Success Strategies for a Career in Archaeology

This article offers career advice for students and early career practitioners in archaeology. It presents new data from a global survey on success strategies for careers in archaeology. The topics covered include fieldwork and laboratory experience, volunteering, publication, peer reviews, referees, conferences, international exposure, and grant writing. Of particular note is the relative value that archaeologists place on publication outputs that will nurture a career versus those that have long-term value for the discipline. This speaks to long- and short-term strategies in career building. By making explicit values and practices that are normalized by dominant groups and revealing structuring principles that underlie success in archaeology, this article fills a gap in research on the impact of colonialism on the employment of minority groups in archaeology.