Interviewing

My office (Robertson/Sherwood/Architects pc) recently participated in five interviews for potential clients—all inside a three-week span—and I personally was involved in four of the five. While not a remarkable number within such a short period to some firms, for a small one like ours it was unusual. Three of the five projects we pursued would be among the largest we might ever become involved with. In every instance, the interviews were part of formal, multi-step selection processes conducted by corporate clients or public agencies.

For each project, the process entailed an initial response to a Request for Qualifications, in which we described who we are, our relevant experience, and our proposed staffing and project approach. The interviews followed, which meant the selection committee for each client group ranked our team among the highest-scoring candidates for the job and worthy of further consideration.

Interviews are important for both us and our prospective clients. Meeting face-to-face gives everybody an opportunity to know each other better and judge whether the fit will be good for everyone proposed to be involved with the project. Communication style, experience, sense of flexibility, and chemistry all matter. I’m a firm believer in the value of an interview to clients when selecting their architects (and vice versa). More often than not, a project’s ultimate success comes down to relationships, which may be as complex and fraught as a marriage.  

Plenty of advice is available online or in books about how to deliver an effective presentation as part of an interview, so I won’t offer any of my own. What I will do is talk about our recent experiences from my perspective.

For me, the opportunity to put our best foot forward while competing for the most attractive projects is both exciting and satisfying. Exciting because the pursuit of the choicest jobs is exhilarating. Our office is energized by competition. Satisfying because each is a chance to hone our message and interview skills. This is particularly true as our younger staff assume leadership roles on our proposed project teams. Witnessing their professional growth and performance during the interviews is gratifying and bodes well for the future of RSA.

Part of the message we convey is what makes Robertson/Sherwood/Architects the right choice. The team we bring to the table is critical. This is why we welcome the opportunity to interview. We believe who we are is our strength. Pretty pictures of our past projects are helpful but what is absolutely necessary is gaining the confidence of the selection committee members by letting them know we have their interests in mind. This requires demonstrating an understanding of who they are and the unique concerns their projects raise, so it’s important the team members we present at interviews are well-versed on those points.  

We do sometimes need to partner with more substantial firms who bring the requisite portfolio of relevant projects and resources to our proposed teams for a project we’re interested in. This was the case in three of the five jobs we recently interviewed for. We’ve been very fortunate to team up with some outstanding offices over the years, among them Mahlum Architects, DLR Group, SRG Partnership, RDG Planning & Design, Rosser International, and Shepley Bulfinch. In every instance where we’ve done so, we first made sure the personalities of our firms were compatible and the approaches we bring to projects were complementary.

I have consistently found it reassuring in those instances we do partner with large practices of regional or national reach to find we’re not behind the curve when it comes to interviewing and presentation methods. They don’t use advanced presentation technologies that are light years beyond what we’re familiar with. The tools they employ are tried-and-true: PowerPoint, boards mounted on easels, etc. How we produce a presentation for a particular interview boils down to what we believe may be most appropriate to the specifics of the project we’re pursuing and what we know about the selection committee.

While I still sometimes have butterflies in my stomach before an interview, this is now more the exception than the rule. Age and experience, and with it a modicum of wisdom, undoubtedly contribute to the greater ease I feel today during presentations or interviews. It helps to confidently know what I know, and also what I don’t know. I’ve also learned to be present, physically in control, and relaxed as possible. I now actually enjoy participating in interviews.

FYI, our scorecard for the five projects we recently interviewed for is as follows: 

• Wins: Two 
• Losses: One 
• Pending notification: Two

“You win some, you lose some, but real winners know losses make them stronger,” or so goes the tired old cliché. It’s true though—we do learn from each interview experience whether we win the job or not. Vying respectfully with our rivals in the pursuit of commissions is fun because it’s challenging, elicits our best efforts, and prompts us to recognize both our strengths and weaknesses.