18th August 2008, 12:15 PM
I can see that nothingâs going to put you off. Good, itâs a very fulfilling life but a harsh one too in some ways. This is my quidâs worth of âadvice.â
Donât worry so much about age, but do worry about your joints. Keep warm and DRY as far as possible and unless youâre a seasoned alcoholic donât try to keep up with the youngens. Take up a hobby like yoga, pilates or any sport where you stretch your whole body and keep at it. Being crouched over in the winter will do no favours for your circulation.
Think of this period as the journeyman time to consolidate your skills. If you do need to step away from archaeology for a while it will be a lot easier to come back with 9mths to a year under your belt. I can guarantee that the pace of commercial work will come as a shock to you. Donât panic, after a fortnight or so your body will acclimatise no matter how bad you feel at first. Also, if you do go on to a masters spending some time in the field will really focus what you want to do and how it may fit in.
If you havenât sat down with your fiancé and discussed what you want out of life do it NOW. Unless you are very, very lucky you will travel a lot in the beginning. You should discuss how you will both cope with that, you both need to be frank. Make a long term plan between you because it helps to have one and then remember that plans tend to go awry:-) One important point to remember is that it is very hard to save any money on a diggerâs wage. It always seems to cost more to live away from home base.
When not in archaeologyâ¦.. No archaeologist will ever hold it against you to have taken other jobs in between, no matter what they are. In most industries the reverse is not true. If you must step away from archaeology make sure that you take a job best suited to your skills and not the first shelf-stacking job to come along. This will benefit your career in the long run where-ever it leads. Be prepared to explain that archaeology is a project contract based industry right on the non archaeological CV itself if you have to. If you must go to a job centre donât ever let them convince you that you are a manual labourer, it does neither you nor the profession any good.
If you do go on to a masters have you thought about applying for National Trust vacancies with accommodation? Taking care of some mill or vicarage would put a roof over both your heads and you could study part time and still be in the heritage sector.
Just keep sending out the CVs and having a wee chat with HR ever so often. Many big projects have a pretty steep drop out rate once they get underway and the PM will go back to whatever CVs are kicking about the office. Some medium sized jobs only get advertised for once the pile kicking around the office gets picked over if more people are needed. For this reason it never hurts to send in a fresh CV every six months. Learn to use mail merge, a mailshot is much classier if you include the company name HR personnel in the cover letter. Surprisingly, I have on occassion been hired by rather old CVs found lurking on some desk or other. So, donât change your mobile number if you can help it!
Good luck!
Donât worry so much about age, but do worry about your joints. Keep warm and DRY as far as possible and unless youâre a seasoned alcoholic donât try to keep up with the youngens. Take up a hobby like yoga, pilates or any sport where you stretch your whole body and keep at it. Being crouched over in the winter will do no favours for your circulation.
Think of this period as the journeyman time to consolidate your skills. If you do need to step away from archaeology for a while it will be a lot easier to come back with 9mths to a year under your belt. I can guarantee that the pace of commercial work will come as a shock to you. Donât panic, after a fortnight or so your body will acclimatise no matter how bad you feel at first. Also, if you do go on to a masters spending some time in the field will really focus what you want to do and how it may fit in.
If you havenât sat down with your fiancé and discussed what you want out of life do it NOW. Unless you are very, very lucky you will travel a lot in the beginning. You should discuss how you will both cope with that, you both need to be frank. Make a long term plan between you because it helps to have one and then remember that plans tend to go awry:-) One important point to remember is that it is very hard to save any money on a diggerâs wage. It always seems to cost more to live away from home base.
When not in archaeologyâ¦.. No archaeologist will ever hold it against you to have taken other jobs in between, no matter what they are. In most industries the reverse is not true. If you must step away from archaeology make sure that you take a job best suited to your skills and not the first shelf-stacking job to come along. This will benefit your career in the long run where-ever it leads. Be prepared to explain that archaeology is a project contract based industry right on the non archaeological CV itself if you have to. If you must go to a job centre donât ever let them convince you that you are a manual labourer, it does neither you nor the profession any good.
If you do go on to a masters have you thought about applying for National Trust vacancies with accommodation? Taking care of some mill or vicarage would put a roof over both your heads and you could study part time and still be in the heritage sector.
Just keep sending out the CVs and having a wee chat with HR ever so often. Many big projects have a pretty steep drop out rate once they get underway and the PM will go back to whatever CVs are kicking about the office. Some medium sized jobs only get advertised for once the pile kicking around the office gets picked over if more people are needed. For this reason it never hurts to send in a fresh CV every six months. Learn to use mail merge, a mailshot is much classier if you include the company name HR personnel in the cover letter. Surprisingly, I have on occassion been hired by rather old CVs found lurking on some desk or other. So, donât change your mobile number if you can help it!
Good luck!