You know for those finishing their degree this year, I would say this is the time or nearing the time when you should think about what you are going to do after university is over.

I know it’s a lot to take in. But it’s good to think ahead.

- In my experience, in my first degree I was not even sure if I wanted to continue doing architecture and so around this time I was looking for opportunities to do anything else. At the same time, I knew I needed a break. Architecture is very intense as I am sure some of you may know and this point I had not learned how to balance it or if it was for me. You could find yourself 7 days a week working on something back then and even that wasn’t enough. It’s tough when you don’t know how to jungle life. Yet I heard through a friend that there may be opportunities to work and travel at the same time and so this, I used this as my starting point for job searching. I guess you could say I am fortunate enough to love anything creative and from a young age have always dabbled in something creative, giving me a wide range of design skills, this included creating costumes and crafting & within education taking graphic design and art as core subjects. So I had a varied skill set that allowed me to explore jobs out of architecture yet still relevant in the software use and design principles. From March onwards I pushed hard to find something that I could do and just before finishing I heard back from a company in China & I was off!

Now even if you do not have a varied background in design, you will be surprised how many opportunities can come from architecture alone. There are companies looking for individuals with an architectural background and believe me you are very useful in several disciplines.

A way to find out what you can do:

• Search for jobs outside of your home country. Companies are happy to offer a internship or learning experience and with the right experience you can get to explore out of your home countries and travel!

• Apply with the consideration to what you can do. What I mean by this, is if you know you don’t necessarily want to get into what you studied, apply with the skill set or software you use in mind.

• Instead of writing ‘architectural assistant jobs’- an example is to type in ‘CAD jobs’ and that way you can see the vast amount of sectors that actually require cad software, it could be within fashion, set design even office based roles, it’s very surprising.

• Maybe you don’t want to work full time or commit to anything serious. You may just want to use the year out as an opportunity to find yourself. Look at ways you can make money from home, apps and websites such as fiverr, creativepool and peopleperhour are great avenues that offer the platform for you to freelance and choose when you work, you can make money from bed!

• If you have saved some money whilst at university then this is great! This is the time where you can spend it! Use the oppportunity to start a venture or plan a travel guide so that as soon as you finish you can crack on.

• Before you leave university, see what they have to offer you. Most are not aware that some universities have the opportunity to sponsor or support even though you have left. Universities value a respectable alumni and once you leave join it! You can be given bursaries to start a Buisness, have the opportunity to work at the university and even so stay better connected with your lectures, the facilities and the students.

There’s is plenty of time so go on! Get planning! Your Archihooter, Natalie