I'm new to these forums and want to ask you for your advice.
I've made my portfolio and CV which you can take a look below, and I would appreciate your criticism on how to improve it, because it is clearly needed.
I've also made print version for the CV that has folds etc..but In general its quite similar, and the Digital and printable portfolio is the same.
I've just finished my Bsc in architecture Part I RIBA, and going to continue my MArch Part II in the same university, but this year I'm required to have a full time architectural job with a few short courses. I've already sent a few CV's for practices in London and going to send a few more for practices that are quite appealing (thus improving portfolio and CV beforehand).
But my main interest is in Scandinavian countries, Sweden in particular. I've been searching for information how someone with my education could find a job there, sent an email to Swedish Association of Architects (had no reply yet). But found no detailed info of individual international practices and such in that country. Then there is Norway and Denmark which I find it hard to find any info at all. So any information Regarding Part I architect jobs there would be greatly appreciated, or architectural jobs in general.
I thank your for your help in advance regarding any employment advice you have for me.
which is the English-language part of the website of the Swedish Association of Architects and it has a jobs section. I presume that you would be aiming at the larger cities ("larger" relatively speaking as there really is only one, Stockholm, and even that is only about a million people). Some potentially interesting offices in Stockholm/nationally are:
Tham Videgard
Scheiweiller Svensson
White
Sandell Sandberg
Wingardhs
Tengbom
Berg
Some of these have regional or main offices in other Swedish cities and towns too. I have no idea if this might be worth it but sometimes the architecture schools have someone that coordinates work placements and they may or may not be helpful with someone from the outside in need of a hand. There are four schools in the whole country, all part of larger universities: Stockholm (KTH), Gothenburg (CUT), Lund (LTH) and Umea (UMU).
Lastly - and I'm not one to judge your choices and you clearly have given this some thought already or else you wouldn't be posting here - but why Sweden? In terms of contemporary architecture there are many European countries that arguably are more forward thinking and so potentially more interesting for work experience. But that's beside the point and also subject to taste. Most of all Sweden has pretty old-school labor and housing laws meaning that it is very hard to find temporary employment and even harder to find temporary housing. This is part of the socialist heritage which, whatever one might think of it politically, did not have as its main focus the easy movement of people on the labor market or geographically.
My apologies, I spoke to soon, the link above only contains various information on labor laws, taxes etc (useful granted, possibly not what you want when just looking for a job...oh well. Q.E.D.). Here are the job ads of the Architects' Association's website and they're all in Swedish:
1. Ditch the color, perhaps have one highlighting color and make sure the color is modern and well chosen. The issue with having a background color and multiple font colors is that it is very subjective, and you would not want to be cancelled out because someone thinks your color choices are ugly. The other issue with having a lot of color on your resume is that if it is a larger firm with an HR department or office manager, you can be assured that your resume will print out in black and white before it is handed to someone that may be willing to interview you, and therefore your font should be black.
2. I would opt not put your work examples on the front page in combination with your resume, it is very cramped and does not look professional. Having a two page resume, the first with your proper resume and the second being a single page work example would be wiser, and would allow your resume to breath.
3. You need to really be focused on proper alignment with the text and as well with the images. Having random borders, misaligned text, and different size images which leave random white space make it again look unprofessional, you need more white space, but your white space should fall in an alignment.
4. Regarding the content of the resume, as being in the States I know that there are different thoughts on what should be included in a resume. Is it common to put your percentiles on a resume in Europe? If it is not, I would suggest removing them.
5. Don't use both underscores and a colon at the end of a title, I think one or the other could be nice, but using both is a bit too much.
6. I would be more subjective on your skills, many will disagree but I don't think putting hand drawing or sketching down is necessary, let the skills that firms are really interested in speak out. This also applies for Microsoft Software, if you really want to keep the Microsoft Software listed then just say Microsoft Office Suite, and not list each software individually, but again I would just nix it out as it is really a given. I think you should expand on your model making skills, does this include laser cutting? Milling? Metal Shop Work? Wood Shop? What type of fabrication? You can really expand on this skill.
I think that this is a good website to find quality constructed resumes: http://cvparade.com/
Unfortunately they do not update it anymore and there are some very graphic resumes from web designers and graphic designers so pick wisely.
empea and Kyle, thank you for your websites and advice given me, I have taken a lot of that into account and hope that will increase the chances of me getting a job soon.
Aug 7, 13 5:38 am ·
·
Block this user
Are you sure you want to block this user and hide all related comments throughout the site?
Archinect
This is your first comment on Archinect. Your comment will be visible once approved.
Help with CV / Portfolio and Scandinavia
Hello there,
I'm new to these forums and want to ask you for your advice.
I've made my portfolio and CV which you can take a look below, and I would appreciate your criticism on how to improve it, because it is clearly needed.
http://issuu.com/gedsta/docs/a3_digital_cv
http://issuu.com/gedsta/docs/a4_digital_portfolio
I've also made print version for the CV that has folds etc..but In general its quite similar, and the Digital and printable portfolio is the same.
I've just finished my Bsc in architecture Part I RIBA, and going to continue my MArch Part II in the same university, but this year I'm required to have a full time architectural job with a few short courses. I've already sent a few CV's for practices in London and going to send a few more for practices that are quite appealing (thus improving portfolio and CV beforehand).
But my main interest is in Scandinavian countries, Sweden in particular. I've been searching for information how someone with my education could find a job there, sent an email to Swedish Association of Architects (had no reply yet). But found no detailed info of individual international practices and such in that country. Then there is Norway and Denmark which I find it hard to find any info at all. So any information Regarding Part I architect jobs there would be greatly appreciated, or architectural jobs in general.
I thank your for your help in advance regarding any employment advice you have for me.
Unfortunately there is no really good comprehensive resources (not even in Swedish) for employment in architecture in Sweden. There is this:
http://www.arkitekt.se/s59455
which is the English-language part of the website of the Swedish Association of Architects and it has a jobs section. I presume that you would be aiming at the larger cities ("larger" relatively speaking as there really is only one, Stockholm, and even that is only about a million people). Some potentially interesting offices in Stockholm/nationally are:
Tham Videgard
Scheiweiller Svensson
White
Sandell Sandberg
Wingardhs
Tengbom
Berg
Some of these have regional or main offices in other Swedish cities and towns too. I have no idea if this might be worth it but sometimes the architecture schools have someone that coordinates work placements and they may or may not be helpful with someone from the outside in need of a hand. There are four schools in the whole country, all part of larger universities: Stockholm (KTH), Gothenburg (CUT), Lund (LTH) and Umea (UMU).
Lastly - and I'm not one to judge your choices and you clearly have given this some thought already or else you wouldn't be posting here - but why Sweden? In terms of contemporary architecture there are many European countries that arguably are more forward thinking and so potentially more interesting for work experience. But that's beside the point and also subject to taste. Most of all Sweden has pretty old-school labor and housing laws meaning that it is very hard to find temporary employment and even harder to find temporary housing. This is part of the socialist heritage which, whatever one might think of it politically, did not have as its main focus the easy movement of people on the labor market or geographically.
With that said - good luck :)
My apologies, I spoke to soon, the link above only contains various information on labor laws, taxes etc (useful granted, possibly not what you want when just looking for a job...oh well. Q.E.D.). Here are the job ads of the Architects' Association's website and they're all in Swedish:
http://www.arkitekt.se/platsannonser/aktuella
My thoughts on your resume:
1. Ditch the color, perhaps have one highlighting color and make sure the color is modern and well chosen. The issue with having a background color and multiple font colors is that it is very subjective, and you would not want to be cancelled out because someone thinks your color choices are ugly. The other issue with having a lot of color on your resume is that if it is a larger firm with an HR department or office manager, you can be assured that your resume will print out in black and white before it is handed to someone that may be willing to interview you, and therefore your font should be black.
2. I would opt not put your work examples on the front page in combination with your resume, it is very cramped and does not look professional. Having a two page resume, the first with your proper resume and the second being a single page work example would be wiser, and would allow your resume to breath.
3. You need to really be focused on proper alignment with the text and as well with the images. Having random borders, misaligned text, and different size images which leave random white space make it again look unprofessional, you need more white space, but your white space should fall in an alignment.
4. Regarding the content of the resume, as being in the States I know that there are different thoughts on what should be included in a resume. Is it common to put your percentiles on a resume in Europe? If it is not, I would suggest removing them.
5. Don't use both underscores and a colon at the end of a title, I think one or the other could be nice, but using both is a bit too much.
6. I would be more subjective on your skills, many will disagree but I don't think putting hand drawing or sketching down is necessary, let the skills that firms are really interested in speak out. This also applies for Microsoft Software, if you really want to keep the Microsoft Software listed then just say Microsoft Office Suite, and not list each software individually, but again I would just nix it out as it is really a given. I think you should expand on your model making skills, does this include laser cutting? Milling? Metal Shop Work? Wood Shop? What type of fabrication? You can really expand on this skill.
I think that this is a good website to find quality constructed resumes: http://cvparade.com/
Unfortunately they do not update it anymore and there are some very graphic resumes from web designers and graphic designers so pick wisely.
Best of luck with the job search !
empea and Kyle, thank you for your websites and advice given me, I have taken a lot of that into account and hope that will increase the chances of me getting a job soon.
Block this user
Are you sure you want to block this user and hide all related comments throughout the site?
Archinect
This is your first comment on Archinect. Your comment will be visible once approved.