So I'm heading back to the States in a month and need some tips on US job hunting. My current job was my first job out of school, so there were different rules to the portfolio. Any tips for the portfolio once there is some work experience? How many pages is a good length? How many pages for each project? How to display and what to show for work projects (since I would take a DD set to the interview)? I was thinking 2-4 pages for school projects and 2 pages for work projects, since all are in construction phases, there aren't any finished images to show, just a hand full of renderings and then the DD sets. Could show some construction photos, but at this point it's like 2 steel columns sticking out of a big hole. I know if goes back to the same logic as essays "How many pages?" "Enough to tell the information you want to tell."
the portfolio i put together for interviewing in nyc (after gaining 2 years of work experience in florida) included 6 projects and was 24 pages long. Of the 6 projects: 2 were from school, 2 were from work, and 2 were from [personal] competitions. I also brought an 11x17 set of construction documents along (not every sheet from the set).
this length worked well for me. long enough to show a variety of useful skills, but not so long that it was a bear to get through. the best of my interviews included some review of the construction set accompanied by some conversation about how drawings and drawing sets were done at their practice, etc.
the email teaser that i sent only included a resume and 2 or 4 pages of work samples (depending on the requests of each firm). these samples only included school work, no cd-esque work of any kind.
and of course, search the forums (maybe using the new google search tool) 'cause this has surely been discussed before.
Go to the East Coast or somewhere they are building. The Southwest is not an easy time and place to land a job. Maybe someone will come along and say I'm wrong which would be good because where I'm at it is a lay-off dump. Yes - the Recession monster ate ALL my cookies. If the job boards here are any indication then the East Coast is hot.
AP has it right on. Simple email teaser in a common format.
I'm in Japan. I peace out back to 'Merica land in one week. Love the country, the people, the culture, etc. But it's not a very good place to work it seems.
There 'is a lot of vacation.' Only when people use it though. I used mine, but generally...not my ideal working conditions. I think labor laws are very soft here. More like suggestions. Let's just say, architects bill at flat rates. I worked in a reasonably humane, well paying firm and we lost 4 people to burn out in the first quarter of the year, one of whom was hospitalized. Otherwise, I just felt like it was slowing my career trajectory. The strict hierarchy makes mobility slow and annoying. I got my one year of foreign IDP. Smaller designy firms (SANAA, Ito etc) consistently put in 18+hour days and pay $0~1500 a month. So it's time for something new.
Hey hoff, welcome back. Sounds like you had a rough ride? The economy here isn't exactly peaches but you should be able to find a regular paycheck at least....
I wouldn't say it was a rough ride. It was a tough decision to come back. Met a lot of cool people, saw cool things. I did have a good time. But looking at the long term, I think it's better to get back to the States. At the year marker, I felt like I either had to truly commit to Japan for a few years, or get out. And little silly things too. I can't find shoes or pants that fit me haha. With gas prices getting so high...it's months of savings to visit home. If I want to come home, then I don't have a vacation to say..Thailand or something. I actually just went to Taiwan and Hong Kong, but that was my first time out of Japan since I've been here. It was rad.
if i were reviewing your portfolio, i wouldn't mind seeing some cd-work. but not full sets or even reproductions of full sheets, just pieces that illustrate communication, clarity, and a level of detail.
and, just to put a point on it, the pix of steel sticking out of foundations may not be all that informative/pretty but they could be dropped in at the bottom of a drawing image as an inset. just says 'this is under construction' (i.e., there was follow-through) without you having to say so.
i wouldn't overdo it with the this-is-production stuff, but wouldn't leave it out completely, either.
Yeah, I too would include a random piece of steel sitting in concrete. At the very least, it would communicate to me that you've have at least one day of job site experience -- which is a big thing if you've got only a 1-year-old work portfolio. To me, job site / CA experience is the real activity that kicks you up to the next level of worthwhile candidature.
My porftolio after my first job was similar to AP's, except that it was a bit beefier (I had spent 3 years at one firm and had a lot I was proud of to put in). I had about 3 work projects, 3 personal / furniture / object, and 2 or 3 school projects. I also brought bits of pieces of 3 different drawing sets to show, and they always got well-thumbed. The best advice I can give is that I would spend the time to document *every* project you've worked on that you'd like to show, even if it's just a page; then, I would pick and choose from your pile to create a catered portfolio for each interview.
Eventually, later on down the road, you never know when you'll need to come back to some previous work project to show your experience in a certain thing, and if you document it now while it's fresh in your mind and you have the time, you'll save yourself a lot of heartache later. Also, being able to selectively present approx. 2 work projects, 1 personal, and 1 school to each employer was invaluable.
I did keep my portfolio bound however; in my case I had each of the selected projects bookmarked and let the interviewer flip to them. The approach probably works well with loose plates though. (I hadn't wanted to be shuttling loose plates across country.)
I did 1 page teasers -- about 3 or 4 of them -- and sent 2-3 with each resume. I was careful to leave a lot of white space on the teasers -- they do not follow the same design as my porftolio, just kind of "fit in" with the overall look. They are very clean and simple, just white space, a couple well-selected pictures, and a few lines of type.
CDs are not the end-all be-all. Chances are, your DD sets may have been strong enough to count as CDs in some offices, anyway -- standards are all over the place. Bring what you've got, and don't undermine yourself verbally by assuming that they won't be good enough and apologizing for them. Keep quiet and you'll probably see that the drawings are more impressive than you think.
Job Hunting Portfolio
So I'm heading back to the States in a month and need some tips on US job hunting. My current job was my first job out of school, so there were different rules to the portfolio. Any tips for the portfolio once there is some work experience? How many pages is a good length? How many pages for each project? How to display and what to show for work projects (since I would take a DD set to the interview)? I was thinking 2-4 pages for school projects and 2 pages for work projects, since all are in construction phases, there aren't any finished images to show, just a hand full of renderings and then the DD sets. Could show some construction photos, but at this point it's like 2 steel columns sticking out of a big hole. I know if goes back to the same logic as essays "How many pages?" "Enough to tell the information you want to tell."
hey hoff,
the portfolio i put together for interviewing in nyc (after gaining 2 years of work experience in florida) included 6 projects and was 24 pages long. Of the 6 projects: 2 were from school, 2 were from work, and 2 were from [personal] competitions. I also brought an 11x17 set of construction documents along (not every sheet from the set).
this length worked well for me. long enough to show a variety of useful skills, but not so long that it was a bear to get through. the best of my interviews included some review of the construction set accompanied by some conversation about how drawings and drawing sets were done at their practice, etc.
the email teaser that i sent only included a resume and 2 or 4 pages of work samples (depending on the requests of each firm). these samples only included school work, no cd-esque work of any kind.
and of course, search the forums (maybe using the new google search tool) 'cause this has surely been discussed before.
what city(s) are you looking to work in?
halftime is over...back to spain vs. italy...
Go to the East Coast or somewhere they are building. The Southwest is not an easy time and place to land a job. Maybe someone will come along and say I'm wrong which would be good because where I'm at it is a lay-off dump. Yes - the Recession monster ate ALL my cookies. If the job boards here are any indication then the East Coast is hot.
AP has it right on. Simple email teaser in a common format.
i second the southwest layoff dump.
preparing the resume/samples as we speak/type...euroland here i come.
Hasselhof, where are you working now, abroad?
Germany perhaps?
I'm in Japan. I peace out back to 'Merica land in one week. Love the country, the people, the culture, etc. But it's not a very good place to work it seems.
Japan? Or America?
I thought the Japanese had a lot of vacation time, etc...?
just show up with a laptop with a hot sketchup model.......
There 'is a lot of vacation.' Only when people use it though. I used mine, but generally...not my ideal working conditions. I think labor laws are very soft here. More like suggestions. Let's just say, architects bill at flat rates. I worked in a reasonably humane, well paying firm and we lost 4 people to burn out in the first quarter of the year, one of whom was hospitalized. Otherwise, I just felt like it was slowing my career trajectory. The strict hierarchy makes mobility slow and annoying. I got my one year of foreign IDP. Smaller designy firms (SANAA, Ito etc) consistently put in 18+hour days and pay $0~1500 a month. So it's time for something new.
Hey hoff, welcome back. Sounds like you had a rough ride? The economy here isn't exactly peaches but you should be able to find a regular paycheck at least....
I wouldn't say it was a rough ride. It was a tough decision to come back. Met a lot of cool people, saw cool things. I did have a good time. But looking at the long term, I think it's better to get back to the States. At the year marker, I felt like I either had to truly commit to Japan for a few years, or get out. And little silly things too. I can't find shoes or pants that fit me haha. With gas prices getting so high...it's months of savings to visit home. If I want to come home, then I don't have a vacation to say..Thailand or something. I actually just went to Taiwan and Hong Kong, but that was my first time out of Japan since I've been here. It was rad.
Here are some photos.
http://picasaweb.google.com/RJLibutti
i think it is is funny that anyone has an image that japanese people get vacation time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_time#Differences_among_countries_and_recent_trends
if i were reviewing your portfolio, i wouldn't mind seeing some cd-work. but not full sets or even reproductions of full sheets, just pieces that illustrate communication, clarity, and a level of detail.
and, just to put a point on it, the pix of steel sticking out of foundations may not be all that informative/pretty but they could be dropped in at the bottom of a drawing image as an inset. just says 'this is under construction' (i.e., there was follow-through) without you having to say so.
i wouldn't overdo it with the this-is-production stuff, but wouldn't leave it out completely, either.
How bad is it going to look that I didn't do any CDs? In our firm, the CD was all taken care of by the construction company.
Yeah, I too would include a random piece of steel sitting in concrete. At the very least, it would communicate to me that you've have at least one day of job site experience -- which is a big thing if you've got only a 1-year-old work portfolio. To me, job site / CA experience is the real activity that kicks you up to the next level of worthwhile candidature.
My porftolio after my first job was similar to AP's, except that it was a bit beefier (I had spent 3 years at one firm and had a lot I was proud of to put in). I had about 3 work projects, 3 personal / furniture / object, and 2 or 3 school projects. I also brought bits of pieces of 3 different drawing sets to show, and they always got well-thumbed. The best advice I can give is that I would spend the time to document *every* project you've worked on that you'd like to show, even if it's just a page; then, I would pick and choose from your pile to create a catered portfolio for each interview.
Eventually, later on down the road, you never know when you'll need to come back to some previous work project to show your experience in a certain thing, and if you document it now while it's fresh in your mind and you have the time, you'll save yourself a lot of heartache later. Also, being able to selectively present approx. 2 work projects, 1 personal, and 1 school to each employer was invaluable.
I did keep my portfolio bound however; in my case I had each of the selected projects bookmarked and let the interviewer flip to them. The approach probably works well with loose plates though. (I hadn't wanted to be shuttling loose plates across country.)
I did 1 page teasers -- about 3 or 4 of them -- and sent 2-3 with each resume. I was careful to leave a lot of white space on the teasers -- they do not follow the same design as my porftolio, just kind of "fit in" with the overall look. They are very clean and simple, just white space, a couple well-selected pictures, and a few lines of type.
CDs are not the end-all be-all. Chances are, your DD sets may have been strong enough to count as CDs in some offices, anyway -- standards are all over the place. Bring what you've got, and don't undermine yourself verbally by assuming that they won't be good enough and apologizing for them. Keep quiet and you'll probably see that the drawings are more impressive than you think.
No CA/ job site experience either. Can everyone see why I'm leaving?
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