CSI Community Connect Forum: How to Attract Young Specifiers
The CSI Community Connect Forum is the go-to resource to connect with architecture, engineering, construction, and owner (AECO) peers in real-time, keep up on current events, get informative professional insight, and even share interesting information about yourself.
A conversation about “recruiting young specifiers,” which began as a roundtable discussion at the 2022 CSI National Conference in Denver, continues to offer insights into ways in which the industry can attract new professionals to the field, such as these comments from Karen Burditt RA, CSI, CDT, AIA, NCARB.
“By stressing ‘young,’ you miss the point of who can easily shift into spec writing; mid-career architects and project managers who either need flexible schedules or find their careers upended by layoffs,” says Burditt. “These mid-careers professionals have the practical field experience and an appreciation for specs. They are the immediate future for
this profession.
“I got into specs 20 years ago, when none of the other architects in the firm could be bothered with the coordination/review of project specs. I did the specs while doing CA on a wide variety of projects.
“At the next firm, I started preparing the inhouse specs, in between my CA projects. Now I am on my own as a full-time independent spec writer, and there is no shortage of work out there. I get calls from all over the country from desperate small- and medium-sized firms in need of an independent spec writer. I enjoy the variety of projects,” says Burditt.
“By the way, my very first experience with specs was a spec writing contest, as a freshman at a local community college’s architectural technology program. I got second place. The first-place contest winner was a middle-aged woman who was doing a midlife career switch into architecture. Never underestimate how a relatively small thing can lead to a career.”
