In Search of the Recently Unemployed
For those of us that weren’t involved with architecture at the time, the early ’90s were apparently pretty rough on the profession – much like today [ironically, I’m spending a decent amount of time now doing things I was also doing 19 years ago – namely, spending too much time playing video games and reading comic bookcs]. While most of you are probably aware of this – as I’m sure you’ve heard stories from co-workers who survived that recession – what you may not know is that the lack of jobs in the early ’90s led a large number of young architects to seek employment in other fields, and never return to architecture.
All that said, we now find ourselves in another economic sh!tstorm – and while there may be hope of a full recovery, there’s no way to tell when that can be expected. In the meantime layoffs continue, staffs shrink, and having no / little experience [and less than a master’s degree] means that a new generation of young designers and recent graduates are faced with a dilemma: how long can we ride this out, and if that’s too long what will we do next?
So that’s the question – where do you go from here? And Architect magazine wants your answer. Are you recently unemployed, or a recent graduate without a job? What are your plans? How long are you willing to – or how long can you – wait for hiring to start up again before you have to start getting creative, or looking for a job in another field? Have you already decided to leave the profession? What are you doing now? If you think you have an interesting story and would like to share, contact our ninjas at Architect – and your story could be featured in an upcoming issue.
Think about it, and if you’re interested you can send an email to Amanda Hurley [ahurley@hanleywood.com], Senior Editor at Architect.
Good luck on the job front, my ninjas. And remember: it’s not your fault you lost your job, it’s rich people’s.
Posted: May 14th, 2009
at 4:36pm by orangemenace
Categories: architecture,student,employment
Comments: 2 comments
2 Responses to 'In Search of the Recently Unemployed'
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It’s interesting that there’s so little transparency into the -flow- of people through the profession. What are people doing before they become an architect, if they don’t get into it straight after school? What professions do they go into if they don’t like it, or if they’re not getting paid enough, or they just want something different? For every life-long architect I bet there’s an intern who decided to go a different route… but to where?
You did a post back in March excerpting from Arch Record; one line in particular stands out: “While few industries are recession-proof, architects might find work in fields such as graphic design, computer modeling, store branding, facility management, surveying, and product sales.” Those ideas make sense, I just wonder how many architects are satisfied there?
Looking forward to a good article from Architect magazine that will shed some light on it. Hope you’ll post an excerpt when they do.
Jay @ CareerNumbers
15 May 09 at 6:23 pm
graduated last year and did a few free internships, but they dried up, so then have been unemployed for some time, got a few days part time teaching at my old college, but i’m off to do teacher training and do teaching for a few years, then try settle back in with a masters.. then a phd and msc and everything i can get ha
pebbledash factory
17 May 09 at 5:04 am