Architect in New Zealand

Hi there, I am based in Rotorua, have been in the NZ building industry for nearly 30 years. I am not an architect but I have been in the industry long enough to share how the system and market here work. At present the building industry is in a boom, for how much longer nobody knows. There is a real shortage of building professionals in this country, this includes engineers, architects, draughtsmen, QS, surveyors etc. For new immigrants with these skills and high experience, getting a job still need plenty of hardwork, patience and quite a bit of luck involved. I suggest if you don't mind living in a smaller city centres like Rotorua, there may be more opportunities than bigger towns of Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.
I don't think every immigrant architects need to be registered with NZIA to get a job, for those new comers before you going through the registration you could work as junior roles like graduate architects, junior architect, intermediate architect, architectural technician etc.  Your pay level will be lower than a registered architect, but that is only a starting point, your stepping stone to become one.  Most new architect graduates prefer to work for bigger companies in big cities like you just mentioned, so there are real shortages in some of the smaller architect firms in smaller centres.  I know of new architects from Mexico, Brazil, UK, Phillipines working in my town,

Although lower pay in smaller towns but you get better quality of life and cheaper cost of living.

I hope my experience and information from my perspective are some help to you.

Hi tmtwixx,
Thank you very much for your response it was very helpful. I was a bit skeptical about any response or feedback and I'm glad that you did.
I've been to Rotorua before (2 days) during one of my trip and it was one of the highlight of our trip.

If you don't mind me asking; would you be able to share a few reputable names for an architecture firm in Rotorua?
I'm aware that there are a lot of bigger firms mostly located in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch (Warren and Mahoney, Jasmax, etc).

My husband's background is in mixed-use development (residential, commercial, retail, hospitality and urban development) and he is the senior architect / senior associate in his current role. We are open to be in a smaller city (not just in bigger city) as you mentioned. I'm sure that you are very familiar with the development majority there;  I heard the residential sector is booming and New Zealand and is that also the case in Rotorua?

Is there a forum for professionals or building professional communities in NZ that you can refer to? I tried to look online but I can only find this platform that we are using now.

We greatly appreciate your valuable inputs and certainly look forward to chat with you more.
Best regards,
Julie

Hi there,
TRADEME is the most popular site in NZ, go to here to have a feel of jobs available in NZ
https://www.trademe.co.nz/jobs

Feel free to contact the employers and head hunters.