Merely wanting a job isn't a good enough reason to pursue an employer. Many young job seekers approach their job search with this in mind — to get a job somewhere — anywhere. But, one should be more intentional when it comes to one's future. It's normal to get caught up creating your portfolio, resume, and cover letters, doing your best to line up interviews hoping that someone will say yes. But, often, that normality can distract from a larger, more important consideration.
When searching for an employer, we must all ask ourselves our broader goals for this prospective employer. Sure, just wanting to work for them could be the goal, but that gets old fairly quickly. What's the larger plan? To get more experience in construction administration because your previous firm had you trapped in the early design phases? That's getting better. Perhaps, you've been working for a few years in healthcare design, and you've discovered you want to work in the residential sector, then your goals become more refined.
Maybe you're a recent graduate, and you're not sure what your goals are; you just want to learn about architecture. Then, you might look for a firm that values mentorship and has a good system/program in place to teach their junior staff the ropes. And, look: maybe, for some, the goal is to get any job to pay the bills while you look for something better. That's still a legitimate temporary goal.
We are all facing the reality of a shaky job market, and things are tougher for some than others. However, even in light of forces outside of our control, we can still take a short pause and consider our vision for our larger future.
2 Comments
What are my broader goals for this employer?
This question is tricky, and I think for many, myself included, it is more of a dream/luxury than anything close to a realistic contemplation.
The bar has been lowered as I have more experience / bad experiences from my time in the profession.
Goals:
Not to have paychecks bounce, not to be stuck doing other firm's specifications- LEED assessments and other paper pushing for 98% of my work, to design, to work on projects that I would want in my portfolio, to not be harassed at work, to never be asked to lie cheat or hide things from clients/contractors/building code officials, to be able to have a reasonable work life balance.
In general I don't want a current or future employer to be terrible.
Over and OUT
Peter N
The days the goal a lot of us have is to get steady paychecks.
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.