Writing a great job description is a key step in attracting the right professionals to your open architecture roles. That’s more true now than ever in the past. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of architecture jobs is expected to see a growth rate of 5% through 2032, faster than the average for all professions. With skilled architects already in demand, that likely means hiring top architecture and design talent will only become more challenging in the coming decade. 

Recent shifts in the employment landscape have changed the way people look for jobs and what applicants look for in an employer. For firms that are hiring, adapting your job postings to reflect those changes can help you stay competitive and find success in today’s hiring market–and the advice in this article can help you to do just that. 

Understanding your target audience: What do architects and designers look for in a job description?

In the past, the history of the firm and its track record of published design works were the main areas job seekers researched when deciding whether it’s a good fit for their career. While a firm’s overall portfolio of work is still a key consideration for candidates, the general history of the practice matters less to job seekers today than its “street reputation”, or how it is perceived generally within the industry.

The expansion of social media is one factor in this shift. It’s much easier than in the past for architects to share their workplace experiences with other professionals. If a firm develops a reputation for having a toxic workplace, poor work/life balance, bias and discrimination, or similar culture issues, that will make job seekers wary about joining that team. 

Maintaining your firm’s reputation is something that needs to happen on an ongoing basis. While your job descriptions may not impact that overall perception, however, you can reflect the perception you want candidates to have by how you describe your company and role. Emphasize your efforts toward creating a more inclusive and diverse workplace, as well the initiatives your firm has in place to ensure a positive employee experience.

One challenge employers are facing today is that different generations of job seekers often look for different things from postings. Millennial and Gen Z candidates, for example, typically rank things like inclusiveness, diversity, flexibility, and work/life balance higher in their list of must-have workplace traits than those from older generations. 

This makes it even more crucial that firms know what type of talent they want to attract before they start the hiring process, and reflect that in how they write their job description and where they post it to connect with these professionals. Social media can play a role here, as well. Once you know what candidates you want to attract, you can search for postings on professional website forums, online communities, and other social media outlets to identify the specific things those candidates are looking for from their workplace. 

There are also some aspects of an employer that consistently appeal to architecture job seekers across generations. Clear career progression plans are one of these. Offering mentorship, professional development, and skill building opportunities that will help architects meet their career goals is a surefire way to get architects’ attention. If you offer this kind of development for employees, make sure to let potential applicants know about it in your job postings. 

Many candidates today are also looking for work in multi-disciplinary studios that can give them experience in a wider variety of sectors. If your firm is more targeted or niche, consider stating in your posting that you are open to architects from a variety of backgrounds. This will help you to appeal to individuals who are aiming to expand their areas of expertise, as well as those focused on your firm’s specialty.

The core components of an effective job posting

An effective job description today doesn’t just need to outline the requirements and expectations for the role. While that information about the position still needs to be there, candidates today also look to a job ad for insights into the company’s mission, values, and the work environment and employee experience. 

In short, job searches today are more of a two-way street than in the past. While job seekers still need to sell themselves to firms during the hiring process, it’s equally important for employers to sell their opportunities to candidates if they want to attract the best talent. Here are the five key aspects of an effective architecture job description template that will help you attract the right kind of applicant.

1. Craft an engaging and accurate job title

Job titles in the architecture industry are relatively standardized and straightforward, but you still want to take care that you’re conveying the role accurately. Many job seekers will decide whether to read a full posting based on its title, so one that’s vague or misleading could limit the pool of applications you receive. 

The most effective job titles convey both the basic nature of the work and the level of experience it requires. The responsibilities and compensation of a Junior Designer will differ substantially from those of a Senior Designer, so you want to ensure your titles are targeting architects in the right stage of their career for your role.

2. Write a compelling company overview

Before an architect can decide if they’d be a good fit for your team, they need to understand the company’s vision, goals, design approach, and similar details about the firm. The culture workplace environment you offer to employees are equally critical considerations for a job seeker. Someone who prefers working in a boutique studio environment won’t feel satisfied working in a more commercial organization. Similarly, some people thrive in a fast-paced environment, while others are more concerned with flexibility and work-life balance. 

Use the company overview to define the details that make your firm unique from others in the field. For instance, if your firm has a particular focus such as sustainable design or residential development, knowing that can help applicants choose the right practice to match their interest and expertise. When you paint a complete and compelling picture of day-to-day life in your practice, you’ll attract the types of professionals who thrive in that environment. 

3. Identify key responsibilities and duties

This is the section of the job posting that provides job seekers a full definition of the role itself and what activities they’ll perform in the course of a typical project. Often, the individuals who know these tasks the best are the people who do the work on an everyday basis. Even if HR is responsible for writing the job responsibilities, it can be helpful to get some feedback from employees in that area to ensure you’ve fully captured the essence of the role. 

In addition to describing the current work of the position, consider how the role may change in the next year or two based on current trends. For example, if your firm is in the process of adopting new technologies, or if you’re in a period of growth and expanding your client list, consider how those changes will impact the responsibilities and performance expectations of the role down the line. 

4. Choose the right qualifications and skills

For both technical capabilities and soft skills, you want to avoid having a long laundry list of generic items. Instead, an effective posting should focus on the key abilities, experience, and education that you want to see in your ideal resume. 

For more standard, entry-level jobs like Drafter or Architectural Designer, consider what makes the position unique from the standpoint of professionals who are applying. For example, if your firm has a particular specialty or consistently works with specific types of clients. The more precise your qualifications and standards for applicants, the better the odds that your posting will attract the exact right people for the role. 

5. Include salary and benefit information

In the past, a hiring manager often waited until the interview stage to discuss the salary range, benefits, and other compensation for open roles. From a job seeker’s perspective, however, this is crucial information for deciding if an opportunity is a good fit, and an increasing number of employers are including this information up-front in their job descriptions. 

The truth is, it benefits the employer as well as job seekers to include compensation details in job postings. If your salary rates are competitive it can draw in more high-quality candidates. It will also screen out candidates who would turn down the offer before you invest time into interviews. Along with financial compensation, include detail on intangible benefits you offer, such as scheduling flexibility, the opportunity to travel, professional development and learning opportunities, and similar perks that will appeal to candidates. 

5 tips for writing architecture and design job listings

1. Don’t neglect the company culture and work environment.

Culture has been mentioned a few times in this article, and with good reason. While compensation and the type of work do matter, the work environment is increasingly a top concern for candidates. This is particularly true in an active hiring environment, when the best professionals likely have their choice of firms eager to bring their skills onto the team. 

Remember: a job posting doesn’t just explain the details of the role, but should also sell potential applicants on why it is a good fit for them and their career. Culture and work environment are major factors in that equation. 

At minimum, you should describe your firm’s mission, values, and the basic details of the workplace. It can also be beneficial to complement your posting with employee testimonials, video walk-throughs of your office, or other media that gives candidates a first-hand look into what it’s like to work for your company. 

2. Keep the text clear and concise. 

A well-written job ad should make it easy for applicants to identify the key knowledge, skills, and specialization required for the role, as well as the type of projects the role will focus on and the identity of the business that’s doing the hiring. That’s a lot of information you need to fit into a small space, and you’ll be most likely to convey it all effectively if you focus on clarity and brevity. 

How you arrange and format the text in the job description can make a difference here, too. Put the most engaging content at the top of the post, where it will be the most likely to grab a candidate’s attention. Along with this, make smart use of bullet points and subheadings to shape and organize the information.

Finally, make sure you’re using language that any qualified individual looking at the posting will understand. If you utilize jargon, acronyms, or niche terminology, make sure they’re terms that are broadly understood across the industry, not things specific to your firm or region. 

3. Avoid using gendered or biased language.

Diversity has long been a concern in the architecture profession as a whole. Significant strides have been made in recent years, with the AIA reporting a 5.6% increase in historically underrepresented members from 2012 to 2022. This doesn’t mean the work is done, though. That same AIA study shows that 71% of member architects in 2022 were male, and 64.7% were white, indicating the occupation as a whole still has some ground to make up before it can be truly called equitable. 

How you write job descriptions can have a direct impact on the diversity of talent your firm attracts. Review your postings for gendered or biased language using tools like the ones listed by MIT Human Resources to help you craft postings that will appeal to candidates from all backgrounds and identities. 

4. Proofread carefully before posting.

Grammatical errors and typos in your job posting may seem like small issues, but they can make a difference in how candidates perceive your company. These types of errors can make you seem unprofessional or send the message that you’re indifferent to the hiring process. These types of errors can also be a red flag of a spam posting, so they may make job seekers wary about applying with your firm. Carefully review the posting for both clarity and correctness before you publish it to make sure the post represents your company in the best possible way.

5. Incorporate visual or video elements to enhance the appeal. 

Marketing research shows that people remember 95% of messages given through video, but only 10% of what’s conveyed by test. Similarly, posts that include images received 650% more engagement than text-only posts. While this research is based on advertisements, the lesson applies across types of content: images and videos make it more likely people will engage with your post. 

Granted, this doesn’t mean you should just add stock images or boilerplate marketing videos to every job posting. Instead, include images and videos that add value for a potential applicant considering whether to apply. This could take the form of current employee testimonials, a slideshow of your recently completed projects, or photos of your office and work spaces, just to give some examples.

The bottom line on architecture job descriptions

Hiring the right architects for your firm can be challenging, and taking care with how you write your job descriptions can be a big help in overcoming that obstacle. Ultimately, an effective job posting should give an applicant all the information they need to decide if your company and role are a good fit. This goes beyond just the job’s responsibilities and your requirements for candidates. Sharing insights into your workplace, culture, and the compensation you plan to offer can help potential applicants make a more informed decision, as well as improving the quality of applications you receive.