Dear Architecture Graduates: Be Ready, Relentless, and Lucky

A couple of months ago, I wrote a piece for my mid-career architect friends who had recently lost their jobs, titled “Dear Unemployed Architects: You’ve Been Given a Gift.” With it, I got lots of gifts back and not all of them flattering. Taught me a few lessons.

Extra time is not a gift for recent grads; you achieved a milestone and then fell into the abyss of no jobs. So my article made you angry; I apologize. Since then, I have been pondering how to help newly minted graduates find jobs, knowing that the odds are stacked against you.

You are in a tsunami, or actually two. There’s the recession, which is a depression for construction (25-30% unemployment) plus the industry is seeing large scale changes with permanent job shifts. It’s stunning.

Knowing that context doesn’t help you get a job. Maybe it will help you get more creative, take bolder action, be quicker to adapt. You need to be more prepared than anyone else, relentlessly persistent, and lucky – at the right place at the right time with the right answers speaking to an open mind.

Some people will get jobs. You want to be one of those. That’s your job right now. Position yourself to be one of the few, not one of the many. Make forward actions every day.

Here’s a few ideas. They fall into job searching, surviving, and the long view. It’s a long list… by no means complete. Take what fits you.

1. Plan your priorities. What matters to you? Location, firms, project types, your role, the people you’ll work with, multi-disciplined firm, money? What must you have to survive, and what will you forfeit for now?
2. Investigate firms as though you were becoming a partner. Get everything you can about their work, clients, people, recognition, other offices, philosophy, history. Craft your resume and letter to fit the kind of work that they do.
3. Make your own very simple letter head, card, and portfolio cover. Be consistent and clean. While it’s the content that counts, we are designers. Clean, simple works.
4. Better to show three great projects than ten mediocre ones. Edit and create good stories.
5. Select your projects and stories to fit a particular firm’s interests. For example, if they do hospitals, use hospital projects or at least institutional projects. Research their project type and talk about key issues. Treat your submission and interview like we do marketing RFQ’s.
6. It’s your story. Tell it well, compelling, dramatic, true, highlighting your best moments. Have very short versions, and also more detailed responses.
7. If you have a sense of project types or methods that you are intrigued by or that you think will have more work, then become an expert in trends and case studies. Write up your findings and begin blogging about it. Find firms in that area.
8. Unlike any prior generation, you can research and establish your identity online. And form architectural networks. Use it extensively and creatively. More on this down the list.
9. Know recent case studies in BIM, green building, Revit – the big three that will get you a job now. Be conversant. Publish ideas online, become an expert.
10. Potential growth areas (beyond the big three – BIM, Revit, and green tech): prefab, laboratories, research facilities, shared or community facilities, security of all kinds, health, aging, renovation, historic preservation, mixed use, public spaces, various high tech materials such as nano-tech, digital integration such as signage, rfid, sensors, smart grid, ubiquitous computing. More tech sends you to certain types of AE or EA firms. In KC, engineers are the first hiring because they are involved in the stimulus package ARRA money. It may not be your first choice, but you will meet wonderful people that can influence your career and be friends for life.
11. Work in related fields like interiors, suppliers, contractors, planning, landscape, community development, government, corporate, facilities management, and so on. Many have architecture departments. It will help you get an architecture job later or you might find your calling in these related fields, some which have stronger prospects than general architecture consulting.
12. Make quick speeches – 45 second responses – for major questions. Your best projects, best teachers, why you chose this field, what projects or architects do you like, where you see yourself in five or ten years, what are your special talents, why do you fit this job. Essentially: What will you bring to my firm?
13. Be active on Architizer and key groups on Linked In.
14. Be creative with online tools, witness this google story.
15. Build an online presence – perhaps more critical than a resume. Share ideas, develop relationships, ask questions. Update daily; it’s a commitment.
16. Make videos and podcasts. Post links to your network.
17. Find people that can help you; look for their online or real time activities and be there.
18. Go where the people go with whom you want to connect. Do not sit back.
19. If your resume isn’t working, ask what didn’t catch their eye. Ask to see a good example but be thoughtful about asking. If the moment doesn’t seem right, don’t ask.
20. Be persistent. Keep your name in front of them. Be succinct. Don’t linger.
21. Know what projects are being planned in various cities. Cast a wide net. Find out who is pursuing them. Send your resume etc to those firms.
22. Move to North Dakota. Really.
23. If you are traveling, go places that you hear have work. Always look for work.
24. Don’t limit to just firms who are advertising. Work will pick up and you want to be the one. Try to get a sense of the firms that have new projects on the horizon.
25. Our interviewees talked with their future co-workers, who always gave their opinions the moment the door shut. Know who they are too, as much as possible.
26. Be nice, charming if possible, and humble. You’re new. They earned their spot.
27. If you have friends with jobs, keep in contact, let them know how you are doing and what new stuff you have developed. And ask about jobs, projects, other firms.
28. Do not let three days pass without posting useful information to your blog.
29. Ask everyone what else they would do, who they would call, if they were looking.
30. Do not sit at home. Go to the library, café, museum, park. Learn ideas, it will trigger new thoughts.
31. Be flexible, adaptable, in every way. Keep your priorities in order.
32. Be frugal. So much material exists on living cheaply. Draw on your friends and family and offer something in return. Do work for people, take care of things for them. Share costs. Give what you have to get something back.
33. Many AIA chapters allow new grads to join for free for a year. Become active. Get to know people. Keep your ear to the ground and find out where you would like to work.
34. Visit at least one architect’s office every day. For places you really want to work, keep on the regular rounds – say once every couple of weeks. Otherwise, make it a new place every day. Stop in, say hello. Ask if the person you know is available. Just checking for possible jobs. Stay under 1 minute. If you have some idea for them, even better. Drop it off, with your resume, business card, and a note attached. Blend face-time with online time.
35. Learn to communicate in words, written and verbal. Join a toastmasters group or equivilent.
36. Be more places, try more things, with clearer answers than the next ten people. Or next 100. It’s the Olympics of job searches; leave no rocks unturned.
37. Be able to say state your strengths in under a minute and be compelling. Tape it and listen back or try it on someone. It’s no fun but you’ll improve through practice.
38. Be flexible with your approach but not in your priorities. Get the best deal that you can given the landscape. And then make it into a gold mine or move on when you can.
39. Blog about local projects and events. Take pictures, show progress, make comments. Document changes in the city, photographs, stories.
40. Blog about happenings in the architecture and design communities. Same deal – take pictures, make comments. Encourage people to use you as a broadcaster.
41. Write book reviews; post on Goodreads, your blog, twitter, linked in, and facebook.
42. Volunteer at community events. Be seen. Get to know people.
43. Mentor others. You have more benefits than you might realize. Highly educated, with drawing, design, and construction skills, plus recent college experience. Share it with people younger than you. Or older.
44. Look for mentors. They may be on twitter or be your neighbor. Take their advice seriously, think about it, and ask for more. They will like you for it. We all know it’s tough.
45. Ask your AIA to assign a mentor or grow one from the people you meet. Make arrangements for regular conversations, on the phone or FTF.
46. Be observant. Always think: what does that mean for new buildings, my career?
47. Find out where there are jobs and in what industries. Think if there is an architectural component. Will they be building, remodeling? Bird dog it.
48. Keep in touch with your university weekly.
49. Draw. Paint. Make music. And yes… blog it. or sell it if possible. You are building reputation, improving your skills, and staying motivated.
50. Imagine your whole life. Here’s a futures method for seeing further down the road from a wonderful futurist, Verne Wheelwright.
51. Sell stuff on Ebay, Amazon, or Craigslist etc. Avoid debt. (Easier said…)
52. Help your neighbors. And as one commenter said, do not be afraid to make money. Just make sure it’s clear when you are offering a favor and when you are looking for paid work.
53. Become a commenter on urban or community activities. It’s not hard to be outspoken, but it is hard to be effective. Comments online are frequently worthless. Not on the NY Times. Some brilliant commenters – learn from them. They rank the comments. Become a highly ranked commenter.
54. Walk the streets, document, create commentaries, a typology or ranking.
55. Remake your space. Then do it again. Become versed in distances between chairs, required space for various tables and chairs, the shapes for walking, sitting, etc. Go to public spaces and see if theirs are effective. Then… yes, draw it and blog it.
56. Make found art.
57. Plant, grow stuff. Help in a community garden. Fresh food and getting dirty uplift the spirit.
58. Link music to architecture. Art to architecture. Arch and interiors, signs, colors, streets. Study it. Write your thoughts and theories about it.
59. Create a group of like-minded friends or unemployed neighbors. Chat regularly.
60. Stay in touch with your family and friends – they are no doubt concerned about you. And they may have ideas, they may be a good shoulder or sounding board.
61. Add education if you can afford it and have an urgency. Study something that you care about and makes you unique. For me, that’s strategic planning and communications. It took me 25 years to be ready for that. What is your special interest? So many areas outside the construction world go hand in hand with architecture. Economics for example. Business of course. Animation, environmental studies, public admin, education, journalism, art, law.
62. Copy George Plimpton. He famously experienced high profile jobs, then wrote bestsellers about them. He boxed, played pro football, did stand-up, performed a high-wire act. Get a temporary job in one of the places you might later want to design. A sports venue, a library, a school, a shopping center, a hospital, public housing, and so on. You will forever own hands-on expertise.
63. Or frequent these places and get to know patterns. You may never have the time to really do this again. Document it, and yes… make white papers, post them on your blog.
64. Go work in Haiti with Cameron Sinclair’s Architecture for Humanity – if you can afford it.
65. Go to New Orleans - last I heard they don’t have enough architects or builders. Find out who got federal money, what firms are working on it. Apply there.
66. Journal. Keep some of it just for yourself. It’s one of the best lifelong habits and proven to make your career more focused and life more inspired.
67. Exercise. If you’re not in shape, get there. If you are in shape, keep doing it every day. It boosts your energy, attitude and mental abilities. Stay positive.
68. Be in touch with your spirituality. Develop your beliefs. Meditation in any form keeps us steady and happy. Plus good ideas come when your mind is alert.
69. If you are getting interest, but no jobs, then ask why – very politely. Ask who might need your skills. And shine up your work next time, even if you just rearrange the order.
70. Never take the same material to two job interviews. They will know it. You and your work will look tired. You need to be fresh, ready to work tomorrow. Even if you just change the order of projects, wear a different shirt, renew your ideas every day.
71. If you are stuck, if days and weeks are going by with no bites, then change what you are doing wholesale. Change your approach. Rewrite your story. Practice out loud. Find a ready audience to play act. Record yourself. Improve your story.
72. Write down everything that happens in your interviews. Think what went well and what didn’t. Be better next time. (These are marketing skills; marketing is like looking for a job every day, except with better resources.)
73. Try to find out who got jobs and why. See what you can learn. If you can talk to these recent hires, see if they have any other leads that might make soon.
74. Be nice to whoever you talk to in the firm, including the front desk person. They give more information after you leave, count on it. Even if it’s just a smile or a look, people tune into these small gestures. It all matters.
75. Don’t wait; keep moving, because it’s your life and you want to spend it well. I believe that jobs where you serve people – like retail, libraries, hospitals, and restaurants – aid architects in learning how to read people. Very useful skill. Do that while you’re looking for a job in the industry.
76. Be persistent.
77. Don’t give up. There may be no better advice.
78. Continually re-assess. Be sure that this is what you want to do. Don’t be afraid to try something else.
79. Don’t get stuck on the word architect or designer. Deconstruct your skills – CAD, codes, rendering, model-building, construction, observation, documentation, analysis, history, building technologies, presentations, team building, community development, foreign languages. What are your skills?
80. Teach English in China or some other country. Teach English as a second language in US; learn some other language. I guarantee long term value.
81. Read my other list - there’s ideas for inspiration and rethinking your life.
82. Read the comments – the first few hated it and you might relate.
83. Read the later comments – they gave tips, links, and stories about their positive experiences.
84. Keep your finances orderly. Get a delay on loans if possible.
85. Take daily walks. There’s a lot of research about why walking is healthy. For architects and designers, there is the added value of being part of the environment, the streetlife. Make notes, sketches, photos. Create an album of your observations.
86. Go to planning commission, municipal art commission, economic development, and school board meetings, even public auctions of real estate. Those developers may need some help. More than that, you will learn the process of building and running cities. And yes, please, blog it. It’s your opportunity.
87. Don’t complain. And if you must, do it privately in your journal or while taking a walk – by yourself.
88. From an unemployed friend: you might feel the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Be aware of these stages and take care of yourself.
89. Get help before you need it desperately, whether emotionally or financially.
90. Draw or paint every day. Steven Holl does.
91. Listen to music every day. Daniel Libeskind does.
92. Dance. With or without someone else.
93. Hang out with positive people. That might be your regular friends, your 90 year old neighbor, or your kid sister. Or your priest. Moods are contagious. Avoid negative people. Cynicism is also contagious. Breed positive ideas.
94. Use humor. It recharges a beaten spirit. Along with running, meditating, yoga, sleep (but not more than 7-8 hrs) and helping someone else. All work like a charm.
95. Start a business. Every business started somewhere. You can build things with just a business license. Think about it. Do odd jobs. Team with your friends or unemployed colleagues (who might become friends) to do larger projects. I sewed tablecloths and napkins for a new restaurant. Ask around.
96. Stay focused on why you are here and what really matters.
97. Write me if you need encouragement or ideas. Twitter works @urbanverse.
98. If your first option doesn’t work out, have a second option before you let go. It’s called wing walking. When traversing two wings, hang on to the first one until you’re clearly secure on the second.
99. Check out Bob Borson‘s Ten Reasons to be an Architect and Ten Reasons to Not be an Architect. Do you relate to these lists?
100. Look at my delicious links on jobs (56) and on architects (126). Eight crossovers. Try searching the whole list for unemployment too. and inspiration.
101. Try to keep perspective – see yourself in the future. This time in your life will be very important. It’s a watershed era. You will think about it when you’re 80.
102. When you get a job, help others. Return to your college, tell your story. And yes… blog about it. No matter if it’s what you wanted or not, it’s an unfolding. Make your story.

Overcoming huge difficulties makes life more poignant. Friendships from this time period will always seem more vital and deeply connected. You will be co-survivors. There is nothing small about this recession for architects and especially for recent graduates. You may send 100 resumes without a response. Don’t despair; just find a better way, change the formula to favor you.

Get used to a career in a field experiencing sweeping change. We are retooling the industry. It’s a double tsunami – the recession and massive changes. You need to retool and keep retooling. It’s going to take your full attention, agility, and some luck. Luck in terms of being at the right place, talking to the right people who are paying attention. Best way to increase your odds – sling more mud and be more strategic.

Yet you have some advantages. You are a digital native. Working in CAD and online is second nature to you. Your elder colleagues will depend on you for that. We have always talked with new graduates about design and theory because we know that colleges focus on those aspects. Now we also will rely on you for technological skills. And a sense of the new social world. Show people how it’s done.

Failure is allowed early in your career with minimal penalties. Play this card strategically. You will be able to chalk it up as experience. Celebrate any and every small success, accomplishment, and lesson. Don’t fear failure; learn from it.

Mastering the architecture profession is a 10-20 year process. Five years out, you will know all the parts except the business and management, but you need many more trials of design, construction and working with clients. By ten years, you’ll have seen most cycles and be able to adapt.

As hard as they may seem, learning BIM, Revit and green building take far less time than mastering the full profession. Concentrate on one or all of these. Each is perhaps 2-6 months of study or experience. Practice every day. Perhaps some firms will open their training sessions to you. You might ask. Or get the AIA to form a program with the firms. They are also looking for ways to keep you in the profession.

We want younger architects to remain committed to the field. We need another generation. So you have some leverage. Think how you can explain – very quickly and in a most compelling fashion – what you bring to a particular firm. Have excellent evidence of your skills. You will find work.

That’s my best random thoughts for surviving a deep recession; it’s lengthy and yet not comprehensive. If you want explanation, please ask. Or if you think this list is a complete waste, say it and why. Someone may learn from your comments – like me. Do you have other ideas for job hunting? or useful stories? If you got a job, please share how you did it, what was the key?

Photo: Flickr Creative Commons by Martin Pettitt “Wing Walking Display Lowestoft Air Show,” uploaded 28 July 2008.