Economic Impacts on Industry??

Maggie,

Our firm is heavily dependent on commecial / retail / restaurant clients. We have been hit very hard. We are a national firm and fortunately as an LA I have a bit of a niche in this office. However, the work has dried up so badly over all the office is struggling a bit. No raises, bonuses etc. I am fine with that if they keep the doors open and I can keep my job. After the first of the year I will be working for a client doing complete drone work on projects that don’t come anywhere near resembling Landscape Architecture but I like to eat so I will do what it takes to get us through the tough times. Hopefully by the middle of next year something new will pop up. We really have to start getting creative to find ways to get the few clients that every one is chasing these days.

Maggie-

I’m sorry to hear about your situation, like so many other recent grads from CSU and elsewhere. I think your attitude about the situation can work to your advantage. Being optimistic and open to new methods, I think, will help pen you up to a broader range of opportunities. Also, think about all the tangible skills you learned at CSU…drawing, drafting, graphic design, photo-manipulation, model-building, plant identification, etc, etc…Those are skills, like plumbing or carpentry, you’ll always have and will always be of real value. Our country thrives on our ability to inflate imginary value of intangible and useless “things.” In that sense, I would be glad and proud that you have real, quantifiable, marketable skills to offer. I think its also a good idea to expand your search to different geographic regions (while I understand your situation) as well as other industries. I would think there would be work in graphic art companies where you could offer some help, as well as places which require cad drafting such as any number of engineering firms, etc. Theres hope, keep your head up!

I had a thread a couple of weeks ago about this topic. It’s on all of our minds right now – particularly recent graduates or those who are graduating this spring, like me. You can look up http://www.land8lounge.com/forum/topics/economic-crisis-and-what-it and read the great comments many people added in there.

I have wondered what the ASLA could do about this situation? Don’t they have a responsibility to their professionals? It seems like they could have some brainstorming sessions and help the profession cope with this economy. I attended the ASLA conference in San Francisco in 2007 and was struck by how expensive everything was (as a student I was unable to afford any of the tours, etc) and I came to realize that this organization must make quite a bit of money from such meetings. Maybe they could use some of that for marketing us? I am just so frustrated to see bright, talented young people losing jobs and floundering in their careers at a time when our environment is in distress, and our communities desperately need good planning strategies.

I am optimistic that the new President will have a good economic stimulus package ready for us, with lots of public sector work to get us back on track.

On another note, I would bet that places like Texas and New Orleans still have some jobs available…it seems like they would have to rebuild no matter what the economic situation is like.

Brittany,

I live in Rhode Island and I was laid off almost 2 months ago also. I’m hoping for better times also. I was planning to study for the LEED exam over the winter between job searches. Did you purchase study materials from PPI? Do you have any recommendations? Good Luck on your exam!