application that much closer to ready to turn in

[kareina]

Thanks to those of you who made helpful suggestions on my last post. I have now updated it (results below, behind the cut).

If anyone is willing to offer comments on the CV, I have put it onto google drive here.


I have also taken a moment to translate the short job announcement:

Craftspeople: Summer season, Lofotr Viking Museum

Lofotr Viking Museum at Borg in Vestvågøy, in the municipality in Lofoten, is looking for seasonal Viking craftspeople.

We are looking for:

* Blacksmiths
* Soapstone worker
* Textile workers
* Wood carvers

In addition to experience as a craftsman, we want you to have an interest in the Viking Age, and in working with tools and materials that were available in the Viking Age.

35-40 hours per week; must be willing to work weekends. Positions are available from 1 May - 15 Sept 2021. You should be outgoing and service minded.

Qualification requirements

* Experience as a craftsman
* English Language

Desired competence

* Multiple languages
* Experience from similar activities
* Knowledge of the Viking Age

Personal characteristics

* Responsible
* Service minded
* Tidy
* Reliable


My revised application form text:

***

I am excited to apply for the Viking Age Crafts position, with a speciality in Soapstone carving because it ties in so well with both my second PhD research (see CV) and to the introduction to soapstone carving I received from the Nidaros Cathedral Restoration Project. I truly enjoy the soapstone carving, but, due to other commitments, I haven’t had the time available to complete the large cooking pot they started me with. Therefore, a summer job wherein I am able to talk with visitors about stone carving and to devote time to that craft sounds absolutely perfect.

When Elin Tinuviel Torbergsen suggested to me that it is also possible for successful applicants to undertake an experimental archaeology experiment related to their craft I became even more excited at the prospect of joining your museum for the summer. I wish to learn to cook in soapstone vessels, and understand the advantages implicit in their large heat capacity. I have heard from Eva Stavsøien at Nidaros that a soapstone pot of the size I am carving will keep a pot of water boiling for fully 10 minutes after the pot has been removed from the fire, which sounds perfect for making porridge without burning it.

However, I am very curious: How dependent is that boiling time on the size of the pot? A smaller pot would presumably cool faster than a large one, but it also contains less liquid. Does that mean that the smaller heat-sink can keep the smaller amount of water boiling for the same amount of time? How does the relationship between the thickness of the pot walls and the diameter of the pot (T-D ratio) effect the overall heat capacity of the pot (and thus how long the liquid will continue to boil)? Assuming that changing the T-D ratio changes how long the liquid continues to boil, are different pots better suited to making porridge from different grains (which have different cooking times)? If so, can any inferences be made as to the preferred local porridge grains based on differences in the T-D ratio of the pot? While I expect that the final question is beyond the scope of a single summer’s experimental archaeology, doing tests measuring the boiling times after removal from the fire for pots with different T-D ratios would be an interesting start towards that understanding.

Thank you for taking the time to consider my application, I look forward to discussing this position with you further.

***

If you have any feedback on the CV or further feedback on the application text, I would love to hear it. I feel that I clearly demonstrate my English fluency, experience as a craftsperson, related experience, and knowledge of the Viking Age do you agree? Elsewhere on the application form I explain that my Swedish fluency is enough to usually understand Norwegian as well (but sadly, I can't claim any other languages). I have not explicitly claimed to be service-minded, tidy, or reliable, though I feel that all three apply to me. Do you think that they are implicit in my CV as written, or do I need to say anything further in either the application form or the CV to get those traits across? If so, how explicit do I need to be in that?

Comments

[zeborah]

Just have time to make very quick notes - typo near the bottom of p1 "aarchivist", and near the bottom of p2 "just started small pot" should be "a small pot".

Your "public outreach" section should cover "service-minded" nicely; and "tidy" and "reliable" are best shown by example, ie CV layout, which looks fine, and dress/punctuality/etc if/when you get to turn up for an interview. [Usually when applications require specific skills, I try to be really explicit and ideally echo the exact words the ad uses, in case applications are being screened by an agency or the organisation's HR department, who don't always know what things mean in the specific field, but these particular qualities seem straightforward enough for even them to understand.]

[redbird]

There's one place in the first paragraph that suggests that you aren't a native English speaker, but that's a minor point. My impression is that tidiness and reliability, and possibly being service-minded, aren't things you say about yourself, unless you can say something like "reorganized the widget inventory, increasing the efficiency of shipping orders," because very few people think of themselves as unreliable or messy. And anyone who really doesn't think of themself as service-minded would either just not answer this job ad, or if they really want the work for other reasons, decide that they can probably manage tidy enough for a few months.

That said, I haven't successfully applied for a job (rather than a freelance gig) in over a decade, and am on another continent, so if someone with more recent or local experience disagrees with me, you should probably listen to them.

[kareina]

Ok, now I am really curious as to what you saw in the first paragraph that might suggest I am not a native English speaker?? While I did learn both Japanese and English as a tiny child in Tachikawa, Japan, when it was still American Air Force Base (since my babysitter was Japanese) I have long since forgotten all but a small handful of words in Japanese. When I moved to Sweden English was the only language I was able to speak, though, having spent five years in Tasmania I joked that I could manage both American and Australian (however, I confess that I can't actually manage Australian pronunciation, even though I have the vocabulary).

[redbird]

The word "the" in "I truly enjoy the soapstone carving" seemed a little off.

[kareina]

Ah, yes--that was an artefact--the first draft started with "While I truly enjoy the...", and I didn't delete the "the" when the before and after phrases were cut...