In the USA internships tend to be more organised than in some countries in Europe, for example the EDAW and SWA internships, but many other firms also run internships. At the underlisted firms they run short, one or two week student programmes (aka in US as programs) which are effectively education courses run by the firm and usually involve live or realistic projects.
EDAW (www.edaw.com),
SWA (www.swagroup.com)
EDSA (http://www.edsaplan.com/non-flash/homepage.html)
Design Workshop, http://www.designworkshop.com/careers/internships.html
Subsequently students are then offered places in the firm’s offices, which may be worldwide, e.g. EDAW have offices in Sydney and London EDSA has an office in Beijing. Check the ASLA (American Society of Landscape Architects) web site for details of other US firms, which may also run such internships (www.asla.org).
The National Parks Service also runs internships. For example, The Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscapes Survey (HABS/HAER/HALS), division of the National Park Service, offers summer employment documenting historic structures and sites of architectural, landscape. Duties involve on-site fieldwork, preparation of historical reports or measured and interpretive drawings for the Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress. Projects last approximately 12 weeks, beginning in May/June. Salaries range from $5,400 to approximately $9,200 for the summer, depending on job responsibility, project locality, and level of experience. Application deadline for 2005 was 14 February, 2005 (postmark date) so worth trying for 2006.
Details:
http://www.cr.nps.gov/habshaer/joco/summerjobs.htm
For federal government employment use the federal jobs website USA jobs:
and then enter landscape architect in the search engine
For general career opportunity searches in the USA (and Australia):
http://www.careerbuilder.com/jobseeker
and use advanced search for landscape architect (over forty such jobs were listed for Australia in July 2005)
http://mycareer.com.au/jobs/sydney/construction-architecture/landscape-architecture/
For graduates in the US the salary prospects are quite good (if you are a US national or can obtain a work permit). The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) 2003 Graduating Student Survey reveals that salaries rose to an average of $35,000 in 2003, compared to $33,000 in 2002, for all who found positions. For graduates of graduate degree programmes (MLA’s) the 2003 starting salary averaged $41,000 compared to $38,000 in 2002. The survey is posted online at http://www.asla/whatsnew.html The Landscape Architecture Foundation advise: “A recent report by a national publication called landscape architecture a “hot track” profession”. Not only is nearly every landscape architecture student assured of a job when he or she graduates, it is likely that several offers might be on the table”. The Landscape Architecture Foundation also have a guide to employment on www.laprofession.org under “Practice”
Contact your US embassy to find out about student visa and visitor permit details. International students studying in the ISA with a J-I visa may work in the USA upto 18 months after they receive a degree from their American university without a work permit.
Note contributions from the US would be welcome for this US section; the above has largely been put together from web searches from the UK.
Robert Holden 1.1.2005