Career Aspirations

Many practitioners revealed that interior design was not their top choice when they had to decide on a topic of study. Some of them select interior design as the last resort to pursue further study. In the quantitative survey, it was found that 60% of employees are very or somewhat dissatisfied with their current jobs, while 31% of employees have considered switching to another company/ industry in past 12 months. This relatively low aspiration affects practitioners’ desire to enrich their knowledge with further studies, and many do not even plan for a long career in interior design.

For those who have considered switching to another company or industry during the past year, the most common reason cited is the wish to obtain different types of work experiences (cited by 72% of respondents), while to obtain a higher income comes second (64%), followed by to look for a better match for him/herself (47%). Only 5% wanted to leave their jobs to pursue further studies.

Regarding their personal aspirations, 60% of respondents look for personal growth and achievement, 33% seek higher income, while 20% have the desire to start their own companies or brands. Interestingly, only a relatively small percentage choose more ambitious goals such as to become an all-rounded designer (14%) or selfless ones such as to improve other people’s quality of life (13%).