: as the recipient of what seems like thousands of such inquiries each year, i can share with you what captures my attention:

a) the inquiry indicates clearly that the candidate has chosen our firm for specific reasons and is not just sending out hundreds of inquiries, hoping one or two will prompt a reply

b) the candidate demonstrates in the submittal that he/she has something to offer a firm such as ours ... prior work experience that is applicable to our world; special design talents; a specific passion for the type of work we undertake, etc.

c) the candidate respects my time by providing materials that are easy to access, quick to review and informative about the topics indicated above

d) the candidate has enough emotional maturity to couch the approach in terms of what he/she can do for us ... not what we can do for him/her

on an initial inquiry, i prefer either a mailed submittal or an e-mail ... with either, i prefer to receive 1) a brief cover letter; 2) a solid resume; and 3) some images of the candidates work. keep it simple ... if i want to see more, i'll ask for more.

you goal in the initial inquiry is to prompt a phone call or a return e-mail ... be compelling, but try to understand that any firm worth talking to is going to have a LOT of candidates to review ... you need to be a good fit and you need to stand out in some way.

unless you already have a personal contact at the firm, call the receptionist and ask who in that firm receives employment inquiries ... then, send your materials to that person ... you're probably just wasting your time if you send an inquiry to each of the firm's named principals.

resist the temptation to become a pest by calling all the time to see if your package arrived ... find out who provides administrative support to the person receiving your package ... limit your phone inquiries to that administrative support person.

hope this helps ... good luck

i find being there is a big help. unless you are really amazing i would prefer to talk to you sooner than later, especially for an intern position.

the showing how your skills matches the office's thang is easy to make a mistake with. if you know they do lots of maya and you are the maya man then go for that...but i can think of few things that turn me off more than the lawyer-ly approach, with all t's crossed and i's dotted, worse when it is capped with sugary enthusiasm. ick.

which is to say check out the office culture afore applying. for me, i don't care if you have a special passion for anything i do, but i do care that you can speak up and think for yourself when necessary. i also care that you are creative and can think out of the box (can't believe i said that, but it is the right phrase for the job), which i can tell form your work in portfolio. that ain't the commercial firm vibe though...

ayway, give each office a ring and find out who to send enquiries to and what kinds of openings are available while you are at it. then send a letter or e0mail if appropriate.

luck to ya.

Quizzical and Jump: Thank You So Much For The Valuable Advice and Insight!!!!!!!!!

You rock, you rock, you rock!

Graphics....in your resume.....let them know your organized....even if your creative. You have something like 4 seconds of there time so keep it short and to the point...no one cares if you were the class president when you were in junior high.... let it rip!

archinthecity....seems like we're on the same boat, but damn..quizzical really answered the question ON POINT!!!! anyway, good luck this summer!!

's right ... you have very limited time to catch the attention of a harried executive ... if you can make it snappy and graphical and convey a good first impression, that's a good thing.

however, fancy graphics won't make up for poor credentials ... i've hired lots of folks with good skills and a ho-hum resume (visually) ...

i've also NOT hired lots of folks with eye-popping resumes but the wrong set of skills for what our firm needed at that particular moment in time

in the end, it's all about fit ... concentrate mostly on presenting your talents and your abilities and your experience ... everything else is "eye wash"

When I review resumes I look for someone who states in their cover letter that they are looking to work in a dynamic team oriented environment.

but not too (indecipherably) creative :-(

and can think out of the box (can't believe i said that, but it is the right phrase for the job)

then try, "think your way out of a paper bag" :-)

hah, yeah i suppose but being indecipherable aint creative, its just annoying.

unless the design work is really really amazing, in which case i wouldn't care if you were a flake or a bad writer (ie, zaha's theorist/writer, schumaker, is an amazing source of intense and barely comprehensible archi-speak, but HER work is still brilliant). but if you were really that good i wouldn't hire you anyway. i'd tell you to open your own office cuz you don't need to be an intern ...

nah, "outa the box" is still right, even if it is a stupid cliche. i don't mind teaching tech skills to interns but i really can't stand it when i have to teach them to think out problems for themselves, or at least speak up when they don't understand. drives me barmy.

am sure there are many offices who prefer the opposite though and would find a curious and outspoken intern a real pain in the ass...

w/ three and half years experience its almost impossible to fit all my experience and history onto one page for my resume. is a two page resume recommended or should i keep it to the point and keep everything on one page.?

longhorn - my 2 page resume didn't raise any flags. I agree that you need it to get all the stuff in there. One thing you want to do is make sure the first page LOOKS like the first page, second looks like the second so there is no confusion how to read it. I wouldn't use a stapler, loose sheets is what I decided was best. Also, I put my contact info header on BOTH sheets so if/when they become separated, they could be put back together again.

before i worked for myself, i sent my cv totaling 5-6 pages with a small hand made and sewn book of samples. never got into what i did at each job just who i worked for, job title, dates of employment, and city/state. the education, competition, exhibition, and award entries were just as succinct. i also did not get into what applications i know or what my other interests or hobbies were. save that stuff for the interview. i never got any complaints and the format served me very well.

Use any contacts you have!!

It's not a bad thing and it gets your foot in the door if not downright cracks it open for you to slip in. No shame if you're a hard worker and are suited for the job. I was hesitant at first, but after a few rejections, it was amazing how much just knowing someone in common helped. And helps you on your networking skills.

indeed acfa. i got a number of my jobs by knowing someone who knows someone. don't be bashful. your work still needs to stand on its own, but if it comes down to you and someone else, you'll be a shoe in by knowing someone.

genius doesn't sell itself. "invent a better mousetrap, and the world won't notice"

e909,

ok, so i know 3 people who went to ito's office looking for a job in the 90's. one was told was too good to work for anyone but himself; so he took ito's advice and opened his own shop and is doing very well. the 2 others worked for ito for a while and then set up shop. with his support. that is absolutely the way offices should work. they were all brilliant, ito recognised it and helped them out.

if i were in a position to do so, i would do the same. i love to work with amazing people but have no problem seeing them succeed without me.

as far as selling oneself, that is not something you will learn being an intern anyway.

though must have already had experience. to open own office, don't you need a license, which is acquirable only after working for other people?

as far as selling oneself, that is not something you will learn being an intern anyway.
yeah. you'll never get to be an intern (or work for yourself) if you can't sell yourself.

see Interview Skills ...

school teaches young architects to design and, to some extent, to present. learning to work with other people and to communicate ideas clearly and concisely is a valuable part of the early career experience

A lot of firms tend to hire summer interns around spring break time. Early to mid march might be a good time to send out your resume and cover letter, and call potential firms.

how bad would it be to usps a resume/cover letter and portfolio without any prior contact? i would then follow up with an electronic copy of the resume/cover -- then call within two weeks.

should i try this?

maybe not a portfolio, as expensive, but a cover letter and resume to a bunch of offices you are interested in will probably lead to something.


e909, sorry didn see your response way back when, but on the off chance you are reading...you are totally right. but i did say amazing. The fellow in question falls into that category, never got a licence and is nonetheless quietly famous world wide and building in several countries last time i checked in...crazy world ennit?

while so many others couldn't punch [their] way out of a wet paper bag with scissors in [their] hands.

ill tell you what I did, and every firm responded, most within 24 hours.

Send a Cover Letter and Resume via email.

That's it. Simple as that. No graphics, no telling them how I match up, nothing. In the email mention you have images available upon request.

If your education and work experience match what they are looking for, they will contact you.

Let me clarify

In the email, I mentioned I am looking for a position for ___ (firm name). I mentioned I have images available upon request, and am available for an interview (phone if youre far away). Keep it simple and straight forward.

cmdace18, your email message was distinct from your cover letter?

jump, i realize that sending the portfolio is bad form. really what i need is a teaser -- an origami like folding thing. no?
thanks

a "teaser" is fine as an attention grabber, but teasers easily can get out of control. people in firms who deal with employment inquiries have a difficult data management problem. we get lots and lots of resumes and other materials in all sorts of media. we have complex files that are hard to manage. if you send a teaser that is hard to file and hard to keep connected with your resume, you are likely to get shunted aside. you may think sending in wildly distinctive, hard to file material is a plus -- it's not -- it's a pain in the butt

as for sending in both a cover letter and a resume via e-mail, i'm okay with that, especially if the cover letter says something meaningful and doesn't just include the typical pablum contained in every such cover letter. however, it would be terrific if you could combine both the cover letter and the resume into a single PDF file. that's one less thing for us to open and track.

for an initial inquiry, i actually like to see a few (2-3) small images of your best work integrated directly into the resume. keep the images more-or-less thumbnail size and make sure they actually show something meaningful. but, as a first impression, really good images of that sort can make me want to see more, even if i may not be totally wowed by the resume text.

standardsofa

my email message informed the reader what was included in the attachments and any other specific information for that firm (i.e. i'll be in your area this week, etc.) It was more of an informal hello. The cover letter and resume are more of a formal approach.If that makes any sense.

Always approach an Architectural Firm on your hand and knees....crawling Quickly from left to right with a slow advance
forward at all times!

yeah, what babs says.

last time i looked for a job i had a few images of recent projects as thumbnails/confetti things within the resume (which was 2 pages long).

cover letter absolutely must not be pablum. verry messy, pablum.

example of a credentials package I received late last week:

stack of about 20 - 4.5 x 7 inch cardstock sheets printed as a portfolio, held together at the top by 2 chrome rings ... cover was the piece of wrinkled copper mounted to stiff cardboard, with a round sticker showing the candidate's name glued to it ... this thing is 3/4" thick ... the portfolio work isn't too bad, but it is really, really hard to review and impossible to file ... the only other thing I received from this candidate was a CD, which I haven't even bothered to pop into my computer, so I don't even know what's on it.

now, this candidate went to a LOT of trouble (and expense) to put this thing together and, as far as I'm concerned, she wasted about 95% of her effort ... started me off looking at her work with a wtf attitude ... creativity that isn't practical doesn't go over with most clients ... it doesn't go over well with many recruiters either.

keep it very simple, reasonably low tech, and easy to use and file

by the way ... I received 45 other credentials packages to review last week

thanks for the help.
maybe to my detriment i sent out the origami thing, but it turned out nice : small, flat, and folds in three ways. anyone want one? email.

then crazy is how it should be.

so archinthecity: how's it working out ? give us some feedback on the lessons you've learned here