At some point in their careers, most, if not all, individuals in the architecture profession find themselves looking for new employment. This can include graduates looking for their first job out of architecture school, experienced designers and architects moving from one firm to the next, whether through layoffs or wanting a fresh start, and individuals seeking to enter the profession from an adjacent field.
Searching for a new job can be a source of excitement through the promise of a new chapter in life, but it can also be a time of uncertainty, anxiety, and disappointment. To help you navigate this emotional rollercoaster, we present below ten non-exhaustive tips to employ when seeking new employment.
Do you have advice for managing emotions during a job search beyond those set out below? Let us know in the comments.
The experience of searching for a job will include positive moments, such as receiving complimentary feedback, interview invites, and job offers. There will also be moments of frustration from unsuccessful interviews or feelings of helplessness from unanswered applications. There’s no escaping it: Job searching is an emotional rollercoaster. By confronting and internalizing this reality at the beginning of the process, you will be better equipped to recognize and navigate such ups and downs and be particularly more assured in your lower moments that better times are ahead.
Although you are on an emotional rollercoaster steered partly by factors outside of your control, this doesn’t mean you can’t take steps to mitigate the experience. In fact, as the Harvard Business Review noted in a 2019 piece, steering into the emotional storm rather than trying to run from it has been shown to decrease anxiety. Meditation and journalling are good strategies for articulating your emotions to yourself, keeping you in control of your mental health during a job search. They might also improve your chances of landing a job quicker. The Harvard Business Review cited a study in which unemployed engineers who journaled their job-hunting experience for 20 minutes per day were almost three times as likely to find a new job within eight months than those who did not.
While showing interest and motivation for the job is important, becoming overly invested in the role before securing it can set you up for a fall if the effort is unsuccessful.
Controlling your emotions during the positive moments is just as important as during low times. When you see an job ad for the perfect role at the perfect firm in a perfect city, there is a temptation to associate yourself with a job you haven’t yet secured. Such temptations increase the closer you get to the finish line. Traveling to the interview, you might begin to picture yourself living in the locale. Visiting the office, you might imagine yourself at one of the desks, working on a particularly interesting project you saw on the firm’s website. While showing interest and motivation for the job is important, becoming overly invested in the role before securing it can set you up for a fall if the effort is unsuccessful. To mitigate this, consider keeping a list of pros and cons about the role to keep your emotions in balance.
When you apply for a position in response to a job advertisement, that effort is a central focus of your time. It is important to remember, however, that the employer who receives your application will likely receive dozens, maybe hundreds, more applications. In many firms, the person responsible for reviewing your application will not be a dedicated recruiter but an associate, principal, or director of the practice, juggling the hiring process with responsibilities to clients, projects, and their current team. While it would be ideal if every employer responded to the application, even if just to reject it, it is important to recognize that this will not always be the case. If you are met with silence, it may not have anything to do with you or your work but instead a mismatch between the number of applications a firm receives and how many they can physically review or respond to.
Steadily tailoring and adapting your approach can reassure you that you are moving forward.
A common source of anxiety when job hunting is the helpless feeling that the approach and material you are using are not working. This isn’t necessarily true: There is an element of luck in job searching, and your number may have simply not come up yet. However, steadily tailoring and adapting your approach can reassure you that you are moving forward. Editing your cover letter and CV, reformulating your portfolio, and varying the medium through which you approach firms are three key accessible areas that you can constantly experiment with, equipping you with a sense of accomplishment that you are taking a proactive stance and moving forward.
When searching for an architecture job, there is an entire ecosystem you can, and should, tap into. On a personal level, family and friends can lend an ear when you need to air your frustrations or put your job search in a wider perspective. On a professional level, your network of architecture colleagues can become a valuable source of feedback on your application material and strategies for approaching firms. If you are a recent graduate, your classmates and professors form yet another community that, more often than not, will be willing to offer advice and feedback. Engaging with networks, and seeking out new networks through architecture events, is not just important for fine-tuning your body of work. It is a powerful medium for combatting feelings of loneliness or isolation that many of us feel when we are outside of a workplace environment.
When structuring this routine, ask yourself whether there are elements of architecture you can engage with that may not be as accessible when you are in full-time employment.
When you are employed, your day tends to structure itself around your office hours. When you are out of work, it is important to nonetheless maintain daily structures, routines, and habits to keep yourself in a productive frame of mind. Allocating time for networking, company research, and application editing, in addition to exercising, socializing, and hobbies, all contribute to a sense of self-esteem, balance, and motivation, demonstrating to yourself that your life is not ‘on pause’ until you find your next job.
When structuring this routine, ask yourself whether there are elements of architecture you can engage with that may not be as accessible when you are in full-time employment. This may range from design activities such as competitions or freelancing to unique branches stemming from the profession, including scholarships and residencies. Your time searching for new employment may also offer you time for learning and improving skills, such as 3D modeling, AI tools, or research on specific typologies, materials, and niches that interest you. In addition to keeping your mind engaged and active, such endeavors can also generate new material for your applications or talking points in interviews.
While it is important not to look back on failed efforts with a sense of regret or embarrassment, you can take emotional control over such experiences by recognizing them as useful sources of data.
If a job application is unsuccessful, it is important that you do not personalize the rejection. As noted before, a lack of response from firms is often due to the volume of applications received and should not be taken as a personal hit. If you are rejected for a role having been interviewed, it is also important to recognize that such rejection is often determined by what skills or experience the firm is looking for at a given time, rather than your personal worth or character. Ultimately, the outcome of your application is dependent not only on the quality of your work but on a degree of fortune; the luck of sending an email at the right time, to the right office, received by the right person in the right mood on the right day. Rather than taking rejection personally, move on and keep working to make your own luck.
An unsuccessful job application, whether through unanswered emails or an interview rejection, is not an entirely negative experience. While it is important not to look back on failed efforts with a sense of regret or embarrassment, you can take emotional control over such experiences by recognizing them as useful sources of data. If you sensed that a particular topic or line of inquiry in your interview was received negatively, ask yourself how you can improve your answers or better structure your material to emphasize your strengths. If a particular project attracts interest or positive feedback from employers, ask yourself how you can elevate it in future applications. If you notice that your initial outreach strategy is not generating responses, experiment with new approaches and monitor the results. Like many points on this list, reflection and analysis on previous failed efforts is not only an exercise in improving the quality of your work and the probability of a successful outcome; it is a statement to yourself that you are taking control and making progress.
Finally, follow our ongoing Archinect Tips series for advice and guidance on navigating your architectural career.
Niall Patrick Walsh is an architect and journalist, living in Belfast, Ireland. He writes feature articles for Archinect and leads the Archinect In-Depth series. He is also a licensed architect in the UK and Ireland, having previously worked at BDP, one of the largest design + ...
1 Comment
Great article!
One thing I'll add: if possible, tailor your CV and any work examples you send to the firm you're applying to. This can be challenging if you're applying to a lot of firms however it is worth it.
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