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Apologies for cross-posting Dear Colleagues As many of you will know the Society of Archivists maintains two lists of Work Experience Placements on its website at; http://www.archives.org.uk/careerdevelopment/startingout/workexperienceplacements.html or http://tinyurl.com/249eg7 These lists are currently updated twice a year in April and September. This is therefore a somewhat late appeal to all archive and records management services in the UK and Ireland to provide any additional entries or alterations to the two lists. If you already have an entry on either list and are happy with it, you do not need to get back to me until April next year. The two lists are by far the most popular downloads on the Society's website and work experience is the most popular subject for career enquiries outside of basic information requests. We are keen to have as many entries on the two lists as possible, so as to provide a useful source of information to those seeking such experience. The placement can be a formal paid post or simply a willingness to take on volunteers. The only requirements are that it provides specifically archive and / or records management experience and that it must be regularly provided, either at set times of the year or on an approach basis. The deadline to respond with additions and alterations will be Friday the 31st of October. Below is a template of how your details will be displayed on the list. If you can record the details of your placement(s) in these fields, this will help with data input. Name of Organisation; Region: Main Duties of Post / Opportunities Available; Number of Posts available; Salary (Ignore for Voluntary opportunities); Duration; When Advertised (Ignore for Voluntary opportunities); Address & Contact; May I also take this opportunity to draw the attention of potential employers of work experience volunteers that the Society's Office in Taunton maintains a list of willing candidates who have approached them about obtaining work experience. It has grown considerably over the last year, as submissions to the list can now be made online through the Society's website, but there has been a poor take up by employers. If your service is looking for some volunteers to help with a particular project or activity you can contact the Society's Office (see http://www.archives.org.uk/content.asp?id=498) to obtain a copy of this list. A newer addition to the Starting Out section of the Society's website is a series of updated case studies of people working in the record keeping sector at all stages and in many different areas of the career. You can find these vignettes at; http://www.archives.org.uk/careerdevelopment/startingout/casestudiesofcareersinarchivesandrecordsmanagement.html or http://tinyurl.com/4l8kem Finally it is hoped that at some point in 2009 there will be a section in one of the ARC magazines on volunteering and work experience. I would therefore be very interested in hearing from any colleagues who would be willing to write short articles on how their service has; Used volunteers as part of a project Developed volunteering groups Supported Work Experience placements at any level (from school to mature career changer) Acquired funding and support for a paid traineeship I would also be very interested in hearing from anyone who is currently working as a paid trainee or volunteering for some work experience and is willing to write a short article about their experience in getting to where they are now. Henry Sullivan Careers Officer Society of Archivists