug.
Kev's last point is well made; and he's been married for about 75 years now. It's not something that I ever considered, and I lost a few good women that way. However, if you get offered a job in Swindon (for example) and hubby is just kicking his heels with not much going on, then he can move to Swindon too, and might find a wonderful and fulfilling new job there himself (ring any bells, Oxbeast?). If you can get non-archaeological work near 'home' where he's got something good going on career-wise, that's good too; there's no law saying you have to be an archaeologist and nothing wrong with having a few non-dig jobs on your CV, as any employer knows how the economy goes. However, if you and hubby are both doing jobs you hate just so you can stay in your home town, that's time to consider both of you upping sticks to somewhere random just because you can dig there. Furthermore, if you think the strain of your being apart for a few months isn't worth it, get out of archaeology or move to London, because almost all companies will want you to work away from home some of the time.
Hope that helps.
Tom
freeburmarangers.org