23 November 2010
JOB HUNTING My experience of Job Hunting for Professional Placement year
Matthew Bell BSc Architectural Studies
After Bolivia I had to return to University to complete my Undergraduate Degree, which exhausted my emotionally and with my health problems doing the same physically, I decided to take a couple of months out. It wasn’t till late November when I started looking for a job to complete my professional placement, required by Cardiff University to progress into 5th year. Bolivia counts as 2 of the 9 months needed, so I need another 7 months before September 2011. At the latest I needed a job by February. Most of the time was spent on perfecting my CV, Earlier attempts had been overworked and inelegant, and so I set about refining the information and graphics. On the 23rd of November I targeted 3 local jobs and visited the practices personally to drop in the CV and Covering Letter. The first and my favorite choice was Modece Architects, and when I arrived I was warmly greeted and given an informal interview then and there. The next day I sent emails to countless other opportunities, both in architecture and the surrounding professions. It turned out that I was offered work at Modece by the next week, had been asked to come to an interview at the second place I visited and received a letter of interest in the New Year from the third. All replies on email were negative. The reason I am writing this is that I never realized the strength of meeting someone in person and making a good impression. Modece weren’t even looking to employ someone, but I turned up offered a service they could utilize and was given a job. This will be the way I look for future jobs, even if it is an extremely nerve racking experience.