I signed the contract with PA. I request for 3.2k, and they offered me without hesitation.In the contract, I realized that I can claim up to $200 for my mobile bills and up to $200 of transport allowance. I simply cannot resist the good offer.I got to upgrade my mobile plan to exploit it. I can sense the desperation of them, they request me to start work on the following monday.

As a SIM grad of age 25 with only 1 year of working experience, earning 3.2K per mth, I guess isn't too bad.

contrags!!!

Do they post you to the area where you are living?

Yes. It was 10 min walk from my house of the PA that was in need of CM. I wonder why do they give me a transport allowance?

maybe it was a standard procedure from the past. maybe CM need to travel to few RC, NC or events etc, not sure.

still waiting for them to get back to me, is been nearly 2 weeks :(

Wow. 3.2k? With up to $400 claimable allowance? I grad last year with a local merit degree, only getting 3K per mth with avg 2.5 yearly bonus at a private firm. I didn't know PA statboard hire people with private degree.

I think you should email them to ask them about the interview outcome after 3 weeks.

so how's first day at work? super busy?

I believe the mobile and transport allowance that the poster is referring to is actually the flexible benefits scheme which every staff is entitled to make claims of up to $500 per year. In which minimum $100 is to be claimed for insurance plans and the remaining $400 for mobile subscriptions, IT products etc.

As a CM, there is also a monthly field allowance of $450 to compensate for shift and weekend duties. Add that to the basic of $3.2k and his monthly would be $3650.

Back in 2009/2010, fresh grad CMs (Both local and private Uni) were already offered a default basic pay of $3.2k. Only with honours then will see a significant difference. Seems that PA has yet to increase the basic pay for fresh grads after all these years.

Yes confirm its flex benefit (actually quite low as many MNCs offering ~2k nowadays).

The $450 is more like OT or compensation for medicore bonus considering the type of working hours. Fresh grads all-in annual at most ~$50k which is honestly not worth that kind of work hours, so you must really like grassroots work.

Which explains the reason for the high turnover rate.

Not so much for mid career transitionists but more for fresh grads as they start to compare their working hours with peers who are having a 9-5 office hour job with permanent weekends off.

But if building and bridging communities to bond residents together with events and activities is your cup of tea, then joining PA will be a job match for you.

That's what I thought when I first joined. I still enjoy the community sort of work and cammaderie.

The main reason for me leaving is really first of all really no life outside work. You are always doing something with someone yet very lonely as no time for anything personal.

Pay and benefits cannot even match a normal civil service, not even counting all the extra hours. But the main driver is really the lack of progressiveness in the culture and way of doing things, it's like a time capsule from the 1980s, totally out of tune with how modern organiations are run.

I just didn't feel comfortable stagnating like that for the rest of my life, so my advice to new joiners is to think through carefully before joining.

To be fair, there are 87 COs and 106 CCs in total. Differences in day to day ops are bound to be prevalent among all the different units with every CO / CC having its own set of culture. The grassroots adviser and volunteers play a big part in determining this culture.

There are indeed people who felt the same as you and left subsequently, but there are also others who are recognised for their performance and getting promoted to DCD and beyond.

As the saying always goes, it largely depends on the CO you are posted to.

DCD is just another fancy name for senior exec or AM in the pte sector, it's expected in the market that most ppl should get it as long as no screw up. the fact that it is so rare in PA that this kind of "promotion" also worth mentioning just go to show how weak the career planning is or maybe its a case of too high turnover ppl leaving before they 3 years mark is up.

If the pay commensurate with the title and responsibility then no grounds for complain. So how much is a DCD expect to be paid? Got $10K pm or not?

haha DCD 10k in ur dream loh. even a CD is only 7-8k, so DCD prob 5-6k

Yes, nobody is denying the fact of the high turnover rate in PA as I've mentioned previously. Just that it's a personal choice.

People will stay on if they are contented with their job scope / life style / salary in PA while those who thought other wise are always welcome to leave.

I mean, nobody can force anyone not to resign, no?

Your statemen is so generic it means nothing at all. It applies to each and every job in the world except maybe slavery.

My post is intented for ppl who are thinking of joining, need to tell them what the situation is really like. This is not the first time I heard PA ppl painting good picture to lure unsuspecting job seekers by citing diliberately mega inflated job titles and dangling reimbursement / allowance as a "perk"

Seriously, a 5k guy can be called Deputy Director? Say already ppl outside also dun believe. I fell into the same trap last time as well, thought wah not bad see some young ppl before 40 already "director", must be very progressive organization.

It's been 3 weeks and no calls...maybe gone case liao

Well, all titles in Civil / Public service are inflated anyway, not just only for PA.

Did you follow up with the HR officer who contacted you to arrange for the interview?

How was the interview and the vibes by the way?

not really. civil service directors are mostly superscales in the 11-15k range, certainly not ridiculously low levels like 6-7k we see in PA. also i dun think their DDs are 4-6k types, most are 9-12k iirc.

I think you've mistaken with the different director positions (as well as their payscale) in PA.

DCD & CD are on the ground (Stationed in COs & CCs) and their salaries are as what you've mentioned ($5k-$6k for DCD, $7-$8k for CD) to manage a team of 15 to 20 staff. In comparison to the private sector, this makes them akin to an AM / Manager level I suppose.

Above the CD there is the GCD (Group Constituency Director), who bascially looks after all constituencies in the GRC with the respective CDs reporting to him / her.

At the HQ level and above the GCD, there are the DDs (Deputy Director) and Directors for each of the 5 districts in Singapore (North-West, North-East, South-West, South-East & Central).

All GCDs report directly to the DDs and the Directors themselves report to even higher level Asst Directors / Directors above them (Grassroots Planning, Field Engagement, Partnership, Policy & Corporate development etc etc).

A district DD will already be in the payscale of minimum $10k. All the other higher level directors most certainly will be in the $11-$15k range as you've mentioned, If not, more.

That's the reason why the CMs, DCDs & CDs have the word "Constituency" in their titles, as they are just taking charge of their constituency. Shouldn't get their titles confused with the "Real deal" Managers and Directors in HQ level.

Hope this will be useful for people considering to apply with PA, that the DCD and CD position is not the end of your career once you've reach this position, cheers.

I think most of us are aware that there are dd / directors in HQ who are rank & pay higher. That was never the point of the discussion. The whole conversation so far is how PA has deliberately inflated the tiles of their very junior positions in order to give a wrong impression to candidates and newly join jr staff on supposed "promotion", talent progressiveness and pay prospects.

In the same vein, you do not see a ministry awarding fake titles like "team director" or "outlet director" etc then go around telling people that they are very forward looking fast talent progression citing examples of how some guy new from school after 5 years become a "team director" when in fact that "team director" is an AM that reports to a HQ manager.

This is the crux of the matter and I suspect also one of the reasons turnover so high. People come in with the wrong impression, after joining see the stress & work hours together with the broken dream that career prospects are no where as progressive as they have thought, get demotivated and leave.

HR just say still processing, result not out yet...

Hi,
do u guys have the hr email for me to check on my status? I have send out about 1 month ago but still no reply :'(

Can pm me the email to send enquiry to? Or number to call?

you can always look up the PA website, there should be a number, maybe the person who answered will direct to the HR department etc.

hi, i applied for like a month alr they have not email me yet. how long did u guys waited?

About 2 weeks...but is the waiting after the interview that is long

wah means i no chance liaos. LOLS :(

Can keep applying...the position is always posted

they asked me to go down for interview, but what question to anticipate?

Jus very general questions...why u want join, what u can contribute etc...good luck

hahaha thanks. so btw, i saw there is this written test.. is it the same kind of questions?

Situational question but very easy one

how long is the waiting time after the interview?
 

Hi,
do u guys know roughly how long is the waiting time after the interview?

Hi all,

i went for an interview mid May and they called me up on the 3 weeks for the 2nd interview at the CC its self.

waited for almost 2hrs (including the essay writing) and the interview was only 15mins.

So u waited 3 weeks before they call u?

nvr understand why they so focus on essay writing part. when i was there, seems like all u need is basic english and write a few simple paras reporting various happenings. most of the staff there are not very good in english also, so i really dunno why so gungho abt writing essay during interview.