Hi Brendan, I'm a fellow paddy who's being working in advertising here for the last 8 years. To be frank, things aren't good here in the graphics/advertising/media industry. Lots of redundancies and so forth. There are also a lot of talented Singaporeans looking for work in this area and Singaporean companies will (naturally) tend to employ them first.
The software used here is primarily Pagemaker, Freehand and Photoshop. Illustrator and Quark are rarely used - dunno why.
Working hours are usually very long and the deadlines are just plain stupid. (And I'm comparing them with typical deadlines in Ireland and London). Magazine/publishing work is particularly deadline driven. Also, from my perception, in publishing preference is given to Chinese speaking and writing.
Advertising is more open to expats as a whole. If you are good, very knowledgeable about macs and mac maintenance and able to lead a group of people, there may be some openings as a studio manager. Frankly, as a expat, few companies will hire you just as a designer. You'll be expected to manage too.
If you can land a job, expect to work long and hard. There are great opportunities to be creative (I got to do 3 Army commercials - stuff creative people dream about) and to build a career and make a name for yourself. Just be prepared to make sacrifices...
Hope none of the above is too much of a downer. Let me know if I can help any more.
