Seeking digs or hostel in Fermoy

maireadmarie

Does anyone know of a good, clean and fair-priced digs, lodgings or hostel in the Fermoy area for a youing man going to work on an archaeological dig in the new year? I would be grateful for any help.
You can e-mail me at elder@iol.ie if you think of anything, and many thanks.

boneless

Sorry, but I think no one here knows of such a place in Fermoy. Can I suggest you contact the company undertaking the dig to see if they have any info? Sometimes a group of workers will rent a house between them.

maireadmarie

Boneless, thanks so much for the reply, only spotted it now. It was hopeless, the employer said they couldn't help at all, my son looked into a hostel in Cork but there was bus-fare as well, and he wouldn't be paid for three weeks.
He applied for a job near home advertised over the Christmas period by a well-known archaeological agency with the initials M.G., but got no reply. He had deallings with them another time and the 'lady' organizing the employment of people was pretty rude, a bit of a downer. I'm not sure how he's going to get more experience in the field. One agency I spotted wasn't even looking for archaeological workers, just 'labourers'. He has a 2.1 degree in archaeology, and is more than willling to start at the bottom I wouldn't be too sanguine about the future of archaeology in Ireland. I hope this doesn't put off anyone who's filling in a CAO form around now - maybe things will improve.
All new infrastructure now has to be preceded by archaeological assessment, so I suppose the archaeological companies are making a bomb right now. What happens later, or who really cares about our archaeological heritage, is very much open to question.

abccormac

Honestly, he just needs to keep looking, companies might not reply immediately but most will keep his C.V. on file for when they do need people. Also, don't make too much effort to try and find work near home, it's really limiting his options, and you absolutely must be willing to travel.

It's actually quite difficult to get qualified staff at the moment, so the degree will be a big help, and as for the "labourer" thing, thats where everyone starts out these days, degree or no degree. But with a qualification and a few months on site experience, he should find promotion comes reasonably quickly.

Also, don't limit yourself to the larger companies, while the smaller companies don't recruit as often and may not have as steady a supply of work the pay is often better and you generally will get better experience if you're part of a small team than you would with a large company on a big job.

maireadmarie

abccormac, thanks, I appreciate your helpful comments.My son is not really limiting himself to near home, it's just that it's really difficult to find somewhere to stay on 'away' digs. then there's the sad fact that he has little or no money at the moment, and will have to survive for the initial weeks. We will help all we can, but that's not too easy either.
What I meant about the 'labourers' was, of course you have to start at the bottom, which is, I believe, as a general operative, but the ad. seemed to imply that even folks not too interested in archaeology per se should apply.
The major companies are the ones he found in the Golden Pages, do you know of any list of smaller ones anywhere online?
Thank you again for taking the time and trouble to write, abccormac.

abccormac

There's a few links in a sticky thread at the top of the page that could help you find more companies, and there's always google! Off the top of my head, www.bajr.org can sometimes be useful for finding work, but it's focused on UK jobs. I.A.C., Valerie J Keeley, Margaret Gowan, A.D.S., A.C.S. Aegis, Archtech Eachtra and C.R.D.S. would be some of the larger companies who would always be worth firing off a CV to, and they should all have websites with contact details on them.

http://www.xs4all.nl/~tbreen/directry.html is a list of people involved in irish archaeology, and there are several companies who may be worth contacting listed along with various people like university lecturers and specialists.

As for general operatives, companies will hire anyone for the job, but they would show a preference for people who have a qualification both when hiring and in terms of promotion. If he has a degree and makes an effort on site he should get promoted to assistant archaeologist level within a few months.

maireadmarie

You know what, abcormac, you are one of the most helpful people I've ever come across, many many thanks - he'll get checking out those places today, and he asks me to convey his thanks also to you.
A very Happy New Year to you. I'll report back if there's any progress in the hunt.
Mairead

boneless

abccormac has given you the best list available as far as I am concerned. Well done mate!!

If he wants to, he could check out the Heritage Service. They offer seasonal employment at sites around the country as guides etc.

maireadmarie

Thanks again, Boneless; he just saw a couple of those heritage ads. this week. No news about the archaeology yet, but...he's working on it.
You have cheered our budding archaeologist up that is a good start!