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I fully sympathise with Zoe's rant, and although I agree that the issue of graduates finding out about pre-course jobs is important, that is not what struck me as the main point of her message. What I find far more worrying is the very real fact that most people coming into the profession are now looking at 5 years 'training' - 3 undergraduate, 1 work experience and 1 postgrad, and in a world where student debt is a fact of life, I'm not sure that this is helpful. Furthermore, at the end of that 5 years, you're not even going to get a terribly good salary. Much as teachers, for example, may bemoan their lot, most of them are paid more than most archivists. You can get help financial help towards teacher training, and it doesn't take as long to become a qualified teacher. I know this all sounds very bitter (I had an horrendous day yesterday). I am normally very enthusiastic about my job, but I think that these are issues which need to be addressed if we do want to attract more people to the profession. At a time when we are all under increasing pressure, I don't think we can go on relying on the fact that archivists love their work - and this is from someone who decided that she wanted to be an archivist at the age of 15 (don't ask). Rant over, Maria Sienkiewicz ********************************************************************** This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify the system manager. This footnote also confirms that this email message has been swept by MIMEsweeper for the presence of computer viruses. www.oldham.gov.uk **********************************************************************