I have to re-emphasize again, please don't be misled by starting pay. Basing your career decision on starting pay is going to mislead you badly.
Ultimately, what do you need form your career? To me, it is clear that the primary goal why we all work is for money. (money to put food on the table, money to achieve the other goals we want in our lives). Interesting job, good working environment are all bonus. Secondary.
So okay, assuming we want a job that pays us well. Why do we not pursue jobs with the highest starting pay? The answer is in the word "starting". It is too short-term. Your first year pay is minute in the context of 40 years of work. Also, your first year pay can and is likely to be very different from your pay after 4-5 years.
I like to use audit as a good example. My time, starting salary was $2,400. Bank operations paid $3,000. That is like 25% difference. But 4-5 years down the road, an auditor would be earning close to $6k. The auditor could also have moved into banking (after getting his CPA) and could be earning way higher. How about the ops person? He/she took the higher starting pay job. He/she didn't like ops in the first place but took the job for the additional $600 (this is quite a common scenario). 4-5 years down the ops route, he is earning $4-5k. Learnt nothing new, no progression. Further 5-10 years down the road, the Auditor makes partner or moves out to be a financial controller. Where is the Ops guy now?
Before you brush it off and say, hey this is just a scenario and the Ops guy could have done so well that he is now a HOD. My main pt is not to tell you audit path > or < than bank ops path, but it is to highlight to you that basing your career choice on start pay will mislead you. Start pay is but a very small factor and function of your total earning capability in the future.
Think longer term. I believe that in general, you will be rewarded properly if you are top of your profession. (dont start the "number 1 road sweeper" line of argument again.) Top banker. Top lawyer. Top doctor. Top engineer. Top Property agent. Top Hawker.
It is better to pick a profession that you can be very good in rather than a profession where the average salary is high but you have no aptitude in at all.
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Originally Posted by Unregistered
Don't look at starting pays, that is too short-sighted. The average pay is low because a large portion of graduates start of as auditors. However, the pay increment in the next 4-5 years are substantial and standardised.
You seem to have the "just pick whatever I can get" mentality and making your course selection based on pay. You should focus on pickinga course that you are interested in and can do well.
If you pick a specialised and technical route (accountancy, engineering, law, etc), you must consider whether you ultimately like the industry.
Sure there are a handful that pursue an alternative career post graduation, which maybe significantly different from what they have studied. The question is then why did you pick that course in the first place?
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