For many candidates working to earn their architecture license, finding a supportive firm is essential. By encouraging candidates to become architects, firms can both build their employees’ knowledge and skills and grow employee loyalty and retention.

Fostering a culture that values and supports licensure requires dedication and effort—from offering free access to study resources to celebrating licensure successes, here are five opportunities to get started.

1. Offer Financial Support

One of the most obvious opportunities to help candidates navigate the path to licensure is to offset the costs related to pursuing a license. These can include NCARB Record fees or exam fees, as well as licensing board fees or third-party test prep membership fees. Whether your firm is large or small, there are a variety of financial support methods that can be tailored to fit your firm’s budget.

If your firm does not have the ability to provide direct financial support to all candidates, you can still provide support by helping your candidates find and apply for external financial support. This type of support may look like:

  • Maintaining a list of external scholarships or grants for licensure costs
  • Providing candidates with paid time to apply for scholarships or grants
  • Assisting candidates with scholarship or grant applications

2. Be Vocal About Licensure Support

Whatever licensure support you choose to offer candidates at your firm, make sure you’re being proactive in providing that information to your candidates—don’t wait for them to ask. Including licensure support information in your employee onboarding or in your employee handbook benefits information helps ensure that all employees have equal access to licensure support, removing opportunities for bias or assumptions.

Unsure what to include in your employee handbook? Check out our sample template.

3. Support Exam Prep

Beyond paying for exam attempts, you can support candidates navigating the Architect Registration Examination® (ARE®) by providing access to a library of free study materials. Paying for exam prep materials can cost candidates hundreds—if not thousands—of dollars when paid for personally, but firms often find these costs easier to cover under professional development or education funding. Unsure what study materials to provide? Check out NCARB’s ARE Reference Guide.

In addition, firms can help candidates maintain a healthy work/life balance while preparing for the ARE by ensuring candidates are working no more than 40 hours a week close to exam appointments.

4. Share Success Stories—And Failures

Be sure to celebrate your candidates’ successes as they reach various milestones on the path to licensure—but support them through any failures, too. Many candidates fear failing exam divisions and are reluctant to share their exam plans with their supervisor or mentor as a result. Offering to cover the cost of failed exam divisions and asking leadership to share stories about both exam successes and failures can create a positive firm culture around exam progress.

5. Create a Support Network

Whether from their peers or mentors, many candidates benefit from interpersonal support on the path to licensure. Depending on the size of your firm and the number of licensure candidates, this may look like study groups, lunch-and-learns, or even attending local networking events. Plus, appointing an Architect Licensing Advisor to help guide candidates along the path to licensure can help ensure your candidates have a dedicated point of contact for any licensure questions.

Looking for more ways to support licensure at your firm? Check out our Best Practices Guide for firms.