Architect resume examples

Anahita Soltani's summary opens with her Washington license, NCARB Certificate and LEED AP BD+C, so a reviewer looking for a stamp finds it in the first line. Her project bullets then give the building type, floor area, construction cost and the phases she led.

Copy this one if you're licensed and have taken projects through construction administration. Swap in your state, the year you were licensed and your own project numbers.

Pick the example closest to your license status and the work you do now. The building types matter less than the structure they share: license status in the summary, then projects described by size, cost and phase.

Put your license status in the first line of your summary and repeat it in your credentials section. Firms screen on it before they read your projects, and a job ad that asks for a licensed architect or someone on the licensure path needs to see which one you are.

Name the state that licensed you and the year, because each state licenses architects separately. Add the NCARB Certificate if you hold it, since it makes getting licensed in another state easier and firms working across state lines look for it.

List LEED AP with its specialty and the year, such as 'LEED AP BD+C, GBCI, 2019'. You don't need a separate LEED Green Associate line once you hold LEED AP, because Green Associate is earned first or at the same time.

If you aren't licensed yet, give numbers. Write your AXP hours out of 3,740 and the number of ARE divisions you've passed out of six, then name the divisions in your credentials. 'Pursuing licensure' doesn't tell a reviewer whether you're six months or four years from a license.

Write each project as building type, floor area, construction cost and the phases you worked on, then say what you produced or ran. Hiring managers use those facts to judge whether your experience matches their work, and a list of duties without them reads as drafting.

Use the phase names firms use: schematic design, design development, construction documents, bidding and construction administration. Junior candidates name the drawings they produced, such as enlarged restroom plans, wall sections or finish schedules. Project architects add team size, submittals or RFIs handled each month, and how the permit went, such as 'approved after one correction cycle'.

For construction administration, count what you handled: submittals a month, RFIs answered, site visits a week or punch lists written. Specialists add the condition that made the job harder, such as phasing in an occupied hospital or a historic district review.

If a client's budget is confidential, give a range such as $18M to $25M, or use floor area and unit count alone. Group small jobs into one line with a count, such as '14 additions and remodels of 400 to 1,200 sq ft', so they don't crowd out your larger projects.

List the software you'd use on your first day at the firm, then the skills that show which phases of a project you can handle. Revit is the program architecture job ads ask for most often. AutoCAD, Bluebeam Revu, SketchUp and Adobe InDesign follow close behind.

Choose skills that match your level. A project architect lists construction administration, submittal and RFI review, and consultant coordination. A junior designer lists construction documents, existing-conditions surveys, and door and finish schedules. A healthcare architect adds the FGI Guidelines, infection control risk assessment and life safety plans.

Name codes and standards by title when you've designed to them: the International Building Code, the ADA Standards for Accessible Design, NFPA 101 or your state's energy code. 'Code knowledge' can't be checked. 'Washington State Energy Code compliance' gives an interviewer something specific to ask about.

List rendering tools you'd use at work, such as Enscape, Lumion or Twinmotion, and drop programs you only opened in a studio course. If you list Rhino or Grasshopper, back it with a bullet that shows the project where you used it.

Leave out traits like 'creative' or 'detail-oriented' and show them in a bullet instead. A Revit detail library your studio adopted or a permit set approved on its first resubmittal makes the same point with proof.

Yes, link your portfolio. Put the link in the resume header next to your email, because architecture job ads often ask for a resume and portfolio together and the reviewer will open it next. Use a web address or a PDF link that doesn't need a login.

Keep the portfolio to 10 to 20 pages of your strongest work. Label each project with the same type, area, cost and phase you used on your resume, and mark which drawings you produced yourself on team projects, because interviewers ask.

If you're early in your career, include one or two school studio projects labeled as academic work next to the construction drawings you produced at a firm. Firms hiring junior staff want to see that you can produce a clean drawing set, so include at least one wall section or detail sheet.

Let the portfolio carry your design work and keep the resume plain. A one- or two-column layout with clear headings shows design sense better than renderings or heavy graphics, and the text stays readable when a firm's applicant system pulls it out.

Use one page if you have under five years of experience and two pages after that. A senior architect with a long project history can add a selected project list as the second page, one line per project: building type, area, cost, phases and role.