Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Andrew Garulay, RLA on April 19, 2012 at 6:57pm

I have not applied for a job lately, but I send proposals and invoices by email and US Mail. I start the email out with "Please find the attached pdf file of ... .. A hardcopy is also being sent by mail". This allows me to do both without having it appear that I'm being pushy or impatient. It should be no different with a job ap.

 

Email is fast, but hardcopies are professional.

 

 

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Permalink Reply by Tosh K on April 20, 2012 at 6:02am

I'm with Andrew, both.  Email allows larger firms to pass on to multiple people in the office faster, it also allows them to pass on to their contacts.  Hard copies can be kept on a "to be considered later" pile if they keep one (believe it or not some places keep a "ranked" pile around for months).  It does depend on the firm, culture, and their current outlook so covering your bases with email, hard copy, phone call, and asking to schedule a visit is not a bad idea.

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Permalink Reply by Gillian Hutchison on April 20, 2012 at 7:52am

That is an interesting tactic, both!

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Permalink Reply by nca777 on April 20, 2012 at 3:26am

your professors are wrong. most of those types of firms have hiring managers. digital is the way to go. good luck!

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Permalink Reply by Daniel Jackson on April 20, 2012 at 5:42am

I've always found the most successful way is to send by email and then follow up with a phone call a day or two later. It shows you're actually motivated and not just sending out mass applications to every firm.

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Permalink Reply by David on April 20, 2012 at 9:18am

This appears to be a very common question, that in its broad sense is really about digital vs hard copy or old school vs new school (not inferring age here).  In my experience, I would send a hard copy, though sending both is not bad either.  Touch point is key here.  In addition, with a hard copy you have absolute quality control. i.e. how the colors and text read.  You will not have that control digitally with monitors all be calibrated differently.  Ask yourself this, if you were invited to a friend's wedding, would you rather have an actual invitation that you received in the mail, or an email/evite invitation?

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Permalink Reply by Joaquim P on April 20, 2012 at 9:44am

Well i guess u cant use just one same strategy for every firm.Each one looking for diferent things.

 I dont know if  most agree, but  i feel curriculum vitae or some email work is good to get letting ppl know yourself as available professional for work but just that, rarely shows more, even if you have lots of experience described in ur resumé, that doesnt actually relate to the professional design skills or even architectural standards you might have, in my opinion theres only two ways to actually know someone professionally , talking with them or giving some chance to show some skills.

To get a job you need to know what you are "selling" like what u can benefit the team from having you instead someone else. Might be painfull for jobsearching cause some firms just dont give the chance, but since i know there arent 2 professionals  having exactly same skills as worker,designer, or even some extra skills. i already saw many curriculums sent via email or other media and i can say most are pretty standard, like if everyone has exceptional design abilities from start, great for team leading, hyper dinamic or even artsy like Picasso, but again i guess u cant know someone without see his work and talk.

For me thats the important part, someone serious to hire some professional wont just get someone being young or older, even giant firms might do it, probably those are the ones that cut on you same way they employ just via mail. Other thing i feel its honesty goes a long way in job search, good employers from my experience know not everyone has to be the team leader or have all the skills. Thats purpose of a team work complementing each other with knowledge.

eMail might be really good but to give you some chance of show urself, get to know them or even feel the overal mood in the firm ways to work, cause seriously each firm has diferent work environment and more than just  curriculum they want someone that flyes the flag of the company with their standard abilities. again its just my opinion.

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Permalink Reply by Andrew Garulay, RLA on April 20, 2012 at 9:59am

Prrof reading and having someone else proof read your correspondence is not a bad idea either. In this day of texting, people get into writing habits that are less than what would be the best representation of one's self.

 

I agree that it is not a good idea to apply a standard operating proceedure to every LA firm. There are very old school people, very cutting edge, and everything in between. Unless there are clues to how they operate, give them your best shot from all angles at one. Something should land in the right place ... and repetition increases familiarity.

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Permalink Reply by Chris Whitted on April 20, 2012 at 10:10am

The bottom line is there is no single approach to please all of the people all of the time. Your profs are wrong to make such an absolute blanket statement, and I've had enough contacts and responses to prove it.  Age/generation alone does not decide this issue - it's one unto itself. Some people/firms are intensely anti-digital, some are playing the 'green' role and trying to minimize paper, and some don't care and are more concerned with the content than the media.

I use digital exclusively unless a firm's website or job posting specifically requests hardcopy only (or someone requests it as a follow-up to my initial contact). I do typically take a hardcopy to an interview to leave behind if they want it. In a general job search this is the best and most effective use of my resources - particularly time and money.

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Permalink Reply by Brian Lin on April 20, 2012 at 11:52am

I'm a practitioner and a prof....and my opinion is that email is not always the way to go. I get tons of email every day, some of which are emails from prospective applicants but are way at the bottom of my inbox and will be weeks, even months before I even see them; most end up in my junk mail and just get purged. When you email, it can get forwarded easily yes...but most of the time to the wrong person (HR dept) who knows nothing about design and the skills sets needed for the current backlog of work. What I tell my students:

1. Contact the person by snail mail with a letter, resume, and a few work samples of your portfolio.Have a nice and professional letter about yourself and what you are looking for. Do some research on that firm and try to tailor your letter to why they would want to consider hiring you. If they like what they see, they will email you/call you.

2. After a few days, follow up with a phone call to make sure they received the information.

3. Email to thank them taking the time to speak with you and reviewing your material. A thank you card via snail mail doesn't hurt either.....I always keep thank you cards from prospective employees. It shows initiative and proactive follow up.

Digital is good....but it should not be the only vehicle used to get you out there. I get extremely frustrated viewing someones work on my blackberry.

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Permalink Reply by mark foster on April 23, 2012 at 4:35am

Every form of communication tells two distinctly different things about you:  what you can do, and who you are.  An employer wants to know about both, usually in that order.   Email tells much about the first and very little about the second.  An interview is at the other end of the continuum.  In between are mail and phone conversations.  

A super cad monkey with the personality of a mineral may get a job through email/mail, but a personable glad-handing verbal communicator will get it through the phone/interview. While you will probably be required to go through all 4 stages, try to go with your strengths.  It does no good to make a phone call (because this is what is "done"), if you are not good at phone communication..... 

Email and mail can be overlapping, but mail can say a little more about you personally.  If you do send mail (especially in the form of introduction letter or thank yous), take time to pick your medium (paper type and weight, size, color, envelope style, watermark, etc), as these are the things which will communicate yourself before the message is even read.  And finally--and this is incredibly old school--know and follow the proper compositional form of a letter/thank you.

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Permalink Reply by Gillian Hutchison on April 23, 2012 at 8:16am

Thank you for all the replies, it is great to hear everyone's opinions!  Mark, you raise a great point about communicating personality.  Very helpful.

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