Some insights into applying for architectural assistant jobs
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It's a two-stage process, and each stage has different objectives
You can find plenty of general advice on applying for jobs and attending interviews. However, I'd like to provide some particular insights that will guide your thinking when applying for architectural assistant jobs.
The accepted method of obtaining a job is via the two-stage sequence of a job application followed by an interview. Understanding that these two steps have different objectives is the starting point for improving your approach.
As I write, substantially fewer jobs will be available, and the competition will intensify. All the more reason for being as prepared as possible for any opportunities.
The post is a 12-minute read and covers the following:
My first job
Buying and selling
A comparison with winning a design project
What does it mean for you?
Thinking about Stage 1
Thinking about Stage 2
Ask for feedback
My first job
My first 'year out' was spent with BDP in their original Preston office. I hated the interview because the questioning was tough, and I felt I'd been given a hard time. I went home convinced I'd blown it and was ready to continue the search elsewhere.
Later, when I came to know the people who interviewed me, I mentioned how much I disliked the process. Their response was one of surprise as they'd found it enjoyable. They said my answers improved each time they ramped up the questioning, and I revealed more about myself.
That was why they employed me.
Buying and selling
I'm not sure you'll like the sound of this, but applying for jobs is a buying and selling process, similar to the purchase process for most things.
An architectural practice wants to 'buy' a new employee, and a prospective employee wants to 'sell' themselves to acquire a new job. A transaction is to take place, which means obtaining a job is subject to all the usual considerations of buying and selling.
To be successful, the buyer needs to know what they're looking for and how to find it. The seller must understand the buyer’s decision-making process to market themselves effectively.
‘Buying’, ‘selling’, ‘marketing’ and ‘transactions’ are not the usual terminology you’d use when considering your first job. To help you, I'd like to compare it with a more obvious purchasing situation, the process that practices often go through when attempting to win a new design project. In doing so, I hope to provide further insights to help you find a job. It should also give you some understanding of how to win a new design project when the time comes.
A comparison with winning a design project
Imagine a client who has a building project and needs to appoint an architect. The nature of the project doesn't matter; it could be anything from a domestic extension to an art gallery.
The client's first action is to draw up a long list of practices that are likely to be suitable. They will use various search methods, including recommendations, directories and the internet. From their research, they will invite a shortlist of practices to submit information about their business, together with relevant experience and expertise.
Having analysed the responses and assessed the practices for their capabilities, the client will invite a limited number of them for an interview. From these interviews, they will decide which practice to employ. There will also be the all-important aspect of fees, but we can leave financial considerations aside.
The critical thing to recognise is that the initial stage focuses on assessing whether a practice is competent to carry out the work. The interview will be a waste of time if the practice doesn't have the right capabilities. The interviews then establish whether the client wants to work with the practice.
To summarise:
- The first stage is analytical and decisions are based on the quality of the submitted facts and any other information the client may have acquired.
- The second stage is emotional and decisions are based on the quality of the interactions between the people attending the interview.
I've learnt this through plenty of experience of doing it, including getting it wrong. The biggest mistakes often result from two sources:
1. Thinking that it's all about you and forgetting to think from the client's perspective.
2. Thinking that you will win the work based on capabilities alone and forgetting that the relationship must also feel right.
You can find a good summary of the issues in this short article written for the broad category of professional services firms, of which an architecture practice is one type.
What does this mean for you?
If you accept that finding a job is similar to the one I've just described, you will be better positioned to develop your thinking.
Job applications are usually assessed by senior architects or leaders of the practice. People like this are experienced, visually literate and can recognise the quality of design work at a glance. They also tend to be very busy and won't take long to decide whether a candidate is worth inviting for an interview.
Having established competence at the application stage, the interview will primarily be used to determine the candidate's character, whether they will fit well with the office's culture, and what they will be like to work with. There will be some consideration of competency, but this will only amount to a check that the earlier assessment was correct.
A mistake I often see candidates make is to think that the process leads to a comprehensive review of their portfolio of work at the interview stage. But an interview is not a crit.
An interview is not a crit.
Thinking about Stage 1 - the submission
The primary purpose of the submission is to secure an interview, which will be achieved by demonstrating the right level of competence. Your submission will be evaluated by visually literate but time-starved architects. Therefore, for your submission to be noticed, it needs to be visually appealing; if it isn't, it may not attract a second glance.
This means that the graphic quality of your submission needs to be high. Employers will realise that you haven't studied graphic design, but you must acquire sufficient graphic skills to present your work successfully.
I'm not going to explore how to do this in detail other than suggest the need to be mindful of the medium in which you make your submission. These days, most applications arrive by email and contain work in PDF format. Reading a PDF document on a computer screen is an entirely different experience from looking at a board on a studio wall, and your submission should reflect this.
The other standard submission document is the single-page CV. This should be factual, concise, and illustrate your capabilities. However, where it is possible to briefly give some clues about your character, this is also worth doing.
A busy employer, faced with numerous applications to review, is likely to use the following sequence of priorities (consciously or unconsciously) when drawing up a shortlist of candidates for interview:
Is the work visually appealing?
If so, good; I'll spend some time looking at it.
Is the work any good?
If so, good; I'll spend some time looking at the CV.
Does the CV support the work?
If so, good; I'll spend a bit more time searching for any clues about the character of the applicant.
Thinking about Stage 2 - the interview
Having established competence, the employer's objective in Stage 2 is to answer the question, 'Do I want to work with this person?'
An experienced interviewer will use your portfolio as a vehicle for talking about you and not for talking about your work itself. Through your work, they will want to develop a conversation with you exploring such things as:
Your ambitions
The kind of architecture that interests you
What you want to achieve from the work experience
What you think about the practice
How you think you will fit in
Spending time preparing answers to such questions is likely to be more productive than arriving at the interview with an overly extensive portfolio of work. I can't advise you how to do this as it needs to come from your experiences and reflect your personality and goals.
However, using your work to bring out stories about you (rather than the work itself) will always be a good starting point. For instance, while attempting to illustrate that you are a naturally gifted architect with exceptional design skills may be tempting, will this be believable?
A more interesting approach would be to select an issue you struggled with and explain how you overcame it and how your thinking changed. As well as being more believable, this approach illustrates your ability to learn and reflect on experience and demonstrates determination.
Employers could raise all sorts of specific questions in response to your work, but in general terms, they will want to explore your:
Enthusiasm
Energy
Desire to learn
Tenacity
Sociability
Presentability
Confidence
Having various means of illustrating these characteristics, some direct, some indirect, will be beneficial.
Ask for feedback
As you prepare to apply for architectural assistant jobs, you need feedback. Give your draft submission documents to other people for comment. Ask your peers, tutors, family and friends. Collate what they say and modify the content of your submission in light of their comments.
Although more difficult, aim to do the same with interviews. This could mean setting up some mock interviews with other people. See if you can persuade someone to role-play with you so that you can explore different ideas and approaches. Ask them what works and what doesn't work. Practice.
After you've been through the application process, whether successful or not, ask for feedback. Most people will be willing to tell you what they think if you go about it correctly. Say that you want to learn and improve for the next time. Most people will find that hard to resist.
Remember:
- The application stage is about your work.
- The interview stage is about you.