“GET TO KNOW YOURSELF AND BECOME A PART OF THE COMMUNITY IN THE INDUSTRY“

During her three months of unemployment, Camila Buschle, was kept busy figuring out which direction to go professionally and how to present herself to relevant companies. Making contact with the right people was not a hindrance because of a wide network in the industry.

A book launch. Various expositions. Attendance to voluntary lectures. In Camila Buschle’s experience, there is always something happening in the community of constructing architects and designers. She used these events as gateways to the community and people of the business, she wanted to build a future in. On several occasions the network she built up led to jobs in relevant companies. Before that happened she had to make up her mind on where her interests lay.

Getting to know yourself

One of the first tasks Camila worked on while being unemployed was to identify which branch of the constructing architect business she wanted to pursue:

“During the first couple of weeks I had to figure out where I wanted to go career wise in order to focus my attention on the right companies. Even though it was a difficult process, it made it easier for me to plan a direction in my applications,” Camila recalls.

Her preliminary reflections also turned out to be helpful in other aspects of Camila’s unemployment. She realized that knowing her own skillset, personality and weaknesses was a plus in many ways:

“When building up my cv, I tried to focus on my strong suits and I mitigated the weak areas by attending courses, lectures, and trainings, for example. I knew that I could be less experienced than other applicants, yet I wrote my motivation letters to complement my application. I also used my initial self reflections to prepare for interviews in order to better express myself.”

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