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Self-Employed?

Yet another party at a ‘friend of a friend of a friends’ over the festive period and the topic of work, or the lack of it, has come up in conversation.

“You’re self-employed?” the elderly gentleman asks, seemingly quite impressed that somebody still relatively young could be capable of such a thing. “What do you do?” he asks. The awkward question, the one that all architecture graduates must struggle to answer honestly and in a way that won’t confuse. I ponder the wording of my answer before settling on “Architectural Design.” “Oh, so you’re an Architect then?” he suggests. I know this one, it’s simple, “No”. The problem is I’m not an architect- not yet, despite my years at University and experience working in an office, therefore I can’t technically say I’m an Architect.

The next few minutes are spent trying to explain why I’m not an architect and help him understand the long route to qualifying as one. This is followed by a discussion about employment and the difficulties in procuring work for someone in my position. We go our separate ways eventually, both in need of anther drink, he with a confused idea about the training of an architect and a slightly rose-tinted view of my self-employed status.

The reason I am working for myself came out of necessity more than desire. Upon graduating I did the usual things - had a holiday, did some travelling, caught up with friends and found out what else I had missed out on during the self-inflicted exile that studying architecture requires. I am not complaining though, I loved it.

The time comes when you can put off the real world no longer. It was time to find a job. Commence panic. Feeling slightly aggrieved that I graduated in the middle of a recession; I ploughed on regardless producing a new CV, tidying up the portfolio and building myself a website. I am still a believer in a paper copy of a CV, as long as it doesn’t require a course of Origami to open it.

The difficulty with job hunting arose when I started to hunt. There weren’t any jobs, particularly for graduates or Part II architects. The dilemma seemed to be that employers wanted experience but if you can’t get a job how do you acquire experience? After being quite selective, initially choosing to write to practices I really wanted to work for - the kind of people whose books I am now looking at on my shelf - I began broadening my search.

In fairness to those that I wrote to, there wasn’t a great deal of no’s, there wasn’t a lot of yes’s either. There was an awful lot of nothing. I would have thought that the supposed lack of work for architects would have at least left them enough time to send out replies! I can only guess that they have all written back to me but the post is delayed due to the snow, just like my Christmas presents - thank-you Amazon.

Competitions became the only architectural output I had. These were done with friends as part of a small collaborative group with all of us in the same situation with architecture and work. Competitions are good and bad. Every few weeks you work up the next entry, we would discuss it at length and convince ourselves that this was going to be a good one. Despite a few honorable mentions we have yet to win anything.

Other friends who work in jobs unrelated to architecture don’t understand. “Are you coming out this weekend?” they would enquire. “No, we’re doing another competition”. “Do you think you’ll win this time?” they ask. “Probably not,” we reply. This is usually followed by a shake of the head from them, “Why do you do them then, what’s the point in that?” they laugh. Good question says the voice in my head.

One of the benefits of having studied architecture is that I could now carry out small jobs from home for family and friends (not something I think you can do if you studied to be a surgeon). I immediately started badgering everyone I knew and was lucky enough to get a few jobs. This was quickly followed up by an offer of a large piece of work for an ex-tutor that would keep me busy for quite a few months.

I now had enough work to allow me to work from home for quite a while. I convinced myself that over this time I would get a job with somebody or secure more work for myself. I therefore set about making my self-employment look as professional as I could - from the outside at least. I tweaked my website, set up a drawing template to include my details for submission drawings, drew up some comp slips and cards with my details, acquired a new email address and tidied my desk. I was lucky enough to have already acquired the architects standard thick-framed glasses and (not so) fashionable stubble. What more could I possibly need?! Unfortunately these things are not work and I was still technically at the same stage but I would at least give the right first impression. The difficult point is how you gain further work.

Once you have exhausted your family and friends who do you turn to next? I was lucky enough to be recommended to several people and was able to gain a couple more jobs. I also started designing websites and acquired work on them in the same way. There is no easy way to go about getting work. It may be easy to put an advert in the paper but it is quite a step up from working on projects for friends, or other people who have been given your name by somebody you know, to suddenly operating in a more professional situation. I would also not be able to do what I’m doing if I hadn’t moved back home again, sometimes it is necessary to take a step back before you can go forward. Hopefully the step forward will come soon!

I had my first taste of rejection a couple of months ago through a combination of my inexperience and a greedy potential client. I met him at his house; he was hoping to extend his kitchen to create a new garden room. We discussed potential costs and I agreed to go away and come up with a figure. I would also do a bit of research and sketch up a few ideas. It sounded positive and he was very keen. I emailed him a week or so later with a figure and some ideas. Fortunately I didn’t send him any images just text. His response was short: “No way, that’s far too expensive”. I had definitely underpriced the work because at this stage I was just keen to be busy. He then came back to me with a figure that would have just about bought me a new pair of jeans and a pint. I politely declined and haven’t heard from him since. I didn’t expect a Christmas card. This is the difficult part. People understand the situation that you are in and how desperate you are for work, and see it as a chance to take the ‘Michael’.

I am doing as much as I can to keep in touch with the architecture industry. I’ve got some small extension jobs through friends; I’ve started designing websites; competitions are always available; I have secured some more work through an old tutor; and I’m speaking to a couple of local practitioners about undertaking freelance work. A job with a firm is still a goal but in the meantime I’m quite busy, I’m self employed after all, and the man from the party doesn’t know I’m working at an old desk in my parent’s basement with the dogs for company. He’s got my card.

Matthew Johnstone is based in the Highlands. He is a recent Architecture Graduate of The Scott Sutherland School of Architecture, Aberdeen, and is currently working for himself from his Northern outpost while searching for that elusive full-time employment position or competition win.