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Old 13-08-2014, 02:13 PM
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Originally Posted by Fearoftheunknown View Post
Hi guys,

I have been looking for an entry level marketing job for the past few months but to no avail. I am currently a degree holder with barely any experience in marketing.

Yesterday, I just received a job offer from a company. The position is for marketing communications executive, and they are paying around $1.5 per month. There will be increments after probation, but still it's not alot and will definitely be less than $2k.

The reason they give diploma holder's rate despite the status is because they are actually looking for diploma holders in the first place, and unfortunately they do not have the extra budget to pay me more.

I am sceptical and confused regarding the salary issues. My friend told me that the market rate for degree graduates with no marketing experience command at least 2.2 -2.4k. In fact, my friend herself who has no marketing experience has gotten a job that pays her $2.3k three years ago. Another friend of mine just graduated told me that she wouldn't accept diploma holder's pay because if your first job starting pay is already so low, then your next job salary cannot be that high as most companies rely on previous pay to determine potential pay. She asked me to perhaps consider other career pathways such as HR (I had nine months experience in it) and get degree holder pay. My HR friend who's in her late thirties informed me that there is no such thing as diploma and degree holder pay, as long as you had the experience. She added that salary is not everything.

You know, I am not really sure what to do. I feel that deep down in my heart I should accept the job, cos time is not on my side (many graduations in Aug, meaning more competition), and since I am waiting so long for marketing entry level opportunities, I should just grab the offer because such opportunities don't come knocking on your door often. I also feel like my parents & relatives would tell me to accept the job offer regardless of pay, just to gain experience and build up your portfolio. Yet at the same time, I do think that I am presented with the shorter end of the stick in terms of pay, and I just FEAR that after accepting the job, the reality of a smaller pay check starts to kick in, and I will be the one regretting the wrong decisions made.

I would like to hear your opinions on this and weigh my options.
I think all these theoretical talk about how much you should be paid as a degree or diploma is pointless. What you get offered is reality and that for you unfortunately is $1.5k so far into your job search. Postulating on how much you are "supposed" to be paid is pointless and waste of time.

To me whether to accept or not depends on 2 factors:

#1 - How desperate are you? Do you need the money urgently?
#2 - How many interviews do you have so far? Do you need to head down for interviews frequently?

If you are desperate, well you don't really have a choice rite?

If you have been attending interviews frequently then perhaps you should reject as once you take up a full time job it is hard to "disappear" to attend these interviews. You don't want to give up good opportunities because you are stuck in the current job.

However if you haven't been getting much interviews along the way, what's the harm in taking up this job? You can always omit the job you have now and just say you went for a holiday after school if you eventaully go for an interview and worried that it might affect your salary.

At the very least if you still cannot get a job after 6 more months, you have some actual experience and a working salary and I'm sure you will also learn something along the way. The hard part of unemployed is often the pyschological pressure when you everyday sit at home nothing to do just surfing JobsDB and checking handphone for calls. Try to avoid that if possible.

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