How training on multiple software platforms could open up 50% more job opportunities

A few weeks ago I had an interior designer call in looking for a new permanent job opportunity; one of the key questions we ask is: ‘What cad software programme do you specialise in?’. The answer for us is crucial, as when companies recruit for new staff members they require interior designers to be fluent in the software they use. It is the difference between them interviewing a candidate or not.

This particular designer said she could use both AutoCAD and Vectorworks fluently, which is quite a rarity. With that answer it highlighted that I was able to discuss 50% more job opportunities with her as we were not restricted to companies who only used AutoCAD or Vectorworks.

Learning a new software, be it Revit, AutoCAD or Vectorworks, is time consuming and expensive but long term it will pay dividends. It can open up opportunities in a different sector as sometimes software is more sought-after than your project experience.

One of our regular clients recently won a large scale workplace project and needed to build a team quickly. The top priority for the interior designers and cad technicians was their proficiency in Revit, but they were flexible on previous project experience, which is unusual. This gave us the opportunity to reach out to a bigger pool of designers, many of whom were delighted to be offered the opportunity to add workplace experience to their portfolio of work.

Another benefit of multiple cad knowledge is it will automatically open up more companies to choose from as larger architectural firms tend to use AutoCAD or Revit and smaller design agencies who specialize in retail, exhibition and/or hospitality prefer Vectorworks. As a freelancer you will certainly have more sustained work having the ability and knowledge

to work across different platforms. We often find sectors will peak and trough in work at a similar time so when a sector is quiet you could utilize your cad skills in a busier sector.

One inhouse design team has taken a different approach to hiring interior designers – they don’t mind what software the designer is confident using as they allocate the first two months of their employment to be trained in the cad software they use. This may not seem like a feasible or even practical solution to many design companies, however in this current market it is taking two-three months to find an interior designer that fits all the criteria companies are looking for. We currently have one company who have been looking for quite some time and if they had been more lenient on software and invested in a few weeks training they would have a large selection of interior designers to choose from.

Software is definitely hot on the agenda right now and if you are debating on whether to invest in training future employees or retraining yourself I would say ‘do it!’