What to Expect from a Part 1 Architectural Assistant Job Interview?
Since a good cohort of our audience is going to be graduating this year or have recently graduated alongside us, it was about time we brought some light to the topic of job interviews and what to expect from them. Inevitably, you have probably figured out by now that it’ll be a little different to a usual part-time job interview or a full-timer role in a different industry but, what exactly is it that makes it different?
Today, we’ll discuss topics that were brought up in our job interviews fresh out of our degree and share some of our exemplary questions to ask in a job interview and make the most out of it!
Discussing Your Education
If you’re a recent graduate, or this is the first role you’re applying for after having finished university, you can almost certainly expect questions regarding your degree and your experience studying at university. Employers like to hear your account of the degree, the parts you found interesting, how you approached challenging situations, what it might have resulted in, the direction of your design project and your values as a young designer. An example of this might be a simple question: What concepts/ideas steered your design project? This gives the opportunity to talk about what parts of architecture you found interesting enough to incorporate into your design (i.e designing architecture with consideration to social and economic factors) and the sector of architecture that interests you (i.e residential, commercial, institutional etc.). This part of the interview tends to consist of more general questions in the beginning, allowing you to elaborate and articulate your answers in the direction you want the conversation to go in and you’ll notice the following conversations become more tailored from your previous answers.
Don’t be surprised if you’re faced with the generic, “Who’s your favourite architect?” question too because it definitely is asked. Our guess is that it gives some form of an indication of what kind of ideas you are likely to propose and the follow up question of, “Why do you like their work?” would indicate the drive behind those ideas. 2 birds with 1 stone… not too shabby.
Exemplar Questions for Interviewee:
Can you briefly explain the main driving factor of your most recent project and how it falls under the practice ethos?
How has the practice been responding to the topic of sustainability and the 2023 Climate Challenge set by the RIBA?
If you had to describe the main principles behind the practices’ design process in 3 words, what would they be and why?
Your Past Experience in Practice
As we all know, experience for a job role has become a must for practically all vacancies. Whether this be experience being employed full-time, part-time, internships or even shadowing experience, employers like to see individuals being proactive in exposing themselves to the industry and workplace beyond their education. When talking about your previous experience, you can expect to discuss your involvement, the types of projects you might have overseen, the scale of projects and your thoughts on what it was like, for example, is the scale of projects you want to continue working on? For those of you in the UK, mentioning the RIBA stages of the projects were at that you worked on might give extra points since you are demonstrating that you already know the correct terminology.
On the topic of practice and experience, this might also prompt a series of questions regarding your work ethic, flexibility and willingness to work ‘flexible hours’ (otherwise known as overtime). They will want to get an understanding of your previous work environment, i.e did you work in the office, were you always on-site, did you work from home, which will help them know how you will adjust to their company. Although it may seem like a no-brainer, we do not recommend individuals comply with unpaid overtime. If you have been following the work of the Future Architects Front, they have done the hard work for architectural workers and breakdown concisely your rights in the architecture field across their social media platforms - definitely worth giving them a follow. RIBA/ARB chartered practices are bound by their Code of Conduct to pay individuals overtime if they are staying past their contractural hours so do not hesitate to bring this up to your interviewer if they have suggested unpaid overtime.
Exemplar Questions for Interviewee:
Many practices have started to introduce a hybrid working system after the pandemic. How has the practice’s working schedule differed from times before COVID-19?
Have you found that individuals with significantly less past experience in practice have struggled to adapt to work in your office? Has this been the case all the time?
Generally, how much past experience have your previous and current Part 1s had before entering this practice and how did they fit in?
What are the practice’s views on overtime and does the office follow the rules behind overtime payment set by the RIBA Code of Conduct?
Salary & Leave
Perhaps this is the most daunting part of the whole interview process, but it is one of the most important topics to bring up if it has not been addressed by the time they ask if you have any questions. As much as you are being interviewed, it’s important to use this opportunity to understand and ask any questions you have regarding their ethics on salary and paid leave. This could be as simple as what is the starting salary, what is your system for paid leave?, can I earn days off or is it set? Now, when asking questions you don't want to be impolite or crude so it’s important to phrase them correctly and also read the room when doing so.
Exemplar Questions for Interviewee:
The RIBA Code of Conduct clearly set out the expectations from registered practices regarding salaries. Can you confirm if the salary will be in line with the Living Wage requirements?
How has the practice supported its employees in the climate of the economical crisis financially?
Does the practice recognise hardworking efforts and grant bonuses and/or raises in exchange? If so, as a future employee, after what sort of time period could I expect to see a raise?
Do you offer credit leave?
Extracurricular Activities
If you’ve mentioned your hobbies and interests outside of architecture on your CV, you may be asked about these quirks in your interview. Relax… usually it might be because you have a shared common interest with the interviewer, which if so give yourself a pat on the back because luck is on your side. Outside your work ethic, this will help with getting to know you as a person detached from your career commitments. It’s nice to have someone around in the office who brings in a new type of energy and the interviewer will have an idea of how well you will fit in with the social environment in the office.
Exemplar Questions for Interviewee:
Does the practice spare time for office activities in order for employees to detach from their work duties? If so, can you list some examples?
Do you find that employees at your company are able to keep a well-balanced social and work life?
How much does the office concentrate on the wellbeing of its workers? How is this demonstrated?
Something to remember during the job searching process is that you shouldn’t compare your situation to the people around you. It’s extremely likely that some people around you may have already secured a job to start before they even graduate, some still applying and others may have even left the industry completely!
There’s no doubt that it won’t happen the first time around so there’s no reason to question your abilities because there are many other applications ready to be made. Learn from your previous interviews and maybe even try to get some feedback on why your application wasn’t successful. Even after your degree, there’s still a tonne more to learn about so ride along the wave and at some point, you will be faced with a good option to settle into.
Good luck to all of you who are in the job-hunting stage of your career journeys! You have our full support :D
If you have any doubts about your portfolio, you can always make use of our new portfolio services we introduced recently which will give you the additional new perspective you need. You can purchase a portfolio markup of your portfolio PDF in 2-3 business days of which you can follow it up with a 1-to-1 tutorial session to discuss your feedback or, even better, why not take advantage of both through a portfolio bundle package?
Read more here.
