Intern Survey Part 1: Summary and Response

The first in a series of Intern Surveys was concluded in 2009. The results of that survey reveal interesting information which will be considered by not only the Intern Architect Committee, but also the Registration and Licensing Board and, ultimately, Council itself.

If you would like to see the summary results of the survey, they are available at the Survey Monkey site.

First of all, we were gratified that 84 interns chose to respond to the survey (about 20% of the intern group). Thank you to all who responded. This survey covered background information such as route of entry to internship, employment situations and compensation. Future surveys will drill down into more specific areas and issues of concern for interns and the profession.

Some of the interesting “learnings” from this survey include:

• The most important factor for interns’ choice of firm appears to be the level of responsibility granted. This is overwhelmingly so, with over 90 percent of responses in the somewhat to very important range. Compensation, reputation of firm, firm practice emphasis, and commitment to interns fall in a roughly equal band at 72-78 percent somewhat to very important. Surprisingly, benefits and personal/family considerations, rank relatively low on the scale.

• A considerable number of respondents (35%) that they do not get sufficient exposure to the necessary range of work to complete their CERB hours. The detailed responses reveal that contract and construction administration are the areas of most concern. This is borne out by results of oral review exams where these areas are the most common ones in which candidates fall short.
• On the brighter side, perhaps, is that almost half of the respondents report salaries of $55,000 or more. This is tempered by the comments received on the survey that it was not sufficiently granular at the $60,000 or more level and by the fact that 30% of interns report that they are not being compensated for overtime as is required by employment legislation in BC.
• Most telling of all are the responses to questions 16 through 19 which reveal general dissatisfaction with the way in which interns are valued and compensated. A large majority (over 70 percent) of respondents feel that they have not been adequately compensated and almost 60 percent of respondents report that they do not feel that the time and energy spent towards getting registered has not been worthwhile. The detailed responses to this question reveal a range of issues ranging from educational experience, length and difficulty of the registration process, compensation and work-life issues, and direction of the profession itself as contributing factors. Future surveys will look at some of these issues in more detail.
• Closing out on this theme, question 20 asked for ideas and suggestions about intern surveys. There were a number of useful responses/themes which will help improve how we do surveys and provide topics for future surveys. Stay tuned.