Barbara Bestor, founder of Bestor Architecture, tells us what she looks for in new hires. Image courtesy of Yoshihiro Makino.

Since Barbara Bestor started her eponymous practice, Bestor Architecture, in 1995 she has worked to extend the boundaries of contemporary architecture and landscape architecture by focusing her multi-disciplinary staff on a variety of refined and innovative projects. The firm has steadily grown over the years and is hitting a new stride with several larger and more technically-complex projects on the way.

So what does Bestor Architecture look for in their most promising job candidates? Which aspects of their experience should candidates highlight if they land an interview? For the latest “How To Get A Job At ____”, Archinect Founder Paul Petrunia connects with Barbara Bestor to learn more about the qualities she seeks in the firm's employees, while also touching on the professional and creative ethos she wants to instill and build upon in her practice.

For a deeper look at the ins and outs of Bestor Architecture as a practice, check out the Studio Visit feature story we recently published on the firm. 

What is the breakdown of your staff?

There’s a couple of super-senior staff who are like an executive committee that help run the show. And then we have six or seven senior people and maybe another similar group that’s more junior staff. We also have some people who are doing media. 

We sometimes take interns to encourage people who can improve the diversity of the profession, like people who are first-generation, etc. We take people through Woodbury University’s IPAL program.

Do you take interns?

We sometimes take interns to encourage people who can improve the diversity of the profession, like people who are first-generation, etc. We take people through Woodbury University’s IPAL program. Otherwise, I generally hire people after they finish grad school because I prefer someone who has bit of a discursive education as well as a practical one. 

Speaking of diversity, there seems to be a high proportion of women who work in your office. 

There’s a shockingly high proportion right now! 

Coming out of grad school, I was pretty dead-set on having a woman-owned design firm because I felt that at the time there wasn’t much that way in L.A. or otherwise, especially in the high design department. So, that’s always been an interest. I usually have a 50-50 mix. But we’ve been doing these much larger technical projects lately and I keep finding these amazing project architects who are female coming from other firms. It’s kinda fun to have this very friendly group in the office right now.

The people who work here are generally really nice, which is part of our hiring policy: Let’s make sure we are all nice.

Are there people that you recruit directly out of school?

Sometimes, yeah. I would say six of my current employees are former thesis students of mine from when I chaired the graduate program at Woodbury University. It’s great because we knew each other for three years before they started working here. But I haven’t been teaching as much lately, so I have lost that access. I do go to reviews and I recruit people out of reviews sometimes. Often, someone who works here recommends someone they know, too. 

We get a fair amount of applications, but we aren’t usually openly looking. We’ve had a few big jumps in scale and that has been great because you get people from other backgrounds that bring knowledge from places where they worked before. We have a new person in the office who got us all using Slack—It’s great! 

We’re trying to update our management techniques through retroactive industrial espionage, you could say.

I like to give people a lot of responsibility; We are not very hierarchical at all. That works really well for some people and can be a disaster for other people, so it’s a bit of a personality thing. 

How would you characterize the perfect job candidate for your firm?

The people who work here are generally really nice, which is part of our hiring policy: Let’s make sure we are all nice. 

Generally, they have an interest in art or some kind of art background, as well as architecture. Art history and architectural history backgrounds are often good for our world. An ongoing interest in visual culture also helps. They should have a sense of agency and be able to speak truth to power when necessary. I like to give people a lot of responsibility; We are not very hierarchical at all. That works really well for some people and can be a disaster for other people, so it’s a bit of a personality thing. 

Art history and architectural history backgrounds are often good for our world. An ongoing interest in visual culture also helps. They should have a sense of agency and be able to speak truth to power when necessary.

Are you looking for people who can own their job and more or less work autonomously or do you give a lot of direction?

Yes, I think of it as being able to work on the architecture from soup-to-nuts. We don’t just have schematic designers over here and Construction Administration guys over there; It’s more integrated. 

A lot of people come early out of school and are trained on the job. We do a lot of residential, which is actually a more manageable way to learn. There's more flexibility to change and improve as you go, so often we’ll start people in that world. The people who do well here are pretty independent. I like the idea of the multi-faceted architect who is a designer, a project architect, and a landscape architect, etc. 

What do you think is the biggest challenge in terms of working at your firm?

I think people who come from a much more structured environment sometimes freak out when they get here. Because they’re like “who’s gonna tell me what to do?” Well, no one, really. My advice is to ask questions as necessary. 

The people who do well here are pretty independent. I like the idea of the multi-faceted architect who is a designer, a project architect, etc. 

So you're looking for people who can create their own jobs?

Yes. And people should bring their interests from the outside in. I am interested in urbanism right now, for example, and we have almost a whole graphics department, which some architects are really interested in. We are doing so much Tenant Improvement work, so we have furniture-related projects, as well. 

If we were to continue to grow, I’d like to keep the practice in a world where there’s a high level of creativity going on.

Is there a specific job title that you've always found especially difficult to fill?

We really don’t have that many titles is the thing. I try not to have people be too specific. The experience people have when they get here has so much to do with where they're at in that moment. If you're trying to amass a certain amount of professionalism on large-scale projects, you go to a bigger corporate firm. But, if you’re trying to bop around and get a second degree in working where art and architecture meet, that’s good for us. More so than job titles, I guess I am interested in the choices people made in terms of where they have been so far and where they want to go.

Do you feel like you've hit a sweet spot in your practice in terms of size and the types of projects you're taking on? Or do you see the practice growing in scale over the next 10 or 20 years?

What they say is true: I hit 50 and I am now I’m getting to do bigger projects, which is cool. I am excited for the next decade or so because it's a really exciting time for L.A., which is a nice coincidence. There’s going to be a lot happening here and I’ve worked hard to create a reputation that allows me access to projects or ideas I would not have had otherwise. 

In terms of scaling up, I don’t really know. I’m trying to see what happens. I don't particularly have a desire to be a bigger operation. I would like to be doing more ground-up buildings and have done a fair number of larger projects lately, though, and I’m trying to make sure I keep my eye on that. 

But I'm anxious to get more stuff built.