It’s a no-brainer that LinkedIn is the platform for professionals including architects. But LinkedIn is wonderful for more than just making connections. It has a great job board that links to your own profile as well as the opportunity to join groups, follow pages created by companies and show off your work. We’ve previously discussed that being on Instagram as an architecture student can be quite useful to showcase the process of your work, get it on a platform and look at other student or university accounts.
When you look at popularity though, it is growing and may even have the potential to overtake Instagram at some point. Recently, there has been growing concern regarding employment as a whole post-pandemic. There isn’t a fixed position or route that can be taken so many fresh graduates are in an unprecedented position.
What to Post
Apart from letting recruiters know that you are on the job hunt, LinkedIn is useful for a number of things. Let’s start with your profile. You have the chance to include your experiences, skills and even link or upload your portfolio. Almost every architecture firm is on LinkedIn, so make sure you’re following them and engaging in their posts. Sometimes they may even post an opening which you can apply to directly through LinkedIn. Other types of content include videos and articles which could also be a good way to get your work across and create an online presence.
Maybe you could write a short article about something that interests or concerns you within architecture and post it directly on to LinkedIn. If your projects involved multimedia such as videos or animations, you could upload those on to LinkedIn as well. The best way to do this though is by carefully curating the work you are posting. It’s not like Instagram where you can be carefree and informal – make sure to use key hashtags that are relevant and be professional in your captions.
Even if you do upload your portfolio to LinkedIn, it might not be a good idea to link this everywhere since employers will most likely take a look at your profile near an interview stage. Make sure that your portfolio shines through as a PDF file.
The DICE Method
📸 document as much as you can
sketches, photographs, ideas, experiments, technical studies or even failed renders can all be moments of growth and learning a new skill
💡 innovate new ideas and solutions
use your creativity to the max and post about ideas you’ve had to recent issues
💬 critique the industry
respond to industry news and critique them like it’s a crit! Having an opinion really lets you make the most of a platform like LinkedIn otherwise it can get pretty boring
🖱️ engage with other content
this is equally as important as posting because you don’t just want to be in your own bubble making content that no one wants to see. When you engage with other people, it’s more likely they will do the same for you
Networking
This is the perfect time for you to connect with your peers, tutors, lecturers, and their connections, respectively. Don’t go overboard with this as there is a limit of 500 connections so make sure you choose carefully. It may be a good idea to connect with architectural recruiters as they often post about new opportunities which you can talk further about through an email or call. As you grow in your career, you might find individuals with similar interests who might prove to be useful in the future.
The way the LinkedIn algorithm works is quite simple. It take a look at your existing connections, cross checks it with professions and interests and recommends other profiles and individuals who work in the same industry. It’s probably best to make connections with Part II’s if you’re a Part I or Senior Architects if you’re a Part II.
Think about why they should connect with you as well. If you have something in common, it could be a starting point. If you need specific portfolio advice, look for people who may be providing this for free – yes there are people doing this on LinkedIn.
Getting your name out there is so crucial. Please do not be one of those people who doesn’t have an image attached to your profile! It is so important to connect a name to a face. It can take 10 minutes to ask someone to take a nice headshot of you or even do it yourself. Make sure that the details on your profile are accurate, especially dates.
The next thing to do is to have fun with it. Make it your own and start posting content so that employers see that you are active. You can engage with other peers, find about what’s going on in architecture these days and respond or have a healthy debate with someone.
The most useful part of LinkedIn is the job board. The best thing about it is that most if not all firms will most likely post a job opening on their LinkedIn page as well as their own website. The application part will depend firm to firm, but it might be possible to apply directly or be redirected to their application portal. The way to do this in the best way is to follow all the companies you think of and make use of the ‘similar pages’. Follow hashtags as well – specifically things like #architecture #architecturejobs #cvadvice etc. This will display a series of posts on your feed that can show you the top posts within these hashtags.
If you’re looking for specific career advice, we would recommend these 3 things:
Make sure your LinkedIn profile is fully completed and you are regularly active (1-3 posts a week)
Follow people who are giving out advice or a chance to review your portfolio. Kirsty Bonner created some amazingly helpful posts about optimising your profile as well as CV tips.
