Daniel, I can't believe you have found your dual MA to be a hindrance.
Perhaps you are looking in all the wrong places. It sounds perfect for
working at places like state-run archaeological parks. (this is what I do,
so I know a little about the subject). Of course, you've got to be willing
to relocate to the "middle of nowhere" but state jobs generally do have very
good benefits and stability.
The big secret to getting these jobs, is understanding and navigating the
state employment process. You can't just send your resume to the person who
you want to work for. In my state, Alabama, for example, step one is locate
the official state LIST OF JOB CLASSIFICATIONS. Then you have to figure out
which ones you might qualify for, ask to be notified when these lists open,
and then, when you are finally notified (sometimes years later), you must
rewrite your resume on a provided standard application form. To be
successful, you must use as many words from the state job description as you
can in describing your job experience. This is because the initial ranking
of applicants is done by personnel geeks who have no idea what archaeology
or public history is. --- but they can match up similar words!!! So, if
you know the secret, and you are worth your salt, you ought to be able to
figure this game out. Once you've passed this test, you then, and only
then, can use your real resume to "pass go" and impress the person who will
be actually hiring you. No quick fix here. Planning ahead is important.
The biggest challenge, however, is figuring out what jobs you should apply
for. Instead of having job classifications like archaeologist or historian,
my state may soon have classifications with names like : education curator;
cultural resource technician, and cultural resource coordinator. Few
people will probably be able to figure out what these terms mean, but the
qualifications will include education and experience in archaeology and/or
history. And, believe it or not, many states have equally confusing job
titles. I know because I just finished a survey of job classifications for
archaeologists in surrounding states. So , the big secret is NOT who you
know that gets you a job in state government, so much as your ability to
nose around and figure your way through an illogical employment system.
Which is probably a pretty good test for survival in a state agency.
By the way, let me encourage any archaeologist out there with public
archaeology experience, who is willing to move to Alabama, to write the
Alabama State Personnel Department, 64 North Union Street, Montgomery,
Alabama 36130-2301. Tell them that you want to be notified when the "lists"
open for all archaeologist positions and for all curator (education
/interpreter option) positions. I'm hoping that I'll get to hire someone
off these lists some day, and would love to have lots of qualified public
archaeologists to pick from!!
Finally, Daniel: Perhaps, you are becoming jaded by your location. Run
away! Run away now! Think if it this way, when you have built a lifetime of
experience, why struggle against all the other little fish in that
Williamsburg/Virginia pond, when you could be a big fish out there somewhere
in the real world -- with a retirement package! Of course, Williamsburg is
a Mecca for Historical Archaeology but unless you are a very, very big fish,
you're not going to survive there. Its a place for young-uns to gain
experience in Historical Archaeology, and then move on. Of course, that's
just my opinion, and I have been wrong before....many times.
Linda Derry, Director
Old Cahawba - AHC
719 Tremont St.
Selma, AL 36701 - 5446
ph. 334/875-2529 / email: [log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of
Daniel H. Weiskotten
Sent: Monday, February 12, 2001 3:21 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: job solicitations
I've just come home from a much needed trip to Disneyworld, and have a
couple hundred messages to pour through, so if I am beating a dead horse,
please forgive.
I just spent the last 9 months going through that miserable employment
search. I am unfortunately one of those people who has that well rounded
and extensive background that everyone talks of as being the way to go,
but, to tell you the truth, I think that is what has hurt me the most.
There is so much more to the job search than writing up a good resume. I
went through corporate training on how to "sell yourself" and I can't use
any of it because it our field that behavior is consiudered rude and
offensive. Yup, I've goofed and sent resumes to the wrong name, but I have
always done lots of research and made lots of contact to be sure to whom I
was sending it, and what the job being offered was all about, and that I
was qualified or could meet their needs.
I am very aware of the more pressing things than replying to a resume but
only about 10% of the people to whom I applied or wrote ever sent any
response - even when they solicited me for more information. If I was
lucky I would get asked months later if I was still looking for work.
Lately I have had a few part-time projects simply because I was another
name on the bottom of the list of people to contact when the regular staff
was short.
Having that rounded background (and a dual-MA in Public History and
Archaeology) was a killer because the archaeologists simply said we have no
need for an historian and the historical agencies (historic house museums,
libraries, archives, etc.) all simply said we have no need for an
archaeologist. I will forever thank Dave Muraca at Colonial Williamsburg
for being the only person to actually had the guts to honestly tell me that
I was over qualified for anything they could ever offer me (not for the
jobs they have but for the structure of hiring and promotions). Most
places I asked or interviewed simply dropped me and I can only assume that
my desire for a regular lower-than-my-skill-level position was a bit
intimidating (or I was a victim of the "gypsy" stigma of being a well
trained person seeking work as a shovel bum - there must be something
wrong) (I need a freaking job to put food on the table is the reason) (not
to mention that my high title of Project Director in NY equates with a
lowly crew chief in VA). I felt severe pity for the one interviewer who
clearly would have been qualified to be not much more than a field tech on
one of my major projects.
By the time I was nearly 40 I had had only one job interview in my life -
and it lead to a good job. OK, so I was jaded by the experiences of the
first half of my life. I have always found work through connections but
since I moved to VA I found that I could not rely on any of them because
there were no connections between my old places and here. People here
don't even know the fine work one of my best references in neighboring MD
let alone anyone I worked with in NY. The best jobs I have had were always
obtained through word of mouth and personal connections. For years I had a
wonderful sequence of jobs that relied only on reputation and trusting word
of mouth, and I'm not just talking about archaeology but also my work in
museums, libraries, and historical societies. That all ended when I moved
out of my "home realm" and to that might-as-well-be-foreign land of
Virginia. (My wife, on the other hand, can simply say "I'm a Winterthur
Fellow" and all the rest is acceptable.)
It also depends on whom you know. I don't consider my mentioning names of
people I have worked with to be "name dropping" because I have worked with
these people and they know me as well as I know them, but I see so many
people doing the classic name-drop of people they met once at a meeting -
that is clearly wrong! When I first moved to VA I did do a little name
dropping, in the manner of "I talked with so and so" and it killed me in
some avenues of work and research for I soon found that the names I had
mentioned (although they are two of the finest archaeologists in VA) had
recenly fallen out of favor with the powers that be. Right then and there
I had a major door slammed in my face. I still hold these two guys in high
regards but since I do not know the politics of the situations I am forced
to forever use their names in caution - and the names of anyone else in VA,
for that matter.
This is not something that is restricted to archaeology. I have faced it
with my other avenues of employment. Working in the cultural studies
fields, non-profits, civil servant, ... literally any job where you can
feel that you have a real impact on the quality of life and understanding
of the world.
On that note I am preparing to take my skills off to the private sector and
do some CAD and CAM work for someone who is going to pay me what I am
worth, is going to make me work only 8 hours a day, will give me health
insurance, will give me a day off with pay when the weather is nice, and
knows that retirement benefits and investments are an important aspect of
self-preservation. Oh, not to mention they will pay me well more than
double what I ever dreamed of earning as a top-level archaeologist. Now I
can think about paying off those student loans I so eagerly accumulated a
decade ago and which have now escalated far and above the sum total of what
I have earned over the last 20 years of my career. And I'll finally put
those college degress to use = as toilet paper.
Dan W.
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