by Russell Boniface
Associate Editor

How do you . . . come together within AIA components to help your out-of-work members?

Summary: AIA Northern Virginia, AIA St Louis, and AIA Chicago are providing many programs to assist their out-of-work members. This is the final part in an AIArchitect series on what components are doing to help unemployed members.

AIA Northern Virginia has a successful program it offers to its out-of-work members—a monthly, small-firm roundtable pizza lunch that focuses on navigating the economy. Speakers have included an economist, a mortgage banker, a lawyer, and a member of the General Services Administration (GSA) who talked about how small firms can get government work.

“This is something any component can do,” says AIA Northern Virginia Executive Director Debbie Burns. “We have a volunteer who picks the speakers. As a small-firm owner himself, he knows what kind of information and speakers everybody wants. We order pizza, I put a basket out, and everybody throws in five dollars. We want it to be accessible. We do it at the chapter house if we can all fit—we can put about 20 in our conference room. If we find we have more than 20, we take advantage of being at the Virginia Tech Northern Virginia campus and move into an open classroom. I realize not too many components have the freedom to do that, but the main thing is that the roundtable be accessible, casual, and a good service. When we first started doing it, nobody knew each other. Now they know each other and share ideas.” Burns says that one small-firm roundup had a lawyer talk about the legal aspects of the downturn, for instance, if a firm has to break its lease. And an economist from George Mason University spoke about the local economy and wrote articles for the component’s e-newsletter, Blast.

Burns says that a group of AIA Northern Virginia members from the small-firm roundtable is meeting separately to form a co-op. In that arrangement, firms share employees, office space, expenses, and expertise. “It is turning out to be a loose co-op where architects can still be independent to do their own projects.” She says the co-op group meets weekly at one of the firms, and a lawyer has already addressed the legal aspect for getting started. “They thought that the best way to deal with the economy was to band together,” Burns says.

AIA Northern Virginia has a new résumé/interview/portfolio workshop for both members and Virginia Tech graduates, with a reception afterwards for them to interact. The component also offers free classified ads for small firms that have a job opening, an online job board that includes links for government jobs for architects, and job fairs. Burns also contacts firm principals to see if there are any job openings. An important aspect for Burns is personal connection. She uses an informal job list and calls and e-mails members who are out of work to try to get them jobs or, if their dues aren’t paid and membership is about to lapse, just to see if there is anything the chapter can do to help. “If you are going to provide member benefits,” she says, “what better way than try to help your members find a job. That’s immeasurable in this economy.” Burns enthuses she has crossed six people off her job-hunting list. She notes, however, that when the chapter membership deadline hit, membership fell by 12 percent, which she attributes mainly to the economic downturn. “I hope we can get more people placed,” she says, noting that her members have high hopes for the stimulus money.

AIA St. Louis is in the third week of its scholarship program allocating $100,000 for loans for its unemployed and underemployed members.

“We sat down with our unemployed members and non-members and heard them say they have all the time in the world to study for tests for certifications but have no money to do it,” says AIA St. Louis Executive Director Michelle Swatek. “We are very fortunate because we have a substantial scholarship fund. The trustees of our scholarship fund looked at their bylaws and allocated funds for architects to take classes for programs and certifications that will improve their skills. Members can borrow from the fund to take classes and then pay the loans back at no interest after they are working full time again. To date, we have had applications closing on $10,000. Most classes are for the ARE, LEED, and computer-aided design. We are expecting more.”

Swatek says she hopes unemployed or underemployed architects and interns use this time as a forced sabbatical, so when the economic downturn ends they are better trained. “Likewise, our firms will have a higher level of trained and certified staff to employ,” she adds. “Not only will it help those unemployed and underemployed, as well as interns, but also it will eventually help firms and the profession at large in St. Louis.”

AIA St. Louis has approached the city about having unemployed/underemployed architects and interns volunteer to learn BIM to develop programs on publicly owned buildings the city is trying to sell or lease. “They could provide the new owner or leaser with the BIM database,” Swatek notes. “The city doesn’t have the money to do it, so we wouldn’t be putting a firm out of work. One of our firms has donated its training room for this purpose. We developed the program; we are just trying to find the right buildings. Plus we’d be helping the preservation effort.”

Like other chapters, AIA St. Louis is calling its unemployed architects to invite them to lunch and breakfast so they can connect with each other, as well as offering portfolio and résumé reviews. Says Swatek: “We want to come out the other end of this downturn with a stronger workforce. And by offering services to members and non-members, we hope to strengthen our membership.”

AIA Chicago, with 3,100 members, has developed a workshop series, "Career STIMULUS," offering a range of topics relating to legal issues, staying motivated, job searching, portfolio building, working for yourself, managing money, finding health care, and drawing. The sessions are also open to non-members without a fee. “The program that I thought would be the most popular is the most popular, that is the legal and liability aspect of working for yourself,” says AIA Chicago Program Director Joan Pomaranc. “We will do it twice, with more than 55 people signed up, plus a waiting list. Some coming to the program have been working for themselves for maybe a year, but others are suddenly laid off and will grab something if it comes along, but they haven’t thought about the legal and insurance issues.” The session covers contracts to use in new businesses, risks, letter agreements, protecting assets, and promoting a business.

AIA Chicago’s portfolio review session provides advice on the visual presentation of a portfolio, and members show their portfolios to three or four architects for feedback in 10 or 15 minute reviews. Between reviews, they share their portfolios with each other. AIA Chicago also offers a BIM workshop, which provides real-time design data with analysis throughout a project’s lifecycle. There’s also a hands-on Revit “Test Drive!” workshop and a general Revit session. AIA Chicago offers a program on résumés and interview techniques, with an account executive leading a presentation on résumé writing, interview strategies, and networking. There is also a workshop on how to stay motivated, with a variety of ways to show members how to maintain one's physical and mental well-being, plus techniques for healing from one's last work experience. The session also offers ways in which spirituality can be helpful during a job search.

Managing money is another popular workshop that shows members how to spend and organize debt. There’s also a workshop on finding health-care options, both for newly unemployed and those starting their own practices. Another workshop provides insights into sketching as a design tool. The presentation is in the AIA Chicago conference room, and afterwards the presenter leads the group in sketching techniques from the AIA Chicago office, with views along the Chicago River including the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Park.