HOW to get a job in Canada or New Zealand if I am living in Singapore
ADVISE ??
.sg
Drop Canada from your list of design destinations. That country prefers selling wood, oil and minerals over brainy products. Canada is a whore for Chinese products and everything cheap, cheap, cheap. Few, scattered low-pay design jobs, don’t waste your time. Most Canadian designers move to the U.S. eventually.
but I doubt NZ is any better 
( design industry wise)
Bah, don’t listen to these people. You’ve benchmarked two of the greatest places on earth to live, and just because they don’t have gigantic ID industries full of self-proclaimed superstars doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try.
Check out here:
and here:
http://www.bcid.com/
and see if you can network with some friendly Canadian Industrial Designers…
On the sixth day God turned to the angel Gabriel and said, “Today I am going to create a land called Canada. It will be a land of outstanding natural beauty, it shall have tall majestic mountains full of mountain goats and eagles, beautifully sparkling lakes bountiful with carp and trout, forests full of elk and moose, high cliffs overlooking sandy beaches with an abundance of sea life, and rivers stocked with salmon.”
God continued, “I shall make the land rich in oil so to make the inhabitants prosper, I shall call these inhabitants Canadians, they shall be known as the friendliest people on the Earth.”
“But Lord,” asked Gabriel, “don’t you think you are being too generous to these Canadians?”
“Not really,” replied God, “just wait and see the neighbours I am going to give them.”
Wow. That’s ignorant. I believe it’s all of North America that likes cheap cheap cheap…
If you don’t want cheap goods - move to Vancouver. They recently banned Wal-Mart and are currently reviewing a 20 year ban on Taco Bell. There are also plenty of 600sqft half-million dollar condos to go around.
new zealand is nice country to live and to find job here, there still opportunities for everyone, check out this site http://www.seek.co.nz
and wish you good luck.
Fashion is the top industry, architecture are beauty down here, and industrial design is booming…so if you think to come, be prepare and also u know what you got to offer.
There will always be the Taco Bell in Squamish…
I had a buddy who absolutely loved Taco Bell, but there weren’t any near him in Vancouver, so whenever we went to Whislter (which was almost every weekend), he insisted that we stopped in Squamish for TB. Can’t say I like it that much myself.
Uh, back on topic…Yay Canada…
I’m a Canadian living/working in the US. As far as job opportunities are concerned the US is the best (still better than China). As far as living and quality of life, Canada’s unsurpassed. Once I get enough experience in the US I will return to home and start my own studio there. The question arises: do you live to work; or do you live to live?
http://archives.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/10/04/world.cities/
Getting a job in Canada is easy, just say “Eh!” after everything you say, they’ll think you’re a local.
I should have guessed. Its mmjohns again. This guy is a clown. He probably thinks Canadians live in igloos, hunt for elk, and trade animal pelts. Typical ignorant american in all its glory.
This guy’s got over 250 posts. GET A LIFE ASSHOLE.
I actually like Canada, it’s just fun to stir people up every once in a while. Feel free to make fun of where I’m from.
Missouri:
- people here like to say warsh instead of wash
ex: I’m gonna go warsh the car
- people use fixin’ in place of “going to” and “making”
ex: what are you fixin to do. Or what are you fixin for dinner
- people use hoosier (normally associated with Indiana Basketball) to mean white trash.
ex: I saw some hoosier beating his wife and kids at walmart yesterday.
Taco Bell and Squamish? what does this have to do with anything? You guys may not have TB up there, but we don’t have TimHortons Ice Cappuccino or Smarties here.
Why are you ppl being so mean to each other??? Love your neighbours, man…
There’s good things about every place in this world… no need to put each other down.
Anyways, back employment in Canada…
I’m an Econ major, Fine Art minor… is there anyway for me to get a ID related job???.. I know it’s gonna be hard, and it’s better for me to get an ID degree… but I don’t really have the time and money… Can I learn as I work? I’m willing to start from the bottom…
“Getting a job in Canada is easy, just say “Eh!” after everything you say, they’ll think you’re a local”
Its a big secret apparently, but Canadians rarely say eh
News item you need: economists at the Toronto-Dominion Bank just issued a report confirming Canada has sunk to 17th (yes, 1-7) place in terms of productivity among the world’s rich nations. Canada was once in 3rd place.
What’s directly related to per-hour per-worker productivity you ask? Living standards. High taxes, incompetent corrupt government, risk aversion and low capital (machinery & technology) investments are all to blame, but one of the main reasons cited for this drop is low “innovativeness of companies”.
Spending on machinery and equipment in the U.S. (adjusted to the number of hours worked in each country) is double that of Canada.
Canadians are rightly known as some of the nicest (if somewhat dull) chaps you’ll ever come across anywhere and this is exactly their problem in this context. Being docile and subservient to this extent has its price. Design used to be worth something in Canada but that was decades ago when Canada still aimed for the top not mediocrity.
Great country for lots of other things, just don’t move there for a design job.
Productivity is down in Canada because hockey is back.
'nuff said
I can’t speak for NZ but getting a design job in Canada without an ID degree is going to be extremely difficult - if not impossible.
It just comes down to numbers. There are 4 or 5 main Canadian design schools and they graduate more students each year than there are jobs. As a result there is a surplus of educated hungry designers.
Using Vancouver as an example, Emily Carr graduates 30 students each year. I would estimate there are between 50-60 industrial design jobs in and around Vancouver (that’s probably being a bit generous) You will be competing with these graduates, as well as last years, etc for the 2-3 new jobs that come up each year.
Things are a bit better in Toronto and Montreal as there is more industry however competition for jobs is still just as tight as there are also more schools there.
I believe there are Taco Bells in Toronto however the hockey team sucks.
Montreal is cool and is TB free. 
good luck.
Design in NZ - The design industry is very small, but that shouldn’t put you off, many kiwi design head overseas to look for work, including myself. But I’ve found the bigger the design industry the more competitive it is to find work. Take London for example, I had more luck in Dublin and Glasgow, where the design consultancies can be counted on your fingers, in Dublin on one hand!
Check out the design council for possible contacts - http://www.dinz.org.nz/main/index.html
It all depends on your personality and perservarance where ever you go, and the lifestyle in NZ (excluding Auckland) is second to none, I hope Canada is a close 2nd as I’m heading to Vancouver or Calgary in a couple of months.
It’s true that a degree or some related experience would be useful, very useful, but if you could put together a good clean portfolio showing useful skills and have knowledge of at least one CAD package you will have a good shot. Just remember, there’s always someone who is willing to work harder than you for less, just to gain experience, so you have to expect many a rejection letter.