Whether in personal matters or professional, it’s never a good feeling to get rejected. It can completely lower our confidence when we tried so hard to get into that one school or that one job. Still, I strongly believe that these moments can teach us important lessons that’ll help us reach somewhere even better in the future. It’s not just about the right time, but having the ability and motivation to take that opportunity when it’s presented to you. These past two years have tested us beyond our limits and inconvenienced many opportunities, resulting in countless rejections from firms. Take the time to process rejections and let them motivate you forward!
Tip 1. Follow-Up
Oftentimes, firms don’t follow up after an interview – however, you should take the initiative and send a thank you email and follow up about your candidacy. After hours of applying and countless rejections, I can, without a doubt, say that you should always take advantage when a firm does send a rejection email! Why? In this case, the firm(s) could have viewed the materials sent to them and considered you, so ask them why they moved forward with another candidate. It’s crucial to be receptive to feedback and open to improvement. Asking a firm for feedback shows your initiative and intentions to improve your skills and help you stand out should you apply to them again in the future! I’d consider some of our services with our wonderful designers’ team to review your portfolio! They have a great track record of providing insightful tips and critiques to improve your material, but don’t listen to just me! Read some of the testimonials on this page!
Another suggestion to consider when following-up is to ask if they have heard opportunities with other colleagues or refer you to another firm! This could lead to promising opportunities to network while exploring other firms.
Tip 2. Keep Applying!
Whether you decided to update your materials after the critiques or not, keep applying! It doesn’t hurt or cost you a lot to send out more applications. What’s the worst that can happen? You may be rejected, but that’s a part of growth! There were two things I kept in mind while applying;
The reason I kept those two thoughts in mind was to help mitigate the impact on my confidence from each rejection!
Make sure to check Archinect Jobs Board, Indeed, firms’ website, your governing architecture association’s job board (such as RIBA or AIA), your school’s job board, or LinkedIn job board. LinkedIn may be difficult to get noticed, so a great solution is to send a message to the individual responsible for the job posting or a specific company member. Utilize your professional network, too, see if anyone needs your help, and don’t be shy when reaching out! While the pandemic persists, these online networking tips will help expand your professional network giving you more chances to see unique opportunities.
Tip 3. Continuing Education
If applying for hours isn’t fruitful, consider pivoting to developing your skills; maybe taking a skills-based course will benefit you more! Are there specific skills that you excel in and want to further improve, like arch visualization, BIM software, or graphic illustrations? The list of skills to improve can go forever! However, it’s crucial to make efforts towards a skill that can make you more marketable to firms, and this will depend on which firm you’d like to join.
Like LEED, you can also pursue architectural accreditations to make yourself stand out from others vying for the same position.
This also applies to theory-based courses too! There are many free ones provided by universities like Harvard Online, for example, The Architectural Imagination, Inclusive and Sustainable Cities, or even Entrepreneurial Land Redevelopment Approach: Land Readjustment. This is a great way to continue learning the theoretical approach towards architecture and increase your market competitiveness. I learned this recently, and I’m not sure about you, but I’ll definitely be using this additional resource.
Tip 4. Opportunities are Opportunities
You’d be surprised at the unique opportunities available to you and where they can take you! Full-time employment is not the only path. If possible, we actually strongly recommend you take up freelancing or contract drafting work for firms. This has become much easier as many companies have adopted or adjusted to a remote working style, so it’s possible to work for a firm from a large distance away! I’ve personally used UpWork, which has a high service fee, but there other options too, like Fiverr, SuperSourcing, or Freelancer. Please keep in mind these platforms vary and require research time to see what would work best for you. You could also extend directly to a specific firm asking for possible freelance/contract work too.
Construction work is another great experience to have when applying for a firm; whether it’s residential or commercial experience, you understand how a building is designed and put together. This is a huge benefit to you and demonstrates to an employer that you can formulate construction documents and detailed components for approval submissions.
Although terrible to feel, rejections will eventually make us feel fulfilled when all that anticipation reaches a pinnacle of excitement when you get that email that reads, “Congratulations, . . .” It will take preparation, patience, and hard work to get there, but we guarantee it’ll be worth it!
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