The old adage ‘it is not what you know but who you know’ still has some weight in a relatively small profession such as archaeology, though it is only in a few developing countries that appointments may be decided more on family or political connections than expertise or qualifications. Until recently, even in an advanced system such as Germany, graduates were highly dependent on their professors to provide them with the contacts with which to get on the first rung of the professional ladder, and in Spain, despite efforts by the Government to make appointments more on merit, it is claimed that some posts are still sorted out quietly behind closed doors by professors eager to place their protsiges. Despite Britain being a highly competitive and open system, the references, written or verbal, from one’s teachers and previous employers still have considerable weight. It is good to ‘spread yourself around’ when acquiring work experience, by not only working on projects run by staff from your university, but also on those run by other sorts of organizations, and making personal connections (and so ‘be in the right place at the right time’) as well as extending your expertise and experience. Also, attending conferences, especially those that attract professional archaeologists, giving a paper as soon as there is something new to be said, will be useful in the long run.
Personal connections are especially important at the beginning of your career if you are working in a commercial environment - contracts tend to be shortterm and at this level opportunities on new projects may not be advertised as information is spread more easily by word of mouth. You should also write to major employers to get on their mailing lists. Longer-term or permanent posts will generally be advertised in some way, and information will commonly be sent to major university departments and employers, so keep an eye on notice boards. In Britain, by law, senior posts may have to be publicly advertised, especially in the major national ‘broadsheet’ newspapers, usually on a specific day of the week, but increasingly archaeological organizations are providing specialist services for job-seekers, like those of the Institute of Field Archaeologists in Britain. There are special problems faced by those seeking jobs in fieldwork where contracts may be of short duration and may not be advertised until just before the work starts; however, there is now an independent publication for British workers, BAJR (pronounced ‘badger’) which is the main source of information about posts in the field. In the USA the Society for American Archaeology provides a similar sort of service, and its annual conference is used by many organizations to interview and hire new staff, and the same is true for the Society for Historical Archaeology and the American Anthropological Association.
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