I am planning to move to Toronto from NYC for personal reasons. I have about four years of experience and hopefully I can secure a descent position before I pack up and move.
I have been looking for job postings on Indeed, Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, and this site. But there are not many postings and one up there are mostly old. I thought the construction is booming up North? Is there a popular job listings website for Toronto you can recommend? Or is the market doing really bad now? Also, do they use imperial units in Canadian architectural offices?
Thank you.
Non Sequitur
Apr 3, 18 6:56 pm
Look at postings on the OAA site. That is the provincial architect association and a better source for employment options. Just note that Toronto is yhuge , and the gta even y’uuuger. Pay attention to travel distance if not living and working within reasonable commute times.
Take a few minutes to see if your current education grants you intern architect status if you’re not already licensed... and if that’s the case, reciprocity is a whole other discussion (need 10y exp).
Canada, like the rest of the world, is metric. Same goes with construction but some still hold to archaic imperial habits. The larger office will certainly all do the intelligent thing and produce metric.
mjjjj
Apr 4, 18 9:11 am
Thanks for your reply Non. Always informative on the Canadian market.
bowling_ball
Apr 3, 18 9:42 pm
Firms tend not to advertise for positions. They expect applicants to just... apply. So don't be discouraged by lack of ads. Just start cold calling.
Non Sequitur
Apr 3, 18 10:55 pm
That is correct.
mjjjj
Apr 4, 18 9:17 am
bowling_ball, people around me and I have never been successful with that approach in New York and as a matter of fact, I was advised not to do that unless the firm specifically says it is okay to cold call or email. But I see that Toronto or maybe in other cities as well it is different. Thanks for the reply.
Non Sequitur
Apr 4, 18 9:34 am
It's rather common here to do that. Plenty of small to medium size firms have open door type notes on their websites along the lines of "always looking for new talent" or whatever. For your piece of mind, people in the 5 to 8y exp are hard to find, so if you can run projects independently and produce CDs without much supervision, firms will read you CV.
bowling_ball
Apr 4, 18 2:49 pm
After the last time I got laid off, I just said "fuck it" and started literally calling and asking to speak to Principals. Most actually took my calls. I told them I was looking for work but not necessarily an interview - I just wanted to meet them personally and get a sense of what they were all about. This takes all the pressure off of them and you. And if you're pleasant and make any sort of good impression, you'll likely be the first person they call when they need somebody.
accesskb
Apr 4, 18 11:48 am
Just Google for Toronto firms and send an email, pdf portfolio or call the ones you're interested in. If they like what they see on your portfolio and are hiring, they will get back for an interview.
randomised
Apr 4, 18 11:50 am
Just contact places you'd like to work at first and see where that gets you. And if that doens't lead to anything you could look into ads, but most offices that are busy are also too busy to put out ads, go through tons of portfolios and hold interviews ;-)
What works is to simply keep tabs on which offices are shortlisted for a competition or major commission and start contacting those just before results are in, you'll be letting them know you are on top of things, know what's going on in the field and will be on their radar right before they're swamped with desperate applicants and they simply stop looking altogether.
Hi fellow archinect members.
I am planning to move to Toronto from NYC for personal reasons. I have about four years of experience and hopefully I can secure a descent position before I pack up and move.
I have been looking for job postings on Indeed, Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, and this site. But there are not many postings and one up there are mostly old. I thought the construction is booming up North? Is there a popular job listings website for Toronto you can recommend? Or is the market doing really bad now? Also, do they use imperial units in Canadian architectural offices?
Thank you.
Look at postings on the OAA site. That is the provincial architect association and a better source for employment options. Just note that Toronto is yhuge , and the gta even y’uuuger. Pay attention to travel distance if not living and working within reasonable commute times.
Take a few minutes to see if your current education grants you intern architect status if you’re not already licensed... and if that’s the case, reciprocity is a whole other discussion (need 10y exp).
Canada, like the rest of the world, is metric. Same goes with construction but some still hold to archaic imperial habits. The larger office will certainly all do the intelligent thing and produce metric.
Thanks for your reply Non. Always informative on the Canadian market.
Firms tend not to advertise for positions. They expect applicants to just... apply. So don't be discouraged by lack of ads. Just start cold calling.
That is correct.
bowling_ball, people around me and I have never been successful with that approach in New York and as a matter of fact, I was advised not to do that unless the firm specifically says it is okay to cold call or email. But I see that Toronto or maybe in other cities as well it is different. Thanks for the reply.
It's rather common here to do that. Plenty of small to medium size firms have open door type notes on their websites along the lines of "always looking for new talent" or whatever. For your piece of mind, people in the 5 to 8y exp are hard to find, so if you can run projects independently and produce CDs without much supervision, firms will read you CV.
After the last time I got laid off, I just said "fuck it" and started literally calling and asking to speak to Principals. Most actually took my calls. I told them I was looking for work but not necessarily an interview - I just wanted to meet them personally and get a sense of what they were all about. This takes all the pressure off of them and you. And if you're pleasant and make any sort of good impression, you'll likely be the first person they call when they need somebody.
Just Google for Toronto firms and send an email, pdf portfolio or call the ones you're interested in. If they like what they see on your portfolio and are hiring, they will get back for an interview.
Just contact places you'd like to work at first and see where that gets you. And if that doens't lead to anything you could look into ads, but most offices that are busy are also too busy to put out ads, go through tons of portfolios and hold interviews ;-)
What works is to simply keep tabs on which offices are shortlisted for a competition or major commission and start contacting those just before results are in, you'll be letting them know you are on top of things, know what's going on in the field and will be on their radar right before they're swamped with desperate applicants and they simply stop looking altogether.