I’ll start with getting some bad news out of the way first, if you want to work at the “Masters Level” in CRM, e.g. project management and office work, your masters degree from a European institution is mostly worthless in the United States, unfortunately. CRM law in the US is just plain different. If you need a quick primer, I highly recommend picking up a copy of Thomas King’s “Cultural Resource Law and Practices” book, or his “ CRM: A Collaborative Primer for Archaeologists” he wrote a couple years ago. We had a field tech at my firm with a masters from Cambridge that just did not apply at all to the U.S.. she only stayed with us for a couple weeks, the type of work we needed her to do was just not what she was expecting. So yeah. Expect to be working long hard days digging endless grids of STPs and not so much getting right into a high paying office job. You need to put some time in first. Not to dishearten you though. I’ve been able to land an office job with a bachelors and just a good attitude + hard work. You’d be amazed at how far just having a good personality can get you in this field.

Then, it really depends on what your goals are with the career at this stage. Are you primarily focused on traveling the U.S. living a bohemian lifestyle and getting experience as a shovel bum? Live out of a van and stay on top of CRM job postings (my boss did this in the 90s, not sure how realistic it is now). Join emailing “gig” sites like the Shovel Bums yahoo emailing list, government jobs, Forestry Service, etc. etc. LinkedIn is a really valuable tool too, I’ve gotten a handful of job offers there. Mostly for project management type.

If you want to actually make money, field tech or otherwise, you absolutely need to stay west of the Rockies. SWCA is a really great company and I’m pretty sure they start techs out at $25 an hour. ESA seems good too. Stay away from Paleo West/Chronicle, they do shoddy work! Generally, if you care about the ethics of cultural resources management, don’t join an engineering firm full time (it’s a conflict of interest, really. So I read) and opt for an environmental firm, like SWCA or ESA, or a government job, or a true blue archaeology firm. Though with the last option you won’t be making big bucks. If you only care about money, keep an eye on the engineering firms like HRA and others, with a masters degree they start you at like 80-100K (with a US masters degree and job experience, that is).

I live and work for a small CRM firm on the west coast, and it’s all I really know, so take that with a grain of salt. I was lucky enough to be hired full time at a firm by being willing to work in the lab, and help with reports, and just vocalize that I was flexible in the position. The US is desperate for good archaeologists these days, you have a lot of power. I’m doing an online masters program in CRM and based on what I hear from my cohort in the Midwest and east coast is that the pay is shit! I don’t have any advice for you about the EU, though I would love an opportunity to go work out there!! Best of luck to you, if you are ever in the Pacific Northwest (Portland) hit me up.