Wondering if anyone out there can offer me some guidance in terms of finding foreign employment. My wife (elementary music teacher) and I are both 26 years old and would like to pursue the alluring experience of working abroad. We are hoping to make a move in the summer of 2015 and are ready to hone in on some potential destinations. By then, I will be licensed (hopefully!) with an M.Arch and 3+ years of rich professional experience in sports/recreation design. I am very strong in Revit, SketchUp, and Adobe CS with an equally strong graphic portfolio. Unfortunately my CAD skills are limited and I don't speak another language. We are ideally looking to find something with a commitment of at least 1 year. I am willing to take a hit on salary in exchange for the travel opportunities, but I don't want to take a job that will set back my career when it's time to come back home.
My questions are:
Are there any countries out there where my Revit skills would be valued as highly as they are in the states?
Right now we are attracted to Australia, New Zealand, as well as Singapore and China. Can anyone share their experiences about working conditions in these countries? Salary expectations? Quality of work experience? Ridiculous hours?
Where / how do I start?? Respond to job postings? Cold call/email? International firms?
She already has a connection for a high profile teaching job in Japan, but I've heard it's nearly impossible to find an architecture job there without speaking Japanese. Should I even bother looking there?
The bottom line is that we are open to just about anywhere we can both find jobs. If anyone can answer any of my questions or offer any advice, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Revit is still fairly new to many countries and therefore AutoCAD is predominant, but Revit is starting to make its way into offices slowly.
I am not sure of the visa requirements for US citizens but a few years ago china was fairly easy to get work as an architectural assistant/intern without speaking the language. it seems as of late it is becoming more difficult. Dezeen usually have a section of internship jobs and frequently positions in china are posted. http://www.dezeenjobs.com/category/jobs/internships-jobs/
In addition if you wife has a degree working as an English teacher in many of the Asian countries often pays reasonably well and often includes accommodation.
Australia and New Zealand are both beautiful countries but of the two I think Australia would afford you more opportunity. If you meet the requirements you may be able to get a skilled work visa which would allow you and your wife to work and live there. This type of visa can be expensive and a lengthy process.
I believe that both countries offer US citizens a 'working holiday' visa. This type of visa has some limitations but does allow you to live and work there for upto 12 months. once you are there you can find employment (providing it is a skilled job) and the company can offer you sponsorship which will grant you (and partner) residency.
Singapore, China and Dubai (if you can live there). Aussie and NZ are beautiful, no doubt, but I wonder if you will get the exposure of working elseplace there, I am not quite sure how different it would be from here in the US in terms of scale.
In addition, there are a few decent architectural recruitment firms that you may want to get in touch with and sound things out. Bespoke careers and Maven recruitment come to mind.
If you have any Melbourne specific questions, I'll try answer...
Has anyone looked into doing community practice, mostly housing, in a country like Ecuador, Ghana, Brazil, or Bolivia? Somewhere that is largely stable but much less developed than the United States?
Wow thank you all for the responses. After looking at the job postings on seek.com I am pretty blown away by the demand for Revit knowledge as well as the salaries / wages offered in Australia... substantially more than I am making now.
Ecnal: Can you speak to how common it is for Australian firms to hire foreign architects? Is it unrealistic to expect a firm to offer an opportunity to essentially a temp with a one-year work visa?
Can you tell me anything about standard working hours there? Here in the states I average 45-55 hours a week, while a friend of mine in Japan says it's common for people to work 70-80 hours. I'm also curious about holiday / vacation time since I'd also like to travel during my time there.
What about the cost of living in Melborne? What does a 1-bedroom apartment in the city rent for? Are the higher salaries simply reflecting a high cost of living, or is architecture actually a lucrative career there??
At any rate, it's pretty safe to say that Australia is looking like the most attractive destination. Great climate, friendly people, and no language barrier. Looking forward to learning more!
Hey - I'll answer as best I can, bearing in mind all my experience is in Melbourne- which culturally is quite different to say, Sydney as far as architecture goes. A bit of east side/ west side if you like.
Foreign architects in aus: At my previous firm (~10-15 people), we hired an Irish architect while I was there. That office sponsored him for his visa, which I think may be required depending on how you enter the country/under which visa. At my current firm (~50ppl), we have about 4-5 international architects working here of which 3 have been hired in the last 12 months. I don't how long they intend on being in the country, and if that was a factor in the hiring. So, on my experience, it would seem a realistic proposition to get work here. You would be looking at graduate roles most likely.
Standard working hours: Generally pretty good, by law we have a 38hour working week (but this is not taken very seriously in the arch world here), typically I work in the region of 40-50 hours per week. I've had a few weeks (maybe one every 2 months or so) where hours may get up to 60 or so. Besides the actual hours worked, perhaps a more interesting issue is what happens when you work outside your standard daily hours. Personally, I'm lucky enough to get paid for each hour additional at my standard rate. Of friends in the field, one gets time in lieu (an hour of leave) for each hour over 10 hours per day. Another works for free past 8 hours, and another gets half an hour for every hour worked put towards time in lieu, a mixed bag. I would say all of us are working at what would be considered top tier firms.
On salary, we are covered by an architecture award wage here- so as a grad, you would be looking at about 42k standard salary. More if you can leverage and negotiate those revit skills perhaps.
Cost of living: I rent a 1 bedroom apartment with my partner in the CBD, cost is $350 per week plus bills (gas, elec, water, internet). I think aus in general is quite costly to live at the moment... Not likely to change that much though!
A quick note re: rental prices: jump on to www.realestate.com.au and have a look for yourself. If looking in Melb, some of the better (subjectively) suburbs are Fitzroy, Carlton, South Yarra, CBD, East Melbourne. I'm not a big fan of areas like the Docklands, Southbank etc- but this is where a lot of the large scale resi development is concentrated, so there would be more to choose from there.
ranjan, this is fantastic-- great to hear so many positive things about the culture there. I'm assuming, since you are on this forum, that you are an architect / design professional. Can you tell me anything about your career there? Typical tasks / duties? Difficulties you've had making the transition? How did you land your job?
Go Abroad China GAC is a professional organization offers multiple programs in China like: study, travel, internship, volunteer, teach and work abroad programs. These programs help participants build relationships with native Chinese people and better understand the country's language and culture.
There are more than 600 different Internship positions in our database and we can basically access most of the industries, based in Beijing and Shanghai. You can see many samples on our website Internship directory. http://www.goabroadchina.org
or contact us directly at [email protected] or skype: goabroadchina1
Best for you and your wife.
Mariana Ayala
GAC staff
Jul 16, 14 10:56 pm ·
·
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Seeking employment abroad... but where?
Hello All,
Wondering if anyone out there can offer me some guidance in terms of finding foreign employment. My wife (elementary music teacher) and I are both 26 years old and would like to pursue the alluring experience of working abroad. We are hoping to make a move in the summer of 2015 and are ready to hone in on some potential destinations. By then, I will be licensed (hopefully!) with an M.Arch and 3+ years of rich professional experience in sports/recreation design. I am very strong in Revit, SketchUp, and Adobe CS with an equally strong graphic portfolio. Unfortunately my CAD skills are limited and I don't speak another language. We are ideally looking to find something with a commitment of at least 1 year. I am willing to take a hit on salary in exchange for the travel opportunities, but I don't want to take a job that will set back my career when it's time to come back home.
My questions are:
The bottom line is that we are open to just about anywhere we can both find jobs. If anyone can answer any of my questions or offer any advice, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Anyone? Please?
Revit is still fairly new to many countries and therefore AutoCAD is predominant, but Revit is starting to make its way into offices slowly.
I am not sure of the visa requirements for US citizens but a few years ago china was fairly easy to get work as an architectural assistant/intern without speaking the language. it seems as of late it is becoming more difficult. Dezeen usually have a section of internship jobs and frequently positions in china are posted. http://www.dezeenjobs.com/category/jobs/internships-jobs/
In addition if you wife has a degree working as an English teacher in many of the Asian countries often pays reasonably well and often includes accommodation.
Australia and New Zealand are both beautiful countries but of the two I think Australia would afford you more opportunity. If you meet the requirements you may be able to get a skilled work visa which would allow you and your wife to work and live there. This type of visa can be expensive and a lengthy process.
I believe that both countries offer US citizens a 'working holiday' visa. This type of visa has some limitations but does allow you to live and work there for upto 12 months. once you are there you can find employment (providing it is a skilled job) and the company can offer you sponsorship which will grant you (and partner) residency.
Singapore, China and Dubai (if you can live there). Aussie and NZ are beautiful, no doubt, but I wonder if you will get the exposure of working elseplace there, I am not quite sure how different it would be from here in the US in terms of scale.
I'm a fairly new grad in Australia (Melbourne), if you are curious to have a look at the roles advertised I'd recommend visiting:
www.seek.com.au
In addition, there are a few decent architectural recruitment firms that you may want to get in touch with and sound things out. Bespoke careers and Maven recruitment come to mind.
If you have any Melbourne specific questions, I'll try answer...
Has anyone looked into doing community practice, mostly housing, in a country like Ecuador, Ghana, Brazil, or Bolivia? Somewhere that is largely stable but much less developed than the United States?
Wow thank you all for the responses. After looking at the job postings on seek.com I am pretty blown away by the demand for Revit knowledge as well as the salaries / wages offered in Australia... substantially more than I am making now.
Ecnal: Can you speak to how common it is for Australian firms to hire foreign architects? Is it unrealistic to expect a firm to offer an opportunity to essentially a temp with a one-year work visa?
Can you tell me anything about standard working hours there? Here in the states I average 45-55 hours a week, while a friend of mine in Japan says it's common for people to work 70-80 hours. I'm also curious about holiday / vacation time since I'd also like to travel during my time there.
What about the cost of living in Melborne? What does a 1-bedroom apartment in the city rent for? Are the higher salaries simply reflecting a high cost of living, or is architecture actually a lucrative career there??
At any rate, it's pretty safe to say that Australia is looking like the most attractive destination. Great climate, friendly people, and no language barrier. Looking forward to learning more!
Hey - I'll answer as best I can, bearing in mind all my experience is in Melbourne- which culturally is quite different to say, Sydney as far as architecture goes. A bit of east side/ west side if you like.
Foreign architects in aus: At my previous firm (~10-15 people), we hired an Irish architect while I was there. That office sponsored him for his visa, which I think may be required depending on how you enter the country/under which visa. At my current firm (~50ppl), we have about 4-5 international architects working here of which 3 have been hired in the last 12 months. I don't how long they intend on being in the country, and if that was a factor in the hiring. So, on my experience, it would seem a realistic proposition to get work here. You would be looking at graduate roles most likely.
Standard working hours: Generally pretty good, by law we have a 38hour working week (but this is not taken very seriously in the arch world here), typically I work in the region of 40-50 hours per week. I've had a few weeks (maybe one every 2 months or so) where hours may get up to 60 or so. Besides the actual hours worked, perhaps a more interesting issue is what happens when you work outside your standard daily hours. Personally, I'm lucky enough to get paid for each hour additional at my standard rate. Of friends in the field, one gets time in lieu (an hour of leave) for each hour over 10 hours per day. Another works for free past 8 hours, and another gets half an hour for every hour worked put towards time in lieu, a mixed bag. I would say all of us are working at what would be considered top tier firms.
On salary, we are covered by an architecture award wage here- so as a grad, you would be looking at about 42k standard salary. More if you can leverage and negotiate those revit skills perhaps.
Cost of living: I rent a 1 bedroom apartment with my partner in the CBD, cost is $350 per week plus bills (gas, elec, water, internet). I think aus in general is quite costly to live at the moment... Not likely to change that much though!
A quick note re: rental prices: jump on to www.realestate.com.au and have a look for yourself. If looking in Melb, some of the better (subjectively) suburbs are Fitzroy, Carlton, South Yarra, CBD, East Melbourne. I'm not a big fan of areas like the Docklands, Southbank etc- but this is where a lot of the large scale resi development is concentrated, so there would be more to choose from there.
ranjan, this is fantastic-- great to hear so many positive things about the culture there. I'm assuming, since you are on this forum, that you are an architect / design professional. Can you tell me anything about your career there? Typical tasks / duties? Difficulties you've had making the transition? How did you land your job?
Ranjan, not to be a smartass, but do they not have paragraphs in Aussie?
Hi,
This article may help with some initial broad considerations regarding China:
http://www.arch-shortcuts.com/5-pros-of-working-in-china/
Good luck!
Hi Thomas this is Mariana from Go abroad China
Go Abroad China GAC is a professional organization offers multiple programs in China like: study, travel, internship, volunteer, teach and work abroad programs. These programs help participants build relationships with native Chinese people and better understand the country's language and culture.
There are more than 600 different Internship positions in our database and we can basically access most of the industries, based in Beijing and Shanghai. You can see many samples on our website Internship directory. http://www.goabroadchina.org
or contact us directly at [email protected] or skype: goabroadchina1
Best for you and your wife.
Mariana Ayala
GAC staff
Block this user
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