Curious: How many arch firms did you apply to before getting an offer and/or accepting an offer as a recent MArch grad? Just starting out the job search process...
B.Arch grad. My school sent had us give them 2000 resumes a piece, and sent them indiscriminately to firms all over the world. Because I specified that I wanted to stay in the LA area, I only had to fend off about 50 calls. I accepted a job from the second place I interviewed, as the first one just wasn't a good fit for what I wanted to be doing.
wow...that's just a crazy amount of resumes...i think i may
have sent out 10-15 to get my first job...my second job was
set up while in my first through a friend and for my third i
sent out one resume and got hired a couple days later...
my last two consultant jobs were immediate hires as well.
my next job i suspect will be a bit more difficult...
yeah, I know it's a lot, but that's why they call it the University of Special Connections. = ) I'm sure there were only around twenty places that I would've worked for out of all of that, but the school didn't feel like making custom books for each firm, so they just sent out a standard "USC School of Architecture Class of 2005" resume book that had all of our resumes as well as a Q&A sheet about what area we wanted to work in, how much $$$ we required, etc. It made it all quite easy.
First job with an March out of school, think I sent 5 resumes, had three interviews, one offer...second job found through a friend, no search that I remember... third job sent 2 resumes (while still at second job, which came in handy when I was laid off a few months later) and had offers from both...now on my own :-)
I have no idea what I'll do if I have to look again - probably talk to friends, ask around, try to figure out what would be a good fit and narrow it down to a few places I'd really want to work. I prefer to know someone (or more than one person, if possible), who works there in advance, because there is so much more to a job than the work the office does and the pay...
in my experience, sending out resumes is just a waste of resources, the only thing it really accomplishes is that it provides for some nice busy work if you are unemployed. i've done mass mailings on a couple of occasions (anything from 12-50 firms) and i can't even recall getting a decent interview from this method.
by contrast, the last three architecture jobs i have had did advertise positions, in fact, i don't think any of them were really even looking to hire anyone, i just sort of showed up, offered my services and they made room for me. the caveat is that none of these have been very good paying. i guess that moral of the story is that if you are affordable enough, everybody can use the help.
mass-mailing resumes is a waste of time. write up an a-list and try to get resumes into the hand of someone helpful. follow up with phonecalls. if a-list fails, make a b-list.
you dont win by wallpapering the city with your resumes.
first job i didn't apply but was asked to work for the office (after BED).
second job after MArch was in another country and my connections were close to non-exisitent so sent out about 30 cv's to firms i wanted to work for. got about 20 replies, 5 interviews and 3 job offers in a weeks time, no worries.
The last few years i get work from contacts and haven't really needed my CV except for PR-type stuff. But in a few years from now I am sure to be sending it out again. 30 offices still seems about right...certainly not a waste of time.
From B.S. Arch from a small school , moved to LA, 2 years ago, no experience ,100 resumes, 5 interviews , 2 jobs offer, still in the same job, i am scared of looking for a job again
Jul 23, 05 12:48 am ·
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How many firms did you apply to?
Curious: How many arch firms did you apply to before getting an offer and/or accepting an offer as a recent MArch grad? Just starting out the job search process...
around 100. roughly 2 years ago.
B Arch grad, around 40, 4 years ago.
B Arch grad, about 60, 1 year ago (in Boston)
After my BSc I applied to 80 in Glasgow and Edinburgh, heard from 3, got offered two jobs, accepted one of them.
B.Arch grad. My school sent had us give them 2000 resumes a piece, and sent them indiscriminately to firms all over the world. Because I specified that I wanted to stay in the LA area, I only had to fend off about 50 calls. I accepted a job from the second place I interviewed, as the first one just wasn't a good fit for what I wanted to be doing.
wow...that's just a crazy amount of resumes...i think i may
have sent out 10-15 to get my first job...my second job was
set up while in my first through a friend and for my third i
sent out one resume and got hired a couple days later...
my last two consultant jobs were immediate hires as well.
my next job i suspect will be a bit more difficult...
geez you guys crazy.
BA, (not arch) i applied to like 10.
that's a lot of resumes...so far, i'm getting ready to send about 25
yeah, I know it's a lot, but that's why they call it the University of Special Connections. = ) I'm sure there were only around twenty places that I would've worked for out of all of that, but the school didn't feel like making custom books for each firm, so they just sent out a standard "USC School of Architecture Class of 2005" resume book that had all of our resumes as well as a Q&A sheet about what area we wanted to work in, how much $$$ we required, etc. It made it all quite easy.
b.arch grad, about 20, first interview hired me and i took it. pay is shit but i'm liking the work since it's design-build.
about 15 for the first job.........looking again and I am sitting around 25 and have only pulled a couple of interviews, no offers.
about to ship of 30. previously, it was one at most. i have always been offered (arch) jobs through friends.
First job with an March out of school, think I sent 5 resumes, had three interviews, one offer...second job found through a friend, no search that I remember... third job sent 2 resumes (while still at second job, which came in handy when I was laid off a few months later) and had offers from both...now on my own :-)
I have no idea what I'll do if I have to look again - probably talk to friends, ask around, try to figure out what would be a good fit and narrow it down to a few places I'd really want to work. I prefer to know someone (or more than one person, if possible), who works there in advance, because there is so much more to a job than the work the office does and the pay...
ra rudolph,
agree wholeheartedly with the last paragraph.
I sent out 9 shortly after graduating (this past summer). I started working about 5 weeks ago...
in my experience, sending out resumes is just a waste of resources, the only thing it really accomplishes is that it provides for some nice busy work if you are unemployed. i've done mass mailings on a couple of occasions (anything from 12-50 firms) and i can't even recall getting a decent interview from this method.
by contrast, the last three architecture jobs i have had did advertise positions, in fact, i don't think any of them were really even looking to hire anyone, i just sort of showed up, offered my services and they made room for me. the caveat is that none of these have been very good paying. i guess that moral of the story is that if you are affordable enough, everybody can use the help.
mass-mailing resumes is a waste of time. write up an a-list and try to get resumes into the hand of someone helpful. follow up with phonecalls. if a-list fails, make a b-list.
you dont win by wallpapering the city with your resumes.
first job i didn't apply but was asked to work for the office (after BED).
second job after MArch was in another country and my connections were close to non-exisitent so sent out about 30 cv's to firms i wanted to work for. got about 20 replies, 5 interviews and 3 job offers in a weeks time, no worries.
The last few years i get work from contacts and haven't really needed my CV except for PR-type stuff. But in a few years from now I am sure to be sending it out again. 30 offices still seems about right...certainly not a waste of time.
From B.S. Arch from a small school , moved to LA, 2 years ago, no experience ,100 resumes, 5 interviews , 2 jobs offer, still in the same job, i am scared of looking for a job again
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