Kristina:
Here are my recommendations:
- If you have no direct or indirect project experience in Singapore, Hong Kong or Mainland China, you’re at a major disadvantage.
- If you do not speak Cantonese or Mandarin, your disadvantage just doubled.
- If you cannot design and sketch (freehand) persuasively and convincingly at the speed of light or near it, your disadvantage just tripled.
- The global recession is now in full swing. Asia, the only remaining productive part of the globe with a collectively positive GDP in any of the major countries (e.g. China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Vietnam …don’t even think about Australia and New Zealand unless your a planner-which I am also and both nations are in great need of us who are ) is now rapidly in decline. Check it out if you do not take my written word for it. Major and minor league design firms (architecture, landscape architecture and planning) are taking a very cautious and diligent approach to bringing on any new staff, even entry level. The number of job offerings that were plentiful on the common websites for the design professions in the Asia market have dropped off dramatically in the last three months.
- Singapore and Hong Kong are among the most expensive places to live in Asia. If you were even remotely successful in finding employment in either city, you will be paid barely enough to survive on, given your borderline entry-level experience.
What you should really do : Stay where you are and try and find employment with one of the construction document production or 3D visualization factories that mainstay Asia design firms have decided to offshore to save some coin.
(e.g. Belt-Collins)
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