Archivist
What the work is
Analyses and documents records, and plans and organises systems and procedures for the safekeeping of records and historically valuable documents.
Would you enjoy the work?
These are the main tasks in the official description. Mark how each one sounds to you.
- Evaluates and preserves documents for administrative, historical, technical change management, legal, evidential and other purposes
- Examines items and arranges examinations to determine condition and authenticity
- Develops archival systems, indexes, guides and procedures for archival research and for the retention and destruction of records
- Develops, maintains and implements archive policies and procedures
- Identifies, organises and prioritises the digitisation of documents
Try it
A simulation and a case study from this kind of work, set in a council archive and a small heritage consultancy in a regional town. They are fictional.
The kind of days you could have
Good days
- A dusty box of old records turns out to hold the missing piece of a local story
- A community group trusts you with something precious and you handle it well
- A visitor finds their grandparents in a register you helped save
Hard days
- Two groups who both care about a place want opposite outcomes from your advice
- A funding deadline and a pile of slow, careful work land in the same week
- Someone wants an answer now, but the evidence only supports a maybe
Written by Career Calling as a general guide. Real roles vary by employer and place.
Work a mission
Step into a simulated workplace in this field, with a brief from your manager.
Description and tasks: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Occupation Standard Classification for Australia, 2024, Version 1.0 (opens another site), occupation 232332, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. The skill guide above is our plain English summary.