Spring break Job Hunt

By Patrick Londrigan

To take a break from stadiums, this week’s blog will be about my last week experience, spring break. 

Over spring break I traveled to Austin, Texas, with my girlfriend Lindsay, with hopes of talking to architecture firms and finding a job.  Before I left for my trip I attempted contacting five firms.  Letting them know I was going to be in the area for my break and I had interest in their firm and would like to meet with them.  Only a couple firms responded to my email(s) but I wasn’t worried I was still going to make a trip out of it.  We arrived in Austin late Monday and we spent Tuesday exploring the area and enjoying ourselves.  We went downtown, went to the University of Texas campus, and explored the SoCo (South Congress) area where we had lunch.  After lunch we had our first graffiti park experience.  The area was fantastic.

Wednesday, I worked on getting ahold of those firms I emailed again.  Also searched the AIA Austin website for other firms that I possibly hadn’t contacted yet.  Calling these firms did not give me a glimpse of hope, with most firms turning me down.  Not yet discouraged, I emailed a few more firms and made a few more calls.  While I waited to hear back I was updating my portfolio.  It wasn’t until late afternoon, I heard back from CTA Architects|Engineers, and they wanted to set up a meeting with me on Friday.  I finally had some hope.  I finished up my portfolio, wrote a cover letter for my resume, and I was ready for Friday.

After hearing the good news we decided to spend our Thursday in San Antonio.  Enjoying the, finally good, weather and enjoy the San Antonio River Walk.  I did have an interview lined up with a firm there as well, Overland Partnership.  Until I received an email late Wednesday night and they had to cancel and told me that they are only looking for student interns, or people with five years’ experience.  Dishearten, so I decided to use Thursday as a vacation day.  We walked the River Walk, where we also had lunch, and saw the Alamo.  San Antonio is beautiful.

Friday was our last day in town, with Saturday being the day we leave.  With my meeting that afternoon I was off to staples to attempt to print my resume and portfolio.  After so many miss prints I had to leave to edit my files, just to come back an hour later where I ran into more problems.  After a stressful morning, with staples being behind, my miss prints, and my debit card getting declined (due to possible fraud) I was finally on my way.  The meeting went great and the firm is looking to expand.  So fingers crossed!

All in all, fantastic trip, Austin and San Antonio are both fantastic areas and if you haven’t been I recommend it.