Rant alert...

Oh dear.

Only two weeks in to writing on my blog again and already I’m slipping on the updates. Working miles from where I live isn’t helping as I find that I am just too tired in the evenings (when I’m not going to the gym) to think about anything other than watching trashy telly! I need to get a job closer to home… Speaking of which, I actually applied for one recently. It sounded really great – at a posh school as the only archivist. It was part time (term time working), but I worked out that if they paid me similar to my current salary I wouldn’t exactly be down very much, when you take my season ticket into account, and the school holidays would give me loads of time to do other things that I want to do – like sew more! There was no salary on the advert but ‘salary negotiable dependent on experience and qualification’. Well, I’m definitely qualified and having worked professionally for 9 years, definitely experienced (and worth what I’m paid). So I thought, why not give it a punt – I’m prepared to haggle for what I’m worth!

Well, turned out that they had no idea how much a ‘qualified and experienced’ archivist should be paid. And that those negotiations would be based on the most insulting and paltry figure. I had a phone call last week from the deputy head somewhat apologetically saying that they’d love to interview me, but the salary they were offering was considerably less than I was paid at the moment, was I still interested (he knew my answer would be no though). I though, ok, maybe they’re looking to pay around £25K ish, and I can’t afford to do it at that, but no. They valued their archives even less. If the post was full time the most they could offer was £22K!! I mean, really… that is just an insult. And a total waste of my time (and probably some other people’s too, I wont have been the only one earning more than that who will have gone for it). That is the absolute minimum that the Archives and Records Association recommends that recently qualified archivists are paid, and even then the average salary for a new start is around £24K. It was really just an insult and clearly they didn’t really want a qualified archivist (and definitely not an experienced on) and it just left me soooo frustrated. You have to jump through so many hoops to get into this profession and then people who probably get paid quite well themselves insult you with crappy pay. They’ll probably end up with either an enthusiastic amateur or someone recently qualified, who I’m sure would do fine, but shouldn’t have to settle for such crap pay!

Argh….

And I think it would have been a good and enjoyable and interesting job and I had to turn the interview down. I’m not sure quite why I’m so angry about it, I might not have got it anyway, but I am…

:o(

So the possible glimmer of light at getting out of the commute and the relatively dull job I have ended up with has been snuffed out and I’m back to feeling knackered all the time and feeling under used and under valued. Ok, yes, so the pay I am on now is great, but I just don’t know if I’m going to get a job at the end of this that will even come close to matching it, let alone be in Manchester… Or even get a job at all! In the current economic climate, now is not a time to be looking for a niche job… Don’t get me wrong, bits of this job are interesting, but I do feel that it under uses my experience and skills and I find myself getting bored quite easily… I never thought that I’d miss the responsibilities that I had in my last job, but turns out that I do. There you go.

Sorry for the rant. I have also been to the gym three times since my last blog, lost another 2lbs, and had a lovely visit from HL and BC. Flâneur also joined the gym and we had our first session together on Saturday, followed by a lovely Japanese lunch, so things aren’t all bad! ;o)