Following Ruth Reed's article in the AJ, patronisingly entitled 'Year out: No placements, no worries', completely lacking in useful, insightful or realistic advice, I thought it might be useful to post a summary of my year out with a view to providing some kind of realistic, albeit anecdotal, perspective.
Finding my placement
Fortunately, I began my year out just before the recession started to seriously kick in. I found my placement in May having attended 3 interviews (2 on the same day - avoid doing that), resulting from emailing out around 15-20 CVs and covering letters to various practices in London (from what I've heard you can probably multiply those numbers by at least 5 right now). I applied to quite a range of different sized practices, from offices with 10 people, to larger commercial firms with 100 or more staff, mainly offices with a background of work in the housing sector (later to become probably the worst sector to be in!).
Interviews were as much about finding out if the practices were for me, as they were for the practices to select me. The first practice found a more experienced candidate (in educational work - wise). The second was a large, commercial practice in central London, which I found to be overwhelming and feared CAD monkey status. Finally, I felt I would be most comfortable in a small practice in North London with a good range of contemporary projects ranging from private suburban extensions to larger housing association developments.
Practical experience
Almost straight from university, I began work at the end of June, having moved from Manchester to London. The small practice setting turned out to be a good choice in terms of breadth of experience - smaller projects are ideal for a part 1 student to get to grips with and means you get to see a project through the various work stages from brief to concept, to detailed design to construction.
Direct contact with clients, making decisions and solving issues, will undoubtedly prove invaluable later in my career. I also gained a good foundation in project management, coordinating contractors, suppliers, engineers & surveyors. There are times where it may feel like more responsibility than one can handle, but there is always the knowledge that there is a qualified architect supervising you, and there to provide backup should anything too difficult arise.
Competition work, PR and web design added welcome variation in the workload and allowed me to explore my interest in a different field, where I may not have been able to in a larger studio.
Within a small team there is also the opportunity to observe colleagues' projects, adding more insight into technical issues and client communication from a slightly distanced perspective, with the opportunity to comment and discuss.
The small team also ensured some good opportunities for socialising and getting to know my colleagues, who came from a range of backgrounds with a variety of interests and experience, all adding to a positive year out.
The 'credit crunch'
Murmurs of a downturn began a few months into my placement. These turned into rumbles, then eventually, with the full force of a looming economic earthquake, projects began to be put on hold, or cancelled completely, and new enquiries became few and far between. Clients became even less eager to pay their fees, looking for excuses wherever possible.
A constant stream of gloomy headlines in the architectural press and mainstream media fed a descent in morale, trickling down from the senior staff to the team of placement students. It became apparent that something was going to give, the money going out in wages was clearly beginning to exceed income from fees.
Having got past Christmas, the part ones were called in for the meeting in late January. We had a fair idea what was going on before being given the official notice. It was of some comfort that it had not been an easy decision for the practice, and our efforts to date had been appreciated.
Unemployment
Losing your job in one of the most expensive cities in the world is certainly a worrying time. I gave my housemates as much notice as possible that it was likely I would need to move out, as without paid employment there was no way I could continue to pay rent for more than a month or so.
Searching for a new job urgently whilst still working 9-7 for your soon-to-be-previous employer was quite an awkward, frustrating and exhausting situation: difficult to make phone calls, slightly inappropriate though understandable to be searching job listings at your desk, coupled with a severe lack of motivation to do anything.
I registered with agencies, applied for many jobs, all mostly unrelated to architecture, managed to get one interview (for a PR job, around 80 applied, 7 interviewed) all to no avail after around 6 weeks. All the headlines about the jobs market appeared to be true, with even the most mundane of jobs attracting 100s of applicants. Reed's application count was a particularly depressing piece of information. After staying rent free with my girlfriend for a few weeks I decided it would be best to return home to Manchester, hoping that the numbers would be more in my favour, and home territory would be a more stable, less stressful and less risky environment.
Unrelated work, staying creative
By some stroke of luck I had registered with an agency, had an interview for an assignment in a public sector call centre, and been given the job within about 3 days of being in Manchester. This assignment has been extended twice now, and fortunately has taken me almost right up to returning to university for BArch in September.
Working in a call centre wasn't really what I'd expected to be doing again after graduation (I worked for various financial organisations part time whilst studying), although you'd probably be surprised at how many of my full time (and temp for that matter) colleagues are degree educated. It is rather disheartening after 3 years (or more in my case) of study to be doing a job you could have done aged 16. Keeping it interesting (for me) one day involved setting the target of 150 calls in the day. I missed my target due to one particularly extended call, but it kept me busy nonetheless. I did 138. In 7 hours.
Aside from frantically taking as many calls as possible, I've fitted in reading and twittering, occasionally drawing and researching, at my desk. I have volunteered at CUBE gallery in Manchester when possible (something I also did whilst studying). I've joined the committee of the MSSA student society, developing a website for the new academic year. Along with a fellow part one (who has managed to keep his job), I've submitted a competition entry for the UrbanSOS contest.
None of this additional work has been particularly easy to undertake, in terms of time and energy, whilst also needing to work full time hours to earn money, to pay off debts from the last 3 years and to live. None of it will count towards PEDR sheets. Obviously it will count towards my personal development, keeps me in the loop, and keeps me sane.
Part 2 to follow shortly, summarising this unexpectedly long biographical entry, and some suggestions for the RIBA, the profession and graduates.
Any graduates with questions please feel free to contact me or leave a comment.
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