Architecture State of the Union #2 - Tips for Architects

Last week in my Architecture State of the Union post, I outlined why architects were struggling in todays’ market, I said I would focus this week on tips that might help architects. If you are happily in a role and not looking for anything, then this probably isn’t relevant for you now, but potentially in the future.

These are tips that I give to anyone who I speak to, that I thought might be beneficial to architects on a broader scale.

Reach out

Most people, when they are looking for new roles, tend to put a post on LinkedIn to say “I’m available for work”, I am all for that approach. However, that post only has a very limited reach. I don’t know the ins and outs of linkedIn algorithms, but I know that unless you get a certain amount of likes and engagement in the first few mins, it’ll likely not be seen by many. Therefore, I always recommend reaching out to your network, be it linkedin messaging, email, call, text or carrier pigeon. How ever you feel comfortable, approach people you have worked with before, and let them know you are looking. You’ll be surprised at how many architects get jobs through their direct network.

Approach Architecture Managers

If you see a role is advertised by an organisation and apply, then I’d recommend trying to engage with the architecture manager (assuming they are most likely hiring manager). Let them know you have applied or that you are interested in a conversation. If you have any connections in common that you can see they have likely worked with, mention them, referrals and connections matter, especially in such a small market. In general, most of the architecture leaders I speak to are more than happy to speak to architects who approach them about work. They do often struggle to find time, so don’t get too put off if they can’t give you much time.

Referrals by Internal Staff

This is somewhat of an extension of the above, if you know a company is hiring, I’d look through LinkedIn and see who you know there, message them and see if they can introduce you or give you more insight into the role. Referrals are a great way to get engaged, it’s how I like to operate as the risk of hiring the wrong type of person is a lot lower.

Reach out to Internal Recruitment Teams

If the above doesn’t work, I’d then reach out to the internal recruitment teams. I’m not trying to dump all over my profession, but most recruiters have no idea about the nuances of architecture (which is lucky for me as it keeps me busy). You are most likely relying on someone who is using keywords in your cv to get through the process. I’ve been told by a few people recently that they’ll apply for a role and find out once the role is closed that there were 100 -150 applicants. This is not to say that all applicants were good, in fact in my experience 85% are often not right for the role, but with a recruiter having to go through all those applications they are potentially going to make mistakes and you might be overlooked. Most internal teams have a number you can call, do that, introduce yourself, I can guarantee that you’ll make yourself stand out.

Follow Up

I often get architects who call and ask how the market is or follow up about a certain role. It’s surprising how many times people apologise for doing so. In my mind you have nothing to apologise for (unless you are calling ten times a day). Recruiters miss things, people are juggling multiple priorities and sometimes forget to keep everyone up to date. Although with the tools available this should be easier to do, people like me who are a bit useless with tools can let things slip.

Attend events

It’s a bit tricky in NZ as there really are bugger all events tailored towards architects (for those of you that come to the The Architecture Collective events we will do more, I promise, I’m just finding out how tricky it can be trying to run events and deal with non-sleeping kids). If you can get to events, get to meet people you’ll start building your network. It goes to the point at the top about networks. In my time running the architecture collective I have seen a few people connect outside those events and go on to work with each other.

CV’s

I didn’t really want to talk about CVs as every other person with a recruiter hat seems to be an expertand will give you varying advice. However, I do have a cv guide that has been tailored to architects, it is based on years of experience. I must confess it was not my original content but something my old mentor and colleague Ben Clark created. It’s bloody excellent. If you want a copy of it message me and I’ll send it through.

Hopefully the above helps, it’s a crap time out there for a lot of people, things will get better, but it could still be a while and competition is very high which makes jobs harder to land.

I’ve been told I need to do hooks at the end of my blogs to ensure you are all interested, so to keep momentum going, my next article will be on the changing landscape of enterprise architecture in NZ. I’m seeing somewhat of a demise in the traditional EA role, and the evolution of the ESA/Principal.