At Part II level, your CV and portfolio need to show progression. Practices expect more than attractive images and university ambition. They want to see judgement, responsibility, communication and the kind of work you are ready to take on next.
That does not mean pretending to be more senior than you are. It means being clear about your contribution, your project understanding and where your experience is strongest.
Watch: related Architecture Social video
This related session is useful if you want to see CV and portfolio judgement applied in a live review context.
Listen: related Architecture Social podcast
This portfolio bootcamp episode sits well with the guide because it turns portfolio advice into practical review points.
You can also open the Architecture Social podcast page for this episode.
What changes at Part II level
A Part II candidate is usually judged on potential plus evidence. Practices want to see whether you can move between concept, design development, technical thinking and communication with more maturity than at Part I level.
Your CV should frame that maturity. Your portfolio should prove it with selected projects, clear captions and honest explanation of your role.
What to show in the portfolio
- A concise introduction to each project, including brief, scale and stage.
- Your specific contribution, especially on collaborative work.
- Design thinking, not just final images.
- Technical awareness, material thinking or construction logic where relevant.
- A few process pages that show how decisions developed.
- Enough editing to remove weaker work that dilutes the story.
What the CV should add
The CV should make your level and direction easy to understand. It should state your current status, recent experience, project types, software confidence and the kind of practice environment you are targeting.
If you have practice experience, explain the responsibility clearly. If your experience is mostly academic, focus on transferable evidence: project scale, design process, presentation, technical thinking, teamwork and software.
Useful CV wording
Part II Architectural Assistant with MArch experience focused on adaptive reuse and residential design, supported by practice experience in planning drawings, Revit modelling and design research.
Common mistakes
- Sending a portfolio that still feels like a full university submission.
- Showing final visuals without process or responsibility.
- Using the same portfolio order for every practice.
- Hiding technical pages because they are less visually polished.
- Overstating your role on collaborative work.
Architecture Social view
Stephen’s practical view is that good Part II applications are selective. They show the right evidence for the role instead of trying to prove everything at once.
A practice does not need every page you have ever made. It needs enough confidence to invite you into a proper conversation.
What good looks like
For part ii architectural assistants, recent march graduates and candidates moving into stronger practice roles., good looks like a clear, specific decision rather than a generic career move. At Part II level, the application has to show progression from academic potential into practice-ready judgement.
The reader should be able to understand the problem quickly: they need to show more than polished university work: judgement, responsibility, process and role fit. Keep the evidence practical, check it against the role or situation in front of you, and remove anything that makes the next step harder to see.
How to use this in a real job search
Open one live role, one current application or one recent conversation and apply the advice to that specific situation. Do not treat the guide as abstract career theory. The point is to make the next email, CV, portfolio page, interview answer or profile edit sharper.
If you are not sure what to change first, start with the part that a busy practice or recruiter would scan quickest. In most cases that means the title, opening paragraph, project caption, software claim, salary expectation or next-step message.
Quick checklist before you move on
- Have I made the audience, role or situation specific?
- Can I prove the claims with my CV, portfolio, profile or project examples?
- Have I removed generic language that could describe almost anyone?
- Is the next action clear for me and for the person reading it?
- Does this still sound like a real person in the UK architecture market?
When to get a second opinion
Get another view when the stakes are high, the role is especially relevant, or you keep receiving silence after applications. A small adjustment to the framing can make a big difference, especially when your experience is stronger than the way it is currently being presented.
Useful next links
Next step: Use this guide to edit the CV and portfolio together, then compare live jobs and salary expectations before applying.
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