11 Tips on How to Get a Job in Architecture in 2021 using your time over the holidays efficiently

0041 - 11 Tips on How to Get a Job in Architecture in 2021 using your time over the holidays efficiently
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Introduction and Holiday Greetings
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Hello everyone, I am Stephen Drew founder of The Architectural Social. So we are just about to break up for Christmas, which is amazing. It's been a tough year and for anyone that is still currently looking for a job or thinking. For, to change things up in the new year and to look for a new job in architecture, I have come up with my top 11 tips on how to use this time over the Christmas period to maximize results, how to find that job better, how to.

Get the dream job.

Tip 1: Setting SMART Goals
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Tip number one is I want everyone to make a plan using smart goals. Now, smart goals, I'll read it here, is specific goals that are measurable. They're achievable. They're relevant and time bound.

Tip 2: Get Organized with Tools
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The second tip that I wanted to do is, well, now that you've thought about these smart goals, you [00:01:00] are going to get organized.

You're going to get organized. And I'm the biggest person, uh, that should take this advice because. It's because by nature, I find I'm not a person that writes lists. I'm not a person that overly organizes everything, but whenever I've looked for a job or what I've seen candidates who are looking Architects that are looking or I found that they've been much more successful in this search if they use Something like air table or they use Excel you need a database to organize your search you need to Set something up.

So I've got a template, which I will put a link to underneath this video, which is completely free in air tables. And you want basically a nice Excel sheet, which will organize your job search. You want to go, you want to list all the companies that you've sent your applications to on what dates, and you want to update it as you get further in the [00:02:00] process.

And when you get an interview, you can catalyze, cata. You can categorize that. The third thing, the obvious thing.

Tip 3: Update Your CV
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Update your CV. If you haven't updated your CV yet, this is the perfect time to do it. I've done one or two videos on that where we go into more detail, but generally with your CV, you want one to two pages.

You want it clean, crisp, and legible. You want it to present well. You want it to read easily. If it's printed on a bad printer, we still need the, the CV to be legible. Clean, crisp, clear. We need to put your, your experience to date, your education, your software, your skills. Be literal. Three years using Revit.

Two years working on a residential scheme. I worked Reba stages one to four on this scheme. I worked three to six. My responsibilities were technical coordination. My responsibilities were, um, project delivery. You want to be [00:03:00] very specific with them.

Tip 4: Refresh Your Portfolio
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The fourth bit is your portfolio. Okay. Again, an obvious one.

This is the perfect time to update your portfolio. You want to make sure that you've got your big portfolio, which you take to an interview and in the, in the applications you set up, you want to send what is called a sample portfolio. Think of it like a best hits. You want 10 to 15 pages, which show your work today.

You want to show your best work, the bit. The work that shows the full range of your experience. And you want your most recent, uh, projects typically at the start so that people can see it, get that portfolio ready, get that sample portfolio ready.

Tip 5: Enhance Your Online Presence
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Then the next top tip is number five, and that is to refresh your online.

So update that LinkedIn, maybe start using it a little bit more, make sure that your current role is there. Make sure that you, you know, you you've updated it so people know what projects you've worked on as well. [00:04:00] If you've got stuff like your own websites, then that's a really great thing to update. It's a kind of a really good task over Christmas to do is to update your website, put on your new work, put on the kind of things you've been up to.

Maybe you've done a Christmas card. Maybe you've written something, or if you're a student and you've, if you. Put your work on there, put your, put your, um, your projects on there. This is a really good time to do that. Um, website. It is a good time to update your LinkedIn and get that Instagram up with all them funky pictures, really, really cool stuff of your work.

And then you can basically top up your online, uh, persona. The next tip, then this is a really important one.

Tip 6: Learn New Software
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If you have been thinking all year, I really need to learn Revit or I really need to learn another piece of software. Now is the time to do it. You can load up LinkedIn. You can basically sign up for a free LinkedIn trial for one month, which will, and then from that, you can search for all the amazing courses [00:05:00] online.

Revit, Dynamo, Grasshopper, use this time to learn software. You do not want to be that person next year that talks about that. They should have done it or talks about is Revit relevant or do I really need it? Use this time to learn it. I will put a link in the description.

Tip 7: Conduct Market Research
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Well, next tip is that if you are currently looking for a job, we talked about earlier, you're going to use, you're going to be organized.

You're going to use your Excel database. Now is the time to do market research. You should be looking at companies in your local area to start with. and doing a profile of them. So you should be going online, going on their websites. You should be starting to write a list of companies that you should approach.

And then once you've written that list, it's going to be there for you to action. So again, think of smart tasks, think of things which are achievable and realistic, and start writing down the companies that you're going to send your CV to. And with companies that you in particular really love. [00:06:00] So say no, you've absolutely adore squires and partners, write them a customized email and get that ready and save the template, but you need to start doing that plan of attack.

And then, so you've got the companies that you really want, and then you're going to, you're going to look at companies that you may have never heard of before. Maybe their website isn't as up to date, but maybe they're a great place to work. So you want to be sending your applications to those. So this tip is to get organized and start doing your research on companies.

Tip 8: Join a Community
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The next tip, cause I've lost the order, but I will put in down here, the number it is, is to join a community or get involved somewhere. So LinkedIn is great. But you can get lost in the void. Okay. Facebook is quite handy, but you can, I find that it can get very distracted with all the different groups and stuff.

So try and find a focused architectural community. I'm a little bit biased because I set up the architectural social, which now has 300, 3000 [00:07:00] members since July. And that's an open platform where you can talk with other people as a chat function. There's lots of different topics, but i'm sure there are other great communities out there as well.

I think that in a You've got arcanect in america. You've got one or two other communities as well. You have um, women in office design wod Which is a really nice community as well You have a few different communities, but join a community and if you want to join me on the article social You can do that as well.

Tip 9: Balance Leisure and Productivity
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Next tip is Don't binge on Netflix and stuff. Watch a little bit on Netflix. And hey, I'm almost speaking to myself here. Do not go on Netflix all the time. Because what you want to do is you want to enjoy a little bit. You want to enjoy a bit of TV. If you want to do something a little bit different than architecture, maybe you're getting a little bit fed up of learning that Revit, maybe you're getting a little bit tired of doing, finding out about practices when you have a little break, why not do something which is [00:08:00] really constructive, which is quite creative.

But isn't just watching a film so fine watch one or two films But maybe then you want to that website learn the guitar walk your dog. That's gonna be really important Do some artwork do something creative maybe set up that Instagram with your artwork on the side You can have your actual work and maybe your passion project if you're into pottery or whatever get involved with it This is the really good time to Get your creative juices flowing and basically you can feel a little bit more productive.

I love Netflix. I love Amazon Prime, but you know, if you're going to spend all day on it, you're not going to feel like you've done much with it. Next tip.

Tip 10: Spend Time with Family
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Enjoy time with your family or definitely get them involved. I mean, I'm in a bit of a tricky situation myself where right now I'm even thinking of do I, should I travel back to Wales?

Should I go on the train? Is it risky? But ideally, it'd be great to spend time with the family. And if not, I guess we'll have to go digital, but let's make an effort with our families [00:09:00] because it is important and, and I appreciate it's difficult for everyone, but definitely, definitely try and make time for your family.

You'll feel better for it.

Tip 11: Rest and Plan Ahead
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And the last tip is try to rest up. Yeah. Don't go too heavy having all that Christmas drinks and the, Hey, I love a Christmas drink as much as anyone else, but. If you're going to be hung up, hung over for all this period of time, you're going to miss the boat to set up those SMART goals.

You're going to miss the boat to set up the air table. You're going to have, you need to update your CVM portfolio. So, you know, maybe do a little plan on when you're going to have the big night and big night out, or big night in, I guess. Now, isn't it in this world, you're going to have a big night in and think of one or two days where you're going to work really hard.

Conclusion and Final Thoughts
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So I hope this has been really helpful. And. I look forward to editing this as well. This is one of the first ones I've done. If you kind of like this format of top 10 tips, almost feel like a YouTuber here now, then we, [00:10:00] uh, I will do more. I will do more. And if you want any in particular, then we can go through it as well.

Thank you so much, everyone. And you can find me again on LinkedIn and join the Architectural Social. It would be great to see you there.