Firsts and Seconds
by Mary-Margaret Zindren, EVP/Executive Director
Now is the season for the closing out of final-year studios and the anxiety of securing first or second jobs in architecture. It can be exhausting and exhilarating. It’s also just a lot.
What was your first job in architecture? How did you get it? Was it through responding to a job posting or through a connection you had?
What about your second job in architecture? How did that come about?
Odds are good that either your first or second job was in some way influenced by the “strength of weak ties.” It’s more likely that the connection that made a difference was someone in the second level of your network, rather than your first.
This recognition of the power of weak ties first got traction through a paper published 50 years ago by Stanford University sociologist Mark Granovetter. In his study of how 282 men (it was 1973) got their jobs, he found that a person’s “weak ties” – their casual connections and acquaintances – were more helpful than their strong ones in securing employment. 70,000 citations later, this concept has true staying power and influence.
In a LinkedIn, Facebooked, Instagrammed world, it may seem like the connections made through associations like AIAS, NOMAS, AIA Minnesota and the local chapters are less needed. In fact, what I have learned from our members – especially recent graduates – is that the professional connections made through association events, committees, and knowledge communities are an incredibly helpful bridge between the overwhelming world of social media networks and our everyday professional lives and job prospects; between the world of architecture school and the world of practice.
Whether your first and second jobs in architecture are in the not-so-distant past or decades ago, you surely remember the fraught nature of this time of life. The vulnerability of it all. How a kind word, an extra question following an introduction, someone agreeing to an informational interview, or helpful feedback on your portfolio meant the world.
We can all do a little more to further our ties to the newest members of our architecture community. To connect a little deeper when we might otherwise feel too busy. Who knows – that second-level connection just might become your number one collaborator.