We've shared a lot of helpful information on job hunting: how to craft the perfect resume and cover letter, how nail the job interview, the importance of the portfolio... While all of these are useful, they tend to lack the underlying principles one should understand as they navigate their job search. In short, these resources give us practical and prescriptive instruction but tend to lack the why behind what we’re doing. Just as in architecture, we must understand why we do something, not only how to do it. When it comes to job hunting, that is what this article will aim to address.

Some prerequisites

Looking for a job; is a multi-dimensional pursuit that, while seemingly simple, can be quite complex. We’ve explored many characteristics of the job searching process here on Archinect:

In Do You Feel Like Quitting Your Job? We looked at some ways to navigate the difficult decision of whether or not leaving a current post is the right path. In The Secret Nature of the Job Interview, we talked about the anxieties and uncertainties one faces during an interview and how to overcome them. And in A 3-Step Guide to Choosing Your Next Architecture Job, we discussed some strategies to implement in selecting the ideal employers to pursue in a job search. There are many others, but it is worth it to explore these specific topics in addition to this article if you happen to find yourself in any of those situations.

It’s a people game

In the opening of the 1998 film, Rounders, Mike McDermott (played by Matt Damon) walks into an underground club to participate in a game of Texas hold ‘em. McDermott narrates as the game progresses, explaining the rules to the viewer. “The key to the game is playing the man, not the cards,” he says as he goes on to explain his strategy against the other players. Soon, the ambitious youth loses all of his money to a Russian gangster named “KGB.” As the film unfolds, we learn that McDermott is an authentically gifted poker player who later goes back to avenge his initial loss against KGB. Throughout the film, his underlying secret is his uncanny ability to “play the man.”

In our job hunt, we often focus too much on the cards. Instead of directing our energy towards the men and women who will be interviewing us, we obsess over our resume, cover letter, and portfolio. Rather, we have to get inside the employer’s heads and discover what it is they really want. We have trouble realizing that the hiring team wants things to work out just as much, if not more than we do. They do not want to continue taking time away from their busy schedules to interview people. Desperately, they want to be able to tell you that you’re hired. We fail to realize that if we don’t make a concerted effort to understand them on a personal level that we can never really know how to approach the composition of our application. Remember: the key to the game is playing the man, not the cards.

A fundamental rule of thumb in job hunting is to personalize your materials for each employer.

A fundamental rule of thumb in job hunting is to personalize your materials for each employer. We’ve heard this before: “don’t just send a templated cover letter to a bunch of firms,” or, “make sure you cater your resume to the position you are applying for.” Well, we can’t personalize something if we do not have a person to inform us. So in one sense, yes, we must research the employer, but we also need to do our best to learn what we can about the specific people making the hiring decision. When we understand their personalities, what they want, what they don’t want, we give ourselves the necessary tools to craft a formidable application package and also nail the interview.

Flexibility is key

Naturally, we tend to focus too much on ourselves. We partially listen to what people say but think more of what we want to say next, or we hear someone share something personal, and then somehow make it about ourselves. It is an inherent human quality — to think of ourselves, but we must fight this urge and use its energy to think of the person (or people) in front of us. In his book The Laws of Human Nature, Robert Greene advocates for the reader to be flexible in their social interactions, adapting to one’s audience as it changes. He gives an example of one former U.S. president: “A master performer like Bill Clinton never lost sight that as president he had to project confidence and power, but if he was speaking to a group of autoworkers he would adjust his accent and his words to fit the audience, and he would do the same for a group of executives,” Greene writes.

It is an inherent human quality — to think of ourselves, but we must fight this urge and use its energy to think of the person in front of us

It’s the same in an interview, we must be flexible. This is the drawback of over-rehearsing beforehand. While useful, it can sometimes pigeon-hole us into stock responses, diminishing our ability to connect on a more personal level. Say you’re meeting with the design principal and the managing principal of a prospective firm. Do you approach each of them the same way? They are two different people, and at least professionally, with two distinct areas of focus. During the interview, we need to take note of their interests; by nature of their positions, we know that one spends most of their time thinking about design and the other about operations and management.

So, subtle things like occasionally looking at the design principal when discussing your creative process for a project or your ideals about design can be powerful. And vice versa when addressing things to do with how you structure your time, work within a team, or think about budget. Each individual will be interested in different qualities of yours, and if you are mindful of that, you can be more purposeful in ensuring you communicate them effectively and with the greatest impact.

Craft your persona

Often, we might treat our job application like we treat an application for college, but the two are fundamentally different. When applying to architecture school, our primary goal is showing the school that we have merit, which is usually gauged through our grade point average and portfolio. More or less, the strategy is to show a wide range of work and creative potential. When applying to a professional job, the approach is a bit different, we need to show that we have the specific skills required for the position we are applying to. 

Right out of school, your portfolio will be a bit broader, showing your schoolwork and your problem-solving skills. But as you gain more experience, your package will be more tailored. For example, if you want to take on more of a design role, you’d want to highlight your design work on previous projects and how you were able to realize a client’s vision. Let’s say construction administration is a big part of a position you’re seeking, you might hone in on the problems you helped solve on a construction site, your knowledge, and techniques working with contractors and the endless paperwork associated with construction. You might also emphasize specific situations where you resolved a discrepancy in the contract documents and worked with the project team to find a solution.

Be irresistible

It’s this type of care that will cause you to stand out to an employer. You want them to see you and think to themselves, “she is everything we’ve been looking for. We HAVE to have her.” The only way to identify what another person wants is to either ask them or be so genuinely interested in them that you can suss it out yourself. Steve Jobs was famous for his belief that he had to show people what they wanted. “A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.” He was right. Jobs’ ability to understand what people wanted was part of what made him so successful. 

A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them” - Steve Jobs

In our interactions with people, we should strive to read between the lines of what they say and do. As Jobs says, a lot of the times, people don’t realize exactly what they want, your job is to take what they tell you and give them something exponentially better. When you read a job post, research a firm, and learn about its leadership, look underneath the surface. Someone looking for a “Project Architect with 3 years experience,” is also looking for a team player with a good attitude who is easy to get along with. If an employer has a decision between you and someone else of equal level, they will almost always choose the person they connected with better personally during the interview process.

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Ultimately, in your search for a job, there is only so much you can control. After you’ve done all you can, the decision is up to the employer, and sometimes there are no rational explanations for why something did or didn’t work out. But, if you go into the process, seeking to solve a problem for someone else, to be the solution, and to thoughtfully and deeply consider what an employer is searching for, you will be on your way. Yes, your desires and aspirations for your job are important too, but only in conjunction with those of your future team members.