I remember
a few years back when the CRM designation was not nearly as popular a
requirement as it is today. One of the first times I ran into it was when
headhunters began to take on the search for Records Managers. They understood
little of what they were looking for and the CRM designation was a deal breaker
on any initial interview. Once they were told you did not have it the interview
was effectively over it. The need for headhunters to find Records Managers
night have been associated with the rise within many organizations of the relative
position of Records Managers. I wonder if the CA would be more relevant in the
job search if individuals like headhunters were seeking the to fill the Archivist
position. Maybe we need to find a way to elevate the relative position of
Archivists within our organizations.
Just a
thought or two,
Chris
Flynn CA CRM
Records
Officer
University
of Idaho
cflynn@uidaho.edu
208/885-4408
-----Original
Message-----
From: UFTARCH1@AOL.COM
[mailto:UFTARCH1@AOL.COM]
Sent: Tuesday, January 15, 2002
6:23 AM
To: ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU
Subject: Re: CA and Jobs
1/15/02
Dean--
I had promised myself that I would let the
CA discussion/thread go, I just had to respond to your CA and jobs message.
Thanks for your comment regarding hiring archivists. While your
point about the restraints on the job search process is a very good one--i.e.
recruiting archivists through existing employment channels often prevents
employers from specifying "CA only," that was not the point that I
was trying to make. My observation was simply that the CA designation is
neither mentioned nor requested as a desirable qualification--not that it is
listed as "CA only."
If the designation is valued at
all, wouldn't employers just promote it in their listings as desirable? I
am familiar with SAA job listings over the past 2 years because I have listed a
position in my department and have reviewed similar positions nationwide.
As I have mentioned before, from the job listings I have reviewed in the
past couple of years, nearly 99% of archival jobs listed both in SAA's Employment
Bulletin or on the archives listserv do not mention or ask for CA as a
desirable qualification.
(p.s.The "Colin Powell does not
have a Ph.d" analogy for a university president job search is really
sobering reminder to our profession. We all know that the Archivist of the U.S.
and the Librarian of Congress are usually political appointees and are not
trained archivists or trained librarians. I am only pointing this out
because as many, many others have pointed out over the years--what does *that*
say about our struggles for professionalism or status and prestige in both the
archives and library professions if the most prestigious institutions in our
respective fields do not require our educational qualifying credentials??)
Lucinda
Lucinda Manning
UFT Archives & Records Center
United Federation of Teachers
260 Park Ave. South
NY, NY 10010
212-598-9213