Career opportunities

One of the great strengths of our Archaeology degrees is that they prepare you both for careers in Archaeology, and for careers in a wide range of other areas. In short: there is no single Archaeology graduate profile. In addition to gaining archaeological skills, our courses will assist you in developing communication and teamwork skills, self-reliance, and problem-solving abilities. Together with modern IT skills, numeracy, independent analysis and visual observation, these transferable skills are attractive to many employers and central to a wide range of careers.

The University of Reading has also been committed to supporting our students in their post-degree career planning and choices for several years, and is a UK-leader in this field (link to Our Careers Advisory Service).

Careers in Archaeology

'There is a clear identification of vocational elements in the programmes which means that students intending to follow a professional career in Archaeology are particularly well served.' (Teaching Quality Review Panel, 2006)

• Oxford Archaeology (one of the UK's biggest commercial archaeological organisations) is a major employer of our graduates (c. 34% in 2006)
• From 2007/8 our graduates have also been eligible for Wessex Archaeology's Graduate Entry Scheme.
• Our in-house Silchester Traineeship scheme adds greatly to our students' practical experiences, expands their CV and helps them onto the first step of the professional archaeology ladder: each Trainee is a graduating 3rd year student, with at least 2 months previous excavation experience and a desire to build on this experience to enter a career in field archaeology
• The reputation of the Silchester Field School provides a 'quality stamp' which helps fast-track Reading graduates into professional archaeological vacancies. To date (since 2004) all of our graduating third years with a Silchester Traineeship have entered commercial archaeology positions:

'…I realised that I knew a lot more than I had given myself credit for. I got the opportunity to develop my teaching skills, which really improved over the season, and really broadened the areas of archaeology that I felt competent to teach'. (Jeni Thurstan, Graduate, University of Reading, Silchester Excavation Trainee 2004, Assistant Supervisor 2006 & 2007, currently working as an archaeologist with Oxford Archaeology)

• Our undergraduate programmes also introduce students to the structure, organisation and employment opportunities of the professional archaeological discipline.

Careers outside of Archaeology

But our degrees don't just qualify you to work as an archaeologist. In the recent past our graduates have gone on to:

• Museums and heritage employment:Our links with the Museum of Reading and the British Museum provide excellent opportunities for materials-based dissertations, which combined with our undergraduate modules in museum studies (with the Museum of English Rural Life) support students seeking careers in those areas.
• Graduate study:Every year several of our graduating students also go on to study for higher degrees (masters and doctoral degrees), both here at Reading and elsewhere. A number of our recent students have secured funding for these further degrees, on the back of their excellent undergraduate performances.
• Pursue careers in the media, publishing, teaching, administration, the arts, the environmental sphere or the service industries.

Former graduates

Madeleine Eagles (graduated 2006) After graduating, she spent the following year studying Heritage Management gaining a Masters from the University of Birmingham. Madeleine currently works at the Thinktank Science Museum in Birmingham, acquiring varied experience of the Heritage sector in order to develop her career further.

Marie Hayward (graduated 2005)
Marie is working in the Press Office of the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. She promotes new exhibitions, liaises with journalists, and has recently become involved in filming projects.

Helen Crossman (graduated 2005)
Helen worked initially for Oxford Archaeology and is now studying for an MA in London.

Jude Haigh (graduated 2005)
After gaining First Class Honours in her degree, Jude has since gone to study for an MA at Sussex University in the Anthropology of Development and Social Transformation (2007/8).

Ann-Marie Collier (graduated 2003)
After completing her BA degree, Ann-Marie studied for the MSc in
Geoarchaeology at Reading in 2003/4, and is now PA to the Mayor of
Wokingham.

Luke Bonwick (graduated 2003)
Since completing his BA Archaeology degree, Luke has worked as a
consultant on windmills and historic buildings, and has recently published a
booklet on the windmills of Norfolk.

Chris King (graduated 2001)
Chris studied for an MA in Medieval Archaeology at York before returning to Reading to study for a PhD. He is now completing his first Lectureship at Leicester University.

Mark Anderson (graduated 1998)
Mark worked as field archaeologist before studying for a PhD in South Africa where he is now Director of the Marothodi Field School.

 You can find further examples of the career routes being taken by our recent graduates  here.

See also

• Centre for Career Management Skills
• CBA Gateway
• Institute of Field Archaeologists (IFA)
• AAI&S website
• British Archaeological Jobs Resource (BAJR)