This issue of ArchVoices is a list of resources for people who are dealing with or facing unemployment. The theme is inspired largely by a short notice we came across in a recent issue of the Boston Society of Architects (BSA) monthly newsletter. The notice described an impressive program called the Career Transition Network, which involves monthly lunches for unemployed and underemployed building industry professionals. In fact, the BSA invites anyone interested in the building industry, not just architects, and not just members–they’re inclusive, even among the unemployed. After talking more with the BSA staff, we realized the Career Transition Network is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of their efforts to support people who are unemployed, underemployed, or simply seeking to change jobs. The good news is that other AIA components and many university career centers likely offer many comparable services and we encourage you to look into them, if and when.

Beyond economy-related layoffs, young people in this profession change jobs frequently. In the 1998 AIA Work-on-the Boards Survey, 30% of firms reported less than half of the interns they hired over the past 5 years stayed a full year. The 1999 AIA Survey on Internship found that more than 2/3 of those interns surveyed had held more than one full-time position during their internship experience; 62% had been in their current job less than two years. Regardless of the circumstances, every job change requires some planning and forethought. The fact is that the vast majority of young people will find the information herein extremely useful as a starting point at least once during their career. If that’s you, then just know that you’re in good company…even if you’re not officially in a specific company.

contents:

1. 2003 Work-on-the-Boards Survey
2. COBRA Health Insurance Coverage
3. Federal-State Unemployment Insurance Program
4. BSA Career Transition Network
5. AIA San Francisco Event: “How to Find a Job in Architecture in a Tough Economy”
6. AIA National Resources
7. Waiver and Deferral of AIA Membership Dues
8. “Layoffs: A Good Thing or Not?”
9. ZweigWhite Recruitment Advisor
10. Fast Company Magazine
11. How to Start Taking the ARE
12. ArchVoices Job Search Webpage
13. University Lecture Series

1. 2003 Work-on-the-Boards Survey

An article in last week’s edition of AIArchitect reported the following:

“The economy remains atop the list of business concerns for architecture firms in 2003. When asked to name their biggest concern for 2003, 38% of firms put a weak economy in the number one position, while an additional 22% placed identifying new markets or new clients at the top of their worry list. …However, larger firms still are concerned about staffing issues. Almost one in five firms with billings over $1 million put retaining or attracting staff as their principal concern for the coming year. Smaller firms were more likely to list managing project workloads (30%) or negotiating appropriate fees (9%) as their chief concern for the coming year.”

The article also contains a general building industry-related update on the state of the U.S. economy, so it’s well worth the read. Additionally, the following page of the U.S. Department of Labor website, http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t05.htm, contains a number of (disheartening) statistics about national unemployment rates.

2. COBRA Health Insurance Coverage

The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985, commonly referred to as COBRA, requires most employers with group health plans to offer employees the opportunity to continue temporarily their group health care coverage under their employer’s plan if their coverage otherwise would cease due to termination, layoff, or other change in employment status (referred to as “qualifying events”). It does not matter whether the employee voluntarily terminated or was discharged.

Employers are required by law to make COBRA continuation coverage available for up to 18 months for covered employees, as well as their spouses and their dependents, when workers otherwise would lose coverage because of a termination or reduction of hours.

Some small employer plans are exempt from COBRA. If all employers maintaining the plan normally employed fewer than 20 employees on a typical business day during the preceding calendar year, the plan falls within the “small employer plan exception.”

Be advised that there are strict regulations regarding the COBRA application process. Those regulations require quite a bit of coordination between the employee, employer, and insurance plan provider.

3. Federal-State Unemployment Insurance Program

The Unemployment Insurance Program (UI) provides weekly unemployment insurance payments for workers who lose their job through “no fault of their own.” Eligibility for benefits requires that the claimant be able to work, be seeking work, and be willing to accept a suitable job. Payments made directly to the individual ensure that at least some of life’s necessities such as food, shelter, and clothing can be met while looking for work.

UI is a nationwide program created to provide partial wage replacement to unemployed workers while they conduct an active search for new work. It is a federal-state program, meaning that it’s based on federal law, but executed through state law. Employers finance the UI program by tax contributions.

The URL above includes links to every state’s UI program and other unemployment resources.

4. BSA Career Transition Network

The BSA Career Transition Network was established during the recession of the early 1990s and was resuscitated last year. Facilitated by top BSA staff members, the network convenes once a month for lunch. Each meeting typically attracts a number of newcomers as well as people who are dealing with long-term unemployment. It is free to all and intended to be a haven and a source of advice on one’s job search. More specifically, it’s a great opportunity to receive resume and portfolio critiques, tips on interviewing skills and writing cover letters, as well as updates on the state of the market, among many other things. The BSA tries to always have one or more placement professional present to offer advice, market updates, resume critiques, etc. Additionally, at its annual meeting, Build Boston, the BSA offers several workshops on how to hire, how to find a job, etc. Most significantly, they offer full-tuition scholarships to young professionals to attend all these sessions (and to everything else at the conference).

If you’re not in the Boston area, but think such a regular network would be a good idea in your area, contact your local AIA component and volunteer to help start one.

5. AIA San Francisco Event: “How to Find a Job in Architecture in a Tough Economy”

February 6, 2003 | 5:30-7:30pm
San Francisco, CA

AIA San Francisco and the Bay Area Young Architects (BAYA) are co-sponsoring a special panel discussion, “How to Find a Job in Architecture in a Tough Economy.” Panelists include John Kriken, FAIA, of SOM; Sarah Rosen, Human Resources Manager of Smith Group; George Calys, AIA, Director of Business Development of Carey and Co. Architecture; and Heddie Chiu of Naylor and Chiu. The event is free, but reservations are recommended.

And, if you’re not earning any real money at present, you can at least earn one continuing education learning unit for attending this event, and most other AIA-sponsored events for that matter.

To RSVP, contact AIA San Francisco by email at info@aiasf.org or call 415/362-3948.

6. AIA National Resources

As we’ve mentioned previously, the recently-released 2002 AIA Compensation Survey is a great resource to use when negotiating your next job contract or even a raise. Some AIA components have generously posted parts of the report online, like the following link to AIA-DC’s website: http://www.aiadc.com/South%20Atlantic.pdf To order the report, visit the AIA’s online bookstore at http://www.aia.org/books/default.asp

Like the new AIA.org website, the AIA’s online career center, http://www.aia.org/careercenter/default.asp, has a new look and shows promise for growth.

7. AIA Waiver and Deferral of Institute Dues Payments

On occasion, the AIA national component waives or defers payment of its national membership dues for up to one year, upon written presentation of satisfactory evidence of financial hardship, medical disability, sabbatical, family leave, unemployment or underemployment, or some other hardship. A minimum annual payment may be required in all cases to cover the cost of mailings. A waiver is not typically granted in two consecutive years. Sabbatical and family leave waivers are annual and renewable upon request for up to a total of three consecutive years.

Not all local and state AIA components subscribe to the aforementioned policy. Some AIA components may have slightly varied policies on dues waivers.

8. “Layoffs: A Good Thing or Not?”

What follows are excerpts from an interesting article in a recent issue of DesignIntelligence on the tradeoffs of layoffs. It may be of particular interest to the firm principals who are presumably the ultimate decision-makers about who stays and who goes. The article was authored by Scott Simpson, principal of the Boston-based firm Stubbins Associates and a member of the Design Futures Council Board of Directors.

“Firms with reasonable backlog may elect to hang on as long as possible in the hope that work will pick up soon enough. Retaining qualified staff can be a good strategy because talent is the core of any firm’s productivity and ability to survive long term. Without good people at the ready, recovery will be especially difficult when work picks up. In a pinch, some firms may impose salary reductions or limit working hours in order to protect their cash flow, but this can place an unfair burden on employees (especially those with fixed expenses such as mortgages).”

“You must balance the ‘gain’ of a lower payroll against the true cost of shrinkage. Departing staff may be eligible for a severance package and accrued vacation or sick time, so you may be saving much less than you think.”

“The staff who remain will have to pick up the slack in a pinch, so don’t overlook the possibility of overtime pay. Because junior level staff are often the first to leave (they’re the easiest targets), their work will have to be completed by more senior people with higher billing rates, which will erode your profit margins.

“Including advertising, interviewing, orientation and recruiting fees, the cost of hiring new staff can easily run 30-40% of base salary (and this has to be paid up front before they can bill productive time). Thus, the question of layoffs has more implications than first appear.

“If you must cut, the best approach is to act quickly and strategically…. As more layoffs occur, more people will be chasing fewer job openings, and those at the front of the queue will be in a better position to relocate.”

“Make sure that you give your departed employees plenty of help. Offer to review their resumes, provide job counseling and letters of recommendation, and actively contact other firms to see if any openings are available. You might even offer to loan out staff to another office for a specified period of time.

“And remember that all who leave automatically become part of your “alumni association”–they will be the ambassadors who tell the world about your firm and what it stands for, so make sure that the message is as positive as possible. Handling them the right way may even make ‘boomerangs’ out of them–the term Gensler coined for people that return to the firm in the future.”

9. ZweigWhite Recruitment Advisor

The January 21 issue of the ZweigWhite Recruitment Advisor newsletter contains a wealth of HR and hiring suggestions, which will not only help your firm, but also those people interested in working there. The recommendations include:

— Define your hiring process in writing;
— Establish a central database of every candidate who has ever sought employment;
— Continuously recruit;
— Stay in touch with potential candidates you’d eventually like to hire;
— Keep a current list of all open positions that’s accessible to all employees;
— Establish an employee referral program;
— Measure how long it takes to fill open positions;
— Treat internal candidates like real candidates; and
— Start a mentoring program.

10. Fast Company Magazine

Fast Company is a fabulous resource for all things business-related–minus traditional ‘business speak,’ most of the time. Almost every issue of the magazine contains an article related to hiring (or firing) and there is a dedicated page of the FastCompany.com website with “Careers” (http://www.fastcompany.com/career/). It’s well worth a visit.

By coincidence, one of Fast Company‘s co-founders, Alan Webber, is married to an architecture school graduate. Webber attributes his interest in design to his wife, and design has been a focus of the publication since its inception in the mid-1990s–and you can tell.

11. How to Start Taking the ARE

Despite the cost ($981 for all nine divisions), now may be a great time to prepare and sit for NCARB’s Architect Registration Examination (ARE). If you live in a state where completion of IDP is required before you can even sit for the exam, the following two paragraphs may be of particular interest to you.

One of the most important benefits of the computerized ARE is the opportunity to take the ARE anywhere at any time. This means that you can take the ARE in one state but receive your initial license in another state. The California and Texas state licensing boards, whose URLs are provided below, most liberally allow candidates interested in starting the ARE process prior to full completion of NCARB’s Intern Development Program (IDP) requirements to do so, although it is also possible in other states.

By promoting this opportunity, we are not in any way suggesting that young people circumvent NCARB’s IDP requirements. Instead we are strongly encouraging you to start the exam process as you fulfill your state’s internship requirements. You need not even be employed to start taking the exam, which is why it’s mentioned in this issue.

California Architects Board (CAB):
http://www.cab.ca.gov/
Tel 916/445-3393

Texas Board of Architectural Examiners (TBAE):
http://www.tbae.state.tx.us/
Tel 512/305-9000

NCARB’s ARE Information:
http://www.ncarb.org/are/index.html
Tel 202/783-6500

We recommend first contacting your registration board; a complete of state boards is posted on the NCARB website at http://www.ncarb.org/stateboards/index.html

12. ArchVoices Job Search Webpage

The Job Search page on the ArchVoices.org website contains links to 20 existing job search engines and bulletin boards. The page also includes a variety of articles with advice for writing resumes, portfolios, preparing for interviews, looking for international work, etc. It is based largely on our popular April 2000 “Career Resources” issue, also online at http://www.archvoices.org/issue.cfm?n=212

We encourage you to forward us any additional links or resources that you feel may be of benefit to others.

13. University Lectures Listing

A complete listing of university-hosted lectures during spring semester is now online at the URL above. If you’d like to add your school or even AIA component listings, please email editors@archvoices.org And if you’re unemployed with even a little extra time on your hands, consider attending a lecture or two; you might end up listening to or perhaps sitting next to your future employer.

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