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My thoughts go out to the group of CRMers who were just laid off out West. Two weeks before Christmas, thats tough folks. I am really sorry to hear that.
For those of you looking to get into CRM this is also a cautionary tale. Funding for projects can be capricious. The general rule of thumb for a company is that for each employee a company has they need to bring in $100,000/yr per head to meet all the backend expenses (utilities, insurance, etc… all add up really really fast) so your project managers are always having to be looking out 6 months, 12 months, 18months+ ahead and making sure their budgets meet their needs. And if one or two key projected projects are delayed or cancelled, or not received and there is not forewarning it can throw a huge monkey wrench into the works.
Finally! Female Archeology, Geology and Wildlife Biology Legos (Maybe! But they need your help to come to market!)
(UPDATE I): If you hear from your friends the links are not working having them visit either the home page of www.ShovelBums.org or give the page 15 seconds to load, the server is getting slammed right now with inbound requests, which is not a bad thing in the big picture!)
(UPDATE II): It appears the link that is not working is the ability to register to vote using your social media ID (which I prefer also rather than creating a new account yet again) If you are having this problem please let me know using the contact form at the lower right of this page and I will inform the developers. We don't want them to loose votes because you can't register! What a PIA).
(UPDATE III): You can use this shortened link to share this page. There was a glitch in in me SEO software and it created a bizarrely long URL for this page. Use this one to share this page:
http://bit.ly/Female_Science_Legos_Archeology_Geology_Biology
(UPDATE IV): It looks like they *might* have fixed the social media login problem. But just an FYI the sign up is several steps long and you have to verify your email address. I know it is a pain, but this is a cool thing and we should support (and isn't that why you keep a disposable email account anyway? :-)
The developer of the female science legos, Alatariel's Atelier, has asked for ShovelBums help in getting this new line featuring a, you guessed it, FEMALE ARCHEOLOGIST [sic] (I am working with them to get the name spelled properly ;-)…that and they don't show any craft brews and there is not Brunton, but it is a great start!
They need 10,000 votes to get the funding so click here and vote NOW!
From the site:
Join the scientists on their research adventures!
Bummer - The deal is over. But I heard of a good number of people scoring these books at 1997 Prices!
UPDATE! The Deal is now live and in the first 15 minutes was 25% claimed
Today starting at 5:50 PM EST Amazon is having a lightning deal on the X-Rite Munsell M50215B, Soil Book Of Color M50215B
Thanks to Dr. Gloria Everson for making ShovelBums aware of this deal!
Greenpeace Fails The Nazca Lines!
Greenpeace in an effort to draw the attention of 190 delegates in Lima, Peru for climate change talks tried a publicity stunt to raise awareness that the "future is renewable". And in the process destroyed part of the Nazca lines (which are not renewable!).
Help! R. Joe I see a job but I can't see the email address!
I almost feel bad posting this tip. Because in a way it acts as a vetting process for applicants for employers ;-) But I hear it enough so I will share the secret :-)
In December ShovelBums will begin accepting new listings for the ShovelBums Comprehensive Field School Directory. Sorry for the long delay!
Field Schools are now up. You can:
When you submit an Archaeology or Anthropology teaching position or Cultural Resource Management job to ShovelBums you reach over 15,000 professional archaeologists immediately! It is easy (well kind of), read on: Also read on for important information about the fees (below) for posting on ShovelBums.
Short Version:
What you need to do first is Join the ShovelBums mailing list (it is easy and fast). To prevent spam to the list members only members are able to post. It is important to note that the mailing list is maintained on a different website than ShovelBums.org (where you are right now). This means that when you register here, on ShovelBums.org you are not registered to send a job advertisement out. For your security I use Groups.io to host the mailing list, trust me, this is a good thing.
Huh?
Long Version:
First: Join ShovelBums Mailing list. This allows you to send job postings from your registered account. You can join easily following these instructions.
After you have joined the ShovelBums mailing list you can just send your job advertisement to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
- Keep your formatting simple, I prefer it if you use plain text, but in this day and age basic formatting is ok
- Include as many specifics as you are able to in the subject of the message. You want people to be able to see the subject and have an idea of what the job is about.
- Good Subject: 3 Archaeology Field Technicians, USD Inc. SW Ohio, AFT $14/hr, $35PD, Single Occ Hotel,
- Bad Subject: I need field techs.
- In the body of the message please include as much detail as you can.
- If you are allowed, PLEASE include salary information!
Is ShovelBums just for, er, ShovelBums level jobs?
Nope. The name ShovelBums, which to make a long story short is what my mom tounge-in-cheek called my CRM buddies and I back in the day, refers just to the root level of a CRM career. Any archaeologist/CRMer in the modern generation who wants to have a broad experience base does a turn as a ShovelBum. There are numerous people who joined ShovelBums when it was first founded who now are Principle Investigators, owners of CRM firms, and PhD's teaching at universities.
So ShovelBums serves all levels of archaeology and CRM employment listings. Trust me, there are lots of senior level archaeologist who are members. ShovelBums is also beginning to branch out into posting academic positions, so be sure to let anyone you know is academia know.
What states does ShovelBums cover?
States? Oh you miss the point, I don't do anything small. ShovelBums covers the entire world. 18,000+ members is a LOT of archaeologists and they won't all fit in the states. The advantage of posting on ShovelBums (and having a clear subject for your add) is that with the massive audience your message will saturate the area you need people from/for. Archaeology is such a small network that is likely that a ShovelBum in the southern UK will know of a buddy from field school who lives right outside of Poughkeepsie where you need a Field Director ASAP.
Cost
What? I thought this was free?
Years ago it was. Since 2006 I have needed to charge for listings on ShovelBums (see below for an explanation).
The bottom line is if you are a commercial entity making a profit ShovelBums costs $100 per job category/Academic position advertised per location (Note: This is cheap! This is 1/4 the price of a job on Monster.com and it is the only service that targets your intended audience so quickly).
For Example:
- If you are advertising for 12 Archaeological Field Technicians, the cost would only be $100.
- If you are advertising for 12 Archaeological Field Technicians, 2 Crew Chiefs, and a Principal Investigator, the cost would be $300.
- If you are advertising for 12 Archaeological Field Technicians in Illinois, and 3 Archaeological Field Technicians and a crew chief for a separate project in Iowa, that would be $300.
- "Cattle Call", "On-Call" and "Temporary" ads (i.e. an add that reads like "We need a bunch of field people for a lot of projects in several states this summer") will be billed on a case by case basis
- Note: It is much better for you and the members if you have a clear subject for your job posting detailing what positions you have available. You won't be charged anything extra for splitting your advertisement into multiple postings (remember invoicing is by job class) and it makes it easier for your intended audience to see what you want AND to share your add with their personal network.
- You can repost your ad for free within 30 days of the original posting if you need additional staff. After 30 days it is treated as a new posting.
You can post as many positions as you want in an advertisement, though I recommend breaking your advertisements into multiple e-mails if you are advertising for different classes of jobs, this does not cost you any more and makes it easier for people to see exactly which positions you have. There cost is the same as if you bundle them all in one e-mail and I feel it makes it easier for people to sort through the messages.
ShovelBums is free to access, BUT if your company is in a hard spot I will never deny you the opportunity to use ShovelBums (heck, if you aren't fielding a crew, then you don't have money coming in, so you will never be able to pay!). So the deal is that you can use ShovelBums BUT when you company is back on its feet you can pay the fees like everyone else. My philosophy is that it is more important for people to know about the jobs, you and I can settle up later. Bad business philosophy, good for the profession.
I am a nice guy, I want your company to succeed. If we work together on this, we can both survive.
NOTE:
If you are a government entity that prohibits using pay services you can still use ShovelBums. BUT I really encourage you to be sure that you can not pay, many entities actually have that option, they just don't advertise it well.
Why do you charge R. Joe?
ShovelBums is my job these days (besides raising three kids). ShovelBums has over 16,500 members who have joined ShovelBums at not cost. ShovelBums has no sponsoring organizations, no outside funding, nada. That means that all of the day to day operational costs and working with 16,500+ of your peers is up to me.
The bottom line is ShovelBums is a professional service. I try to keep things very casual with ShovelBums, none of us like stuffy overly regulated things, but ShovelBums is a professional service like no other service in the world: Nothing allows your advertisement for Archaeologists and related CRM professions to reach such a vast targeted audienceimmediately. Other professional recruitment services are magnitudes of order more expensive, some even taking a base fee calculated on the annual salary of *each* position filled. 100 bucks a pop is bargain! If you accounting office does not think so, just have them drop me a note and I will be glad to discuss it with them via e-mail.
Why should I use ShovelBums?
There are anecdotal reports that using ShovelBums will increase your personal karma, restore lean muscle, and provide you with an inner peace. But there are no guarantees on that.
What I can guarantee you is that you will get a great response to your advertisement. Just do the basic math: Your advertisement is immediately sent out to 16,500+ members. Of those 15,000 members some of them will not be the right fit for your position, but it is likely they know someone who is and who is looking for work and they will forward it on to their personal network. ShovelBums also has a good penetration into universities, so there is a reasonable chance your job will be posted and distributed within academic departments in relevant areas.
Any suggestions for other resources?
Other resources? You mean, like your competition? Hey, we are all in this together! I want you to fill your position and for you to succeed. So I am happy to promote these unaffiliated resources that you can also post your job on.
- Jennifer runs an excellent archaeology bulletin board with a robust job ads section on her web site http://www.archaeologyfieldwork.com/forums/index.php
- Kris has an great resource at http://archaeology.about.com/od/careersinarchaeology/Careers_in_Archaeology.htm
- Underwater Archaeology Jobs http://underwaterarchaeologyjobs.wordpress.com/
- Know of more? Drop me a note using the contact form and let me know!
Join 11500+ other professionals so you can be completely current on ShovelBums job announcements. You can learn when and where the jobs are happening, and what skills are in demand.
There are two really easy ways of joining the ShovelBums mailing list.
1 - Just send a blank email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., respond to it, and there you go.
2 - If you want to set up an account on Groups.io to manager your account in more detail go to This Page.
If you have any problems joining the group please let me know using the contact form on the left (at the bottom).
~R. Joe
After consulting with the users of ShovelBums I am implementing a fee change effective April 5th 2011 as detailed in this message to the 15,000+ member of ShovelBums. The new fee for posting a job will be $100 per job advertistement/job class (this is 1/4 the price of an advertisement on Monster.com). For example: