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Dear all, As Chairman of the Section for New Professionals, I’ve been following the recent employment debate on the Jiscmail with some interest. It may not be immediately apparent by our name but the Section for New Professionals is an organisation aimed at all those seeking a career in archives, records managers and conservators, whether qualified or unqualified. Although I was lucky enough to obtain an unqualified position in an archive repository prior to, and during, my distance learning archive course, I am keenly aware of just how difficult it is to obtain pre-course paid employment at the present time. Securing a traineeship, for example, requires a healthy dose of luck, i.e. ‘being in the right place at the right time’, a large amount of self-determination, and being savvy enough to know what employers are looking for in a difficult job market. The Section for New Professionals clearly cannot influence the employment situation but providing assistance to those just starting out on their recordkeeping careers is very much a priority for us. The first issue of our e-magazine, for example, includes a debate on the pros and cons of choosing records management as a career, case studies from qualified archivists describing their experience to date, and a lot more besides. This can be downloaded at http://www.archives.org.uk/si-new-professionals/off-the-record.html). We are also in the early stages of developing an e-mentoring programme which will essentially enable qualified archivists to act as a point of contact for pre-course volunteers and trainees in order to guide them through the early stages of their careers. Finally, we are currently planning our summer event which we hope will include a workshop on applying for archive jobs. We’ll keep you informed of further details once they become available. Please feel free to email the Section for New Professionals if you have any queries. We would particularly welcome any suggestions about further ways we can help both qualified and unqualified recordkeepers. Best wishes, Jonathan Bush Chairman of the Section for New Professionals Contact the list owner for assistance at [log in to unmask] For information about joining, leaving and suspending mail (eg during a holiday) see the list website at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=archives-nra