Although employers will see a growing pool of applicants for jobs, expansion will continue at many architecture firms, and the result is continued competition for qualified staff. More than a third of architecture firms plan to add staff in 2002, according to the December 2001 Work-on-the-Boards survey. Most encouragingly, these positive hiring conditions hold true across all firms. At least 30 percent of firms in each region plan to hire more employees this year regardless of market sector served. More large firms (40 percent of firms with annual billings greater than $5 million) expect to increase staff in 2002, but even small firms look set to expand. The majority of firms plan to add more architect positions, but about one in five firms also reported plans to increases other design staff (engineers, landscape architects, interior designers).

The AIA Career Center connects these employers with qualified, interested job seekers. Here employers can post ads and search job seekers' resumes. The cost of registering to post a position on the AIA Career Center is lower than the cost of posting on one of the generic Web-based job boards, and yet its job-hunting audience is focused precisely on the skill sets architecture firms need. People looking for a career move do so at no charge and can forward their resumes directly to firms advertising positions. Firms posting ads can arrange for email notification of resumes that meet specific criteria, and job seekers can do the same for positions that would interest them.

In its first full quarter of operation, the AIA Career Center has enabled more than 600 applicants to submit nearly 3,000 resumes to prospective employers. Approximately 200 architecture firms, recruiters, universities, and government agencies have posted ads for 300 positions around the world.

On a usability survey, over half of the advertising firms characterized all of the services on the AIA Career Center "easy to use," with a further 40 percent calling them "very easy to use." Three quarters of advertising employers said that the AIA Career Center was effective in generating concrete leads. Several employers specifically mentioned the convenience of the "notify me" service, which delivers all resumes that meet user-stipulated conditions directly to that user's desktop. For instance, Kelly Beaumont, the office manager at MPM Studio, said that this made searching for qualified staff "much easier."

As much of the profession continues to expand, the AIA Career Center will serve members by helping them to connect with prospective employees and employers.

Copyright 2001 The American Institute of Architects. All rights reserved.