Your first Part I Architectural Assistant job search can feel messy because everything changes at once: university ends, the portfolio suddenly matters professionally and every advert seems to ask for experience.
Start smaller. Your job is to show potential, evidence and organisation. You are not expected to know everything on day one.
Watch: starting your Part I job search
This Architecture Social session walks through the first stage of the Part I job search, from blank page to a more practical plan.
Listen: first job search for Part I assistants
Prefer audio? This is the full Architecture Social session on starting the search for your first Part I Architectural Assistant job.
Start with a shortlist, not panic
Do not apply to every role you see. Pick a realistic shortlist of practices and roles, then work out what evidence they need. A focused search teaches you faster than a hundred rushed applications.
- Choose the location or hybrid pattern you can actually do.
- Look at project types you can speak about with interest.
- Check whether the practice hires early-career people.
- Read the role carefully before changing your CV.
- Track who you contacted and when.
What your first CV needs to prove
A Part I CV should not pretend you are a project architect. It should show education, software, studio work, placements, competitions, part-time work, communication and anything that proves reliability.
- Use the Architecture Social CV guide before you send applications.
- Use the sample portfolio guide to keep the first portfolio short enough to read.
- Browse live Part I Architectural Assistant jobs to see what employers are asking for now.
First-job search checklist
- One clean CV.
- One short sample portfolio.
- One spreadsheet or tracker.
- A list of practices you genuinely understand.
- A simple email that explains why you fit.
- A follow-up plan after one week.
Open the original whiteboard
The original workshop used a whiteboard to map the process. You can open the original first-job search whiteboard if you want to explore the session structure.
Common mistakes
- Sending a huge portfolio first.
- Hiding the strongest academic project too late.
- Using generic CV wording because you feel inexperienced.
- Applying without tracking responses.
- Taking silence personally instead of improving the next application.
Architecture Social view
Stephen’s recruiter view is that a good Part I application is generous to the reader. It makes the candidate’s potential obvious without pretending they already have years of practice experience.
Next step
Open three live Part I jobs, then adjust your CV and sample portfolio around the evidence those adverts actually ask for.
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