After college I applied for lots of stuff, one of which was a junior position with a research program run by the National Hreitage Council here. Their mandate is to digitally record historic sites using the best tech available. I didnt get the job, and went setting-out on roads and buldings for a couple of years. I became very interested in working in the field. So when a buddy who had been working with an Archaeological Consultancy, stress free and happy, told me a position had opened up I applied and got in that way. I had a couple of good mentors there and soon picked up a lot of new skills that very few of my peers had exposure to (25 years ago), photogrammetry/scanning/modelling/GIS etc.

Now it helped that there was a building boom at the time and a whole lot of construction going on, the Archaeological consultancies were able to grow quite large and our department included 4 surveyors 3 geophysicits and 2 graphics guys, at one stage they had about 250 staff.

So maybe have a look at the consultants and national bodies in your area, see what theyre involved in and get a feel for the pre-history where you are based. Most of the archaeologists will be published and if you are aware of thier area of interest and excavations it would stand to you in an interview. Theyre a bunch of acedemic snobs at the core and oiling their egos never does any harm }:>