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I recently had an extraordinary opportunity to be invited for a visit to the downtown Salt Lake City, Utah main office of the AncestryProGenealogists and because of this unusual visit, I decided to write about a day in the life of a professional genealogist.
I was somewhat surprised when I entered AncestryProGenealogists office. It was much larger and there were many more people working than I expected. The office was open and laid out with cubicles for each worker. This is a common work model in today's world but different than the one I worked in most of my life.
I was able to meet with several of the genealogists and other professionals on an informal basis and this gave me a good insight into the operation of the office. As I spoke with each of the professionals, I began to realize that the organization and workflow of the AncestryProGenealogists' organization was very familiar to me because it is very similar to the organization of a large professional law firm. I never thought that genealogists and attorneys had much in common, but this visit showed how similar they really are. Both attorneys and the AncestryProGenealogists work on projects (or cases) for an hourly rate and are organized into teams. In the case of the genealogists, the teams are organized either by the type of research or by geographic area. In law, the law firms are usually divided by the type of law that each section of the law firm is involved in pursuing. In this case, form follows function and both organizations have entry-level positions and a hierarchy based primarily on expertise and years of service.
I will come back to my newly discovered similarities between law and genealogy after explaining more about the day to day business of the genealogists. First of all, it is important to recognize the fact that most genealogists are essentially solo practitioners. That is, genealogy is a pursuit primarily by individuals working on their own.
If you have thought about becoming a professional genealogist and going to work for an organization such as AncestryProGenealogists, it would be important to realize that the organization has high expectations of professionalism. This transfers into a substantial background in research and in the use of genealogical records. In addition, not only would a prospective genealogical employee need to be proficient in genealogy they would also, of necessity, need to learn the business procedures of the organization.
During most of my years of law practice, I either worked by myself or in a very small law firm with one or two other partners. After many years of working, I transitioned to a medium-sized law firm with 20 to 25 attorneys. However, the law firm I worked for had a support staff that increased the total number of employees to almost 100. The law firm was large enough that I never did get to know all the people who worked there. There would be a similar experience in moving from working as a single person and moving into a highly organized and structured environment such as the one I observed at AncestryProGenealogists. I would suggest that you carefully consider your personal goals, work style, and other aspirations before considering working for such an organization.
In keeping with the developments of technology, not all of the employees work at the main office in Salt Lake City, Utah. They have a number of employees scattered across the United States and Europe who work either from Ancestry offices or from their homes. They also hire consultants for special projects.
New employees are interviewed both for their competency in genealogical research and for their ability to conform to the professional standards and organization of the company. Here again, this is no different than working for a large law firm.
New clients for AncestryProGenealogists primarily come from the extensive advertising and promotional efforts of the parent corporation. With the constant flow of clients, the company can provide a standardized approach to each client's particular research needs. After the client's research objectives are determined, the project is assigned to a research team composed of individual genealogical researchers and a research manager. Relationships with the clients are exclusively handled by personal Client Relationship Managers and all communication between the client and the researchers, i.e. genealogists is handled by these Client Relationship Managers who are trained specialists in handling the needs of the clients. This specialization frees up the genealogists to do their work of researching the particular client's goals.
Assuming that you decided that you wanted to work for AncestryProGenealogists and you saw that there was an opening, usually advertised on the Ancestry.com website, you would fill out an application, and, after a review of the application if the company was interested they would ask you to come for an interview. Some of these interviews are conducted by video online when the prospective employee lives some distance from Salt Lake City, Utah. If the company wished to extend an offer of employment and you accepted, you would begin work either in your location or in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Additionally, new employees are trained for a period of weeks on company procedures before they actually begin working on genealogical research. Obviously, a big company like AncestryProGenealogists also has many specialized employees for different job descriptions from computer support to customer support so not all their employees do genealogical research.
As a new employee, you would be assigned a mentor to assist you during the first few months of your training. Going back to the analogy I made between law firms and the organization of AncestryProGenealogists, in both cases, associates are given a period of time to "work their way up the ladder. " In a law firm, a new employee may work for a year or two as an associate before becoming a senior associate, then may eventually qualify as junior partners and eventually become senior partners. Of course, each increase in responsibility also has an increase in compensation. Likewise, in AncestryProGenealogists, Associates may spend some time before becoming official "genealogists." In both cases, there are senior partners or managers and ultimately all of the office functions are handled by the "boss" who is either the most senior partner or as may be the case for AncestryProGenealogists, a person hired for that specific position.
Working for AncestryProGenealogists means you're working for a salary, with benefits, and with the regularity of a daily work schedule. You would be working on specific client projects and would be doing research and recording your findings according to the specific forms and requirements of the company. Those who work for AncestryProGenealogists have a benefits package that is similar to other professional businesses. Although I did not get into the subject of the amount of compensation received, I was assured that it was sufficient for supporting a family.
Because I know some of the genealogists who work at AncestryProGenealogists, I am certain that the company has a level of competency. Although it was not discussed, there is likely a certain degree of pressure to complete projects in a timely fashion. Again, this is no different than working in a law firm where you are constantly under pressure either due to court proceedings or client deadlines.
Although for most of my legal career I did not view myself as ever working in a larger law firm, once I was hired, I found that the benefits from the organization and the ability to share information and be taught by those around me were a more positive experience than my time working on my own. It was also nice to have a regular income. Some of the AncestryProGenealogists employees expressed the same opinion.
I also concluded that the fee structure and billing procedures of the company were similar to those of large law firms. When you employ this degree of professionalism, you can expect to pay a professional level fee.
As I mentioned, some of the employees are involved in areas such as employee benefits that have little to do with genealogical research. One bonus for working with AncestryProGenealogists is that you could have the possibility of doing TV show research or managing ancestral tours in different parts of the world. One specialty also focuses on unknown parentage research. Some of the employees are also involved in employee and public education. I understand that they may have hired some Ph.D.'s in history recently.
All in all, if you were seriously considering becoming a professional genealogist and had acquired sufficient skills to be considered as an employee of AncestryProGenealogists, I would certainly recommend that you investigate that possibility.
As a sole practitioner lawyer, I got a lot out of the experience and "street smarts." When I joined a larger law firm, some of that experience was invaluable but I had to "unlearn" quite a few things and after spending time with the AncestryProGenealogists, I can say that going to work for that company would be a similar experience.
I was somewhat surprised when I entered AncestryProGenealogists office. It was much larger and there were many more people working than I expected. The office was open and laid out with cubicles for each worker. This is a common work model in today's world but different than the one I worked in most of my life.
I was able to meet with several of the genealogists and other professionals on an informal basis and this gave me a good insight into the operation of the office. As I spoke with each of the professionals, I began to realize that the organization and workflow of the AncestryProGenealogists' organization was very familiar to me because it is very similar to the organization of a large professional law firm. I never thought that genealogists and attorneys had much in common, but this visit showed how similar they really are. Both attorneys and the AncestryProGenealogists work on projects (or cases) for an hourly rate and are organized into teams. In the case of the genealogists, the teams are organized either by the type of research or by geographic area. In law, the law firms are usually divided by the type of law that each section of the law firm is involved in pursuing. In this case, form follows function and both organizations have entry-level positions and a hierarchy based primarily on expertise and years of service.
I will come back to my newly discovered similarities between law and genealogy after explaining more about the day to day business of the genealogists. First of all, it is important to recognize the fact that most genealogists are essentially solo practitioners. That is, genealogy is a pursuit primarily by individuals working on their own.
If you have thought about becoming a professional genealogist and going to work for an organization such as AncestryProGenealogists, it would be important to realize that the organization has high expectations of professionalism. This transfers into a substantial background in research and in the use of genealogical records. In addition, not only would a prospective genealogical employee need to be proficient in genealogy they would also, of necessity, need to learn the business procedures of the organization.
During most of my years of law practice, I either worked by myself or in a very small law firm with one or two other partners. After many years of working, I transitioned to a medium-sized law firm with 20 to 25 attorneys. However, the law firm I worked for had a support staff that increased the total number of employees to almost 100. The law firm was large enough that I never did get to know all the people who worked there. There would be a similar experience in moving from working as a single person and moving into a highly organized and structured environment such as the one I observed at AncestryProGenealogists. I would suggest that you carefully consider your personal goals, work style, and other aspirations before considering working for such an organization.
In keeping with the developments of technology, not all of the employees work at the main office in Salt Lake City, Utah. They have a number of employees scattered across the United States and Europe who work either from Ancestry offices or from their homes. They also hire consultants for special projects.
New employees are interviewed both for their competency in genealogical research and for their ability to conform to the professional standards and organization of the company. Here again, this is no different than working for a large law firm.
New clients for AncestryProGenealogists primarily come from the extensive advertising and promotional efforts of the parent corporation. With the constant flow of clients, the company can provide a standardized approach to each client's particular research needs. After the client's research objectives are determined, the project is assigned to a research team composed of individual genealogical researchers and a research manager. Relationships with the clients are exclusively handled by personal Client Relationship Managers and all communication between the client and the researchers, i.e. genealogists is handled by these Client Relationship Managers who are trained specialists in handling the needs of the clients. This specialization frees up the genealogists to do their work of researching the particular client's goals.
Assuming that you decided that you wanted to work for AncestryProGenealogists and you saw that there was an opening, usually advertised on the Ancestry.com website, you would fill out an application, and, after a review of the application if the company was interested they would ask you to come for an interview. Some of these interviews are conducted by video online when the prospective employee lives some distance from Salt Lake City, Utah. If the company wished to extend an offer of employment and you accepted, you would begin work either in your location or in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Additionally, new employees are trained for a period of weeks on company procedures before they actually begin working on genealogical research. Obviously, a big company like AncestryProGenealogists also has many specialized employees for different job descriptions from computer support to customer support so not all their employees do genealogical research.
As a new employee, you would be assigned a mentor to assist you during the first few months of your training. Going back to the analogy I made between law firms and the organization of AncestryProGenealogists, in both cases, associates are given a period of time to "work their way up the ladder. " In a law firm, a new employee may work for a year or two as an associate before becoming a senior associate, then may eventually qualify as junior partners and eventually become senior partners. Of course, each increase in responsibility also has an increase in compensation. Likewise, in AncestryProGenealogists, Associates may spend some time before becoming official "genealogists." In both cases, there are senior partners or managers and ultimately all of the office functions are handled by the "boss" who is either the most senior partner or as may be the case for AncestryProGenealogists, a person hired for that specific position.
Working for AncestryProGenealogists means you're working for a salary, with benefits, and with the regularity of a daily work schedule. You would be working on specific client projects and would be doing research and recording your findings according to the specific forms and requirements of the company. Those who work for AncestryProGenealogists have a benefits package that is similar to other professional businesses. Although I did not get into the subject of the amount of compensation received, I was assured that it was sufficient for supporting a family.
Because I know some of the genealogists who work at AncestryProGenealogists, I am certain that the company has a level of competency. Although it was not discussed, there is likely a certain degree of pressure to complete projects in a timely fashion. Again, this is no different than working in a law firm where you are constantly under pressure either due to court proceedings or client deadlines.
Although for most of my legal career I did not view myself as ever working in a larger law firm, once I was hired, I found that the benefits from the organization and the ability to share information and be taught by those around me were a more positive experience than my time working on my own. It was also nice to have a regular income. Some of the AncestryProGenealogists employees expressed the same opinion.
I also concluded that the fee structure and billing procedures of the company were similar to those of large law firms. When you employ this degree of professionalism, you can expect to pay a professional level fee.
As I mentioned, some of the employees are involved in areas such as employee benefits that have little to do with genealogical research. One bonus for working with AncestryProGenealogists is that you could have the possibility of doing TV show research or managing ancestral tours in different parts of the world. One specialty also focuses on unknown parentage research. Some of the employees are also involved in employee and public education. I understand that they may have hired some Ph.D.'s in history recently.
All in all, if you were seriously considering becoming a professional genealogist and had acquired sufficient skills to be considered as an employee of AncestryProGenealogists, I would certainly recommend that you investigate that possibility.
As a sole practitioner lawyer, I got a lot out of the experience and "street smarts." When I joined a larger law firm, some of that experience was invaluable but I had to "unlearn" quite a few things and after spending time with the AncestryProGenealogists, I can say that going to work for that company would be a similar experience.
Hi James thank you for an insightful article. I have considered applying in the past and now I have a better understanding of the organizational structure. Having worked in large government departments this is very familiar territory.
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