How to Hire the Best Architecture Candidates

If you make your jobs stand out from the rest, you can get the best architecture and design candidates for your firm. First, learn what employees want so you can create persuasive job ads. Then, make it a priority to remove recruiting bias and make better job offers using these steps.

Know What Candidates Want

Paying a competitive salary used to be enough, but many candidates today have different values than workers from previous generations. Although you still need to pay architects and designers what they are worth, there are plenty of other things that they consider before accepting a job offer, including:

• Types of projects that you offer – Provide recruitment materials that show what your firm specializes in. For instance, some candidates want to work on sustainable, conceptual, or ecological architecture projects, while others might prefer traditional large-scale commercial projects.
• Professional development opportunities – Inform candidates that your firm promotes ongoing training to keep skills current.
• Office environment – Do you have an open office environment, or do designers work in seclusion? Being able to demonstrate your office culture is very important.
• Work hours – The best candidates often place more value in work-life balance, remote work opportunities, and choosing how to structure their time.
• Organizational culture – Candidates want to know early on if their values match your company’s mission.

Use Personality Tests to Make Sure Values Match

The majority of successful design firms have diverse rosters of employees. But, it’s not always easy to overcome recruiting bias either. So, a growing number of design recruiters and hiring managers are using personality tests as a tool to reduce unconscious bias. Then, using them can also be an effective indicator of future job performance. We recommend using tests and vetting candidates before and during the interview to ensure a well-rounded hiring process.

Make Appealing Offers

Once you learn what candidates want in their design jobs, you can focus on making the perfect job offer. Personalize the Salary, benefits, and perks for each candidate with some room for negotiation. Don’t just put out a standard offer if you want to get the best people. Work on closing the deal by explaining the offer in detail and answering questions promptly. Share why you think they are the right match for your company based on their resume, LinkedIn profile, and insight learned in the interview process.

Personality, design strategy, and culture are all critical things to consider when hiring for architecture jobs. It gets easier to make personalized offers that appeal to the best candidates when you know what they want.

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