{"id":144,"date":"2025-09-11T20:17:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T19:17:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marrryze.com\/?p=144"},"modified":"2025-09-16T23:14:23","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T22:14:23","slug":"my-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marrryze.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/11\/my-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"\ud83d\udcc1 Part 1. Searching for a job, or how to get from portfolio to job"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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All the information presented here is based on my personal experience<\/strong> and materials that I collected<\/strong> during several months while searching for a job in England, Luxembourg and Belgium. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hope (and I would even say – I know)<\/em> you will find useful materials here!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In Part 1 I will talk about Education, Interships and Portfolio. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

First of all, I\u2019d like to say that looking for a job is always difficult<\/strong>. And it is difficult on all levels: physical, psychological, financial. So I advise you to prepare for the fact that it may take several weeks or months\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let’s begin! \u2615<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Education:<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Before we get to the step-by-step instructions, let’s start with the basic requirements<\/strong>: education.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Now we are speaking in a generalised sense, as there are exceptions, of course).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In our field, education is the fundamental factor<\/strong> that employers look at first<\/strong>. Education takes 4-5 years of bachelor’s<\/em> degree<\/em> and preferably 1-2 years of master’s degree<\/em> (depends on the country).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\ud83d\udc40 I recommend putting your most recent education at the beginning of your CV. In the portfolio only your work experience goes by date. And projects, competitions, education – by importance: from most important to the less<\/strong>. That’s why I put Master’s degree at the beginning of the CV, despite the fact that it is the second education after bachelors.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And this advice I\u2019ve got from my AASchool professor<\/em>!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Internship: how to choose an office<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Find out what kind of projects are suitable for YOU.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

It could be low-rise residential buildings, interiors, public spaces or exhibitions. Study the niches of<\/strong> different bureaus and choose based on that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, when choosing a bureau, you need to understand the difference in company sizes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are some tips:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Big size bureaus<\/strong> \u2194 global projects<\/strong>. Large building developments. In such bureaus it is harder to grow, and growth is slow.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Duties<\/strong>: You’ll only be assigned what you’re good at. For example, drafting, post-processing or viscalization. Doing only what you enjoy sounds appealing, doesn’t it? But there’s no variety, from where that very growth comes from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Small size bureaus \u2194 medium\/small projects. In such bureaus, growth is much faster and easier. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Responsibilities<\/strong>: varied. You will have the opportunity to try yourself at different stages of project creation: from concept through all the working drawings to realization. After trying everything, it will be easier to identify your strengths and weaknesses. As well as to understand that behind each stage of the project is its own budget and just beautiful pictures are not essentially enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Young companies, as a rule, are looking for interesting people<\/strong> with whom you can create something unusual. That’s why it’s better to send portfolios to the teams that appealed<\/strong> to you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Look at the projects on the bureau’s website. Does their philosophy suit you? Their approach? Does the bureau’s work impress you? <\/em> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

It may seem like a small step, but in interviews you can immediately see if there is “spark in the eyes”. Believe us, this is important and is easily read by professionals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I do not advise choosing a job to chase the allegedly big money and comfortable conditions – in practice it often turns out that everything is not so. So pay attention to other criteria, such as your interest in the project<\/strong>, or in general, be able to notice good opportunities<\/strong> and do not reject them if by some criteria they do not fall into a full match<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Portfolio<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Format: PDF up to 10 mb. Very important: your goal is to make it easy for the employer to view your “portfolio”.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do not attach<\/strong> downloadlinks<\/strong>: the employer should ALWAYS have the ability to view the file even on the road<\/em> from their phone. If the employer has to constantly click on links and wait for the document to download, they may become nervous and waste their time. You can send links to Behance , but this is also not very convenient for the employer, because it takes a long time to go from tab to tab, which interferes with clear understanding of your skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the end, the employer should have a portrait of you.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Imagine how you would like to be portrayed – Maybe an architect-visualizer? An architect-artist? A designer-researcher? Keep this thought in mind as you work on your portfolio and create your own portrait<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Portfolio structure<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The first spread<\/em> is a short CV.<\/strong> It can also be sent separately, but it’s easier for the company if it’s already included in the portfolio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What should be in your CV?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You only have 5 seconds<\/strong> to make a first impression. That’s how long recruiters spend looking at a CV (resume).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

State where you studied<\/strong>, your work experience<\/strong> and\/or what internships<\/strong> you have already completed, what languages<\/strong> you speak (this is important if the office works with foreign clients and partners). Spell out a list of programs you know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Life hack: if the company works, for example, in QGIS, and you do not know it – write it down anyway. You will have time from getting a job offer to actually starting the work, and in this period you can at least learn the basic tools.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Be sure to add if you have participated in competitions and workshops<\/strong> – so the employer will realize that you do have these sparks in the eyes!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By the way, it is not necessary to write out only winning competitions. Add the ones you think present you the best!<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The second page and beyond: the portfolio<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

First of all, the visual image and structure<\/strong> are important – how it is put together and organized, what is the style of presentation. If the layout of the portfolio is tasteless, even very good projects can get lost in it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You should not include all of your projects: only those that show you at your best<\/strong> and are primarily relevant to the office you want to join. It happens that unsuccessful works override the impression of successful ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You should not chase quantity, but quality<\/strong>. Show your toolkit<\/strong>: “I draw like this, this is how I have graphics, this is how I can make visualizations, this is how I layout, this is how I draw, and this is how I sketch”.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Click for Part 2<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

All the information presented here is based on my personal experience and materials that I collected during several months while searching for a job in England, Luxembourg and Belgium. I hope (and I would even say – I know) you will find useful materials here! In Part 1 I will talk about Education, Interships and Portfolio. First […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-guides"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marrryze.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marrryze.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marrryze.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marrryze.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marrryze.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/marrryze.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":302,"href":"https:\/\/marrryze.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144\/revisions\/302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marrryze.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marrryze.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marrryze.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}