Sundayz...obama might be looking for a chief Architect...and he or she would have to based in DC.... Call him up and let him look at your dirty laundry...what do you have to loose.

being FAIA would help

Anti....you really think he is into Labels....Like FAIA?

Well AIA does lobby for the architect of the capital to at least be an architect and one who knows his or her stuff the most would probably be that i imagine.

Been looking for an architecture job in Chicago for 3 months now, it's awful. Even the temp agencies say it could be the worst they've seen in 25 years. They predict firms won't even start looking for jobs until the new year comes around. I've been applying to a lot of restaurants lately, some of them might even pay more! ha

What's the deal with Chicago anyway, is it all networking and word of mouth? firms here never post for jobs - or it seems like they never need to.

Waiting tables was my livelihood right out of school... a great living if you can get in at a pricey place.

NOT an ideal career move, but a good way to pay the bills for a time if nothing in the field is available at the moment.

I work in a small NYC firm and just got notified last friday that I'm being laid off along with some others come december. This is my first job out of school and I've been doing a good job here for the past 4 months but after looking at job postings it seems to be almost 1/4 of what it was over the summer. Obviously in the past four months the economy has plummetted exponentially but I'm curious if seasonal hiring patterns affect this also for right now. Could we expect an increase in availabilities after the new year??

Sparks,

I'm in the same boat, same city. Your post is spot on about Chicago. I don't get it either. Chicago always seems to get hit worse than most cities, though it usually is quick to recover. But this economy seems a little worse than normal. Job boards have like 4 lousy postings and that's it, and usually for senior staff. As far as networking goes, I've asked all my friends at other firms and before I could get my foot in a couple months ago, they all went from hiring to laying off. I've even tried the temp agencies too with no luck. They said this climate is worse than '82.

.dwg, same boat. same city.
been searching for a month now and... don't know where to look anymore.
there are NO jobs out there!
I am wondering if I should look into architectural "cousins" like graphics, commercial work, etc. I am afraid when I try to go back in some years, it will look super bad on my resume...
has anyone had any luck this month?

i know this may get me into trouble, but we're a medium size NYC firm and we're hiring. Specifically, we're looking for two to three experienced NYC project architects and will also need three to four intermediates in January. We have a pretty diverse client base (educational, public work, planning) and four projects were just greenlighted to go into schematic design, meaning we should be good for the next year. We put out ads and have been deluged with resumes but i have to say that the quality of candidates isn't as high as we expected given the economy. Designers are a dime a dozen, but what we need are people who can intelligently guide a client, are technically proficient, and personable in the office. in other words, we want architects, not primadonnas. It's amazing how many people still think they're god's gift to design and want big bucks. And if you're going to interview somewhere, for god's sakes, do a little research on the firm before you interview. I swear, the next person I interview who shows no interest in what we do or what we've done gets an immediate "don't call us, we'll call you".

I got back from the unemployment office this morning for a manditory resume information lecture and one of the presenters looked at my resume and infront of everyone was like "wow another architect". Lets just say I felt really encouraged after that.

Well said, tallboy! We all need to remember our manners, even in this economy. Or rather, ESPECIALLY in this economy.

hi all. I got laid off in this May and still jobless.
i'd be just happy to be a cadmonkey at this point, Otherwise, I have to try my luck with animation industry..

I'm just letting you all know that I'm still out of a job since my last post. I'm going to blame everything on Iraq. How dare they try to kill George Bush senior! shame on you.

more like how dare they accuse people of WMD with no proof and destroy their society

DFW is pretty well dried up (not that anyone cares about the south here)

...throw on top of that recent layoffs at HKS and other big firms, and we have a lot of unemployed architects.

The left will be reborn by uniting the causes of inequality and the environment — or, unfit, it will disappear in the general disorder that will sweep it and everything else away. And yet, let us be optimistic. Optimistic, because there are ever more of us who understand — unlike all the conservatives — the historical novelty of the situation: we are living out a new, never-seen-before phase of the human species’ history, the moment when, having conquered the Earth and reached its limits, humanity must rethink its relationship to nature, to space, to its destiny.

so, you guys are saying you can't afford to be picky about who you work for at this point, you just need *something*?

i guess that's okay. you can always leave a shitty firm (you worked at to pay the bills) off your resume once you're trying to get back into awesome firm land.

There was this really funny (yet sad) episode at a good buddy-o'mine's firm:

They gathered everyone into the main conference room to announce a salary freeze/no bonus for all "non-essensial non-associate and above staff." As he glanced accross the room pretty much 70% of the staff fell into that "non-essential" category and the expression on everyones' faces were absolutely priceless. Here they all were busting their asses, staying until midnight everyday to satisfy ridiculous and impossible deadlines, getting paid shit -- getting called chopped liver.

Then finally one of the Associates who was extremely sympathetic to their plight got up, slammed his fist on the table and yelled "And you're guys STILL want to vote for George Bush's third term!!!!!!????" All of the higher ups are republicans who apparently seem to think that gays, abortion, Iraq, religion, and all that other horseshit is more important than out jobs.

But in defense of the higher ups who orchestrated this meeting, they were visibly incensed by HR's use of the word "non-essential." But ultimately the HR head just received a slap on her wrist and a handsome thanksgiving bonus. The senior associates alone got an extra week vacation + 8k bonues. Two of the head Principals and a group of some of the associates took a three week paid vacation to the Bahamas.

But like all injustices of the world, the aftermath of this got really ugly down the stretch. Eventually it leaked to the press and it leaked to the core client base who were not pleased abouty how their money was being spent.

So what are these 'other jobs besides architecture' that everyone keeps talking about?

I got a waiter job. Some of them can be quite good, people out there make 60K a year.

Professional student

my SO's sister worked a second job as a waitress at high end restaurants and pulled down enough money to travel for several months out of the year, plus maintain a relatively large nest egg.