Salary reasonable for private school?

[Ecce]

Hi, I've been offered a teaching job in a private school for 3.5k and I have 6 years of working experience in the relevant industry (media), including a couple of years overseas. I've also taught part-time in poly before. For the teaching job, I'm suppose to write the curriculum too. I found out from a friend that with my experience, I should be able to command over 4k as a lecturer in the poly. So I wonder if I have been short-changed. Or is this salary range normal for private schools?

I'm not sure if I should ask for a higher pay. To be frank, I need the job as I have tried applying at other schools but not much response. Furthermore, with the influx of foreign talents who are more likely willing to accept a lower pay, I'm not sure if it is wise to ask for higher pay. I'm already in my mid thirties btw.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

You can always ask for a higher pay.

Do you have a job now? If not, your bargaining power is limited.

[Ecce]

Thanks for the reply.

I don't have a job now, so yeah, my bargaining power is low. I suppose I can try but just that if they say they need time to consider, there may be a chance they will hire somebody who can accept that pay.

It'll be good if there's anybody here who has taught or is teaching full time at private schools and can advice me if what they are offering is considered "market rate". Many thanks!!!

Assuming you are into teaching for the long run, I feel it is silly to hold out for $500 more when you are unemployed. Unless you have plenty of job offers for you to pick and choose. I would just take the job which will give me relevant experience and build my career from there.

[Ecce]

You have a point. Yup, I have decided to change to teaching as a career. Since this job enables me to plan curriculum, I think it'll be a valuable asset to me in future if I decide to move on.

Thanks for sharing. I think I'll just accept the offer.

I thought pte school pays better than MOE / poly? How come so low?

I mean 3.5k is like fresh grad level nowadays...

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I thought pte school pays better than MOE / poly? How come so low?

I mean 3.5k is like fresh grad level nowadays...

She is starting afresh, so what's the difference. I advised her to take up the job and progress from there.

So long as the $ can put food on the table, I think it is good. Don't go comparing salary with others, they might have a head start but with perserverence, you can catch up too.

Good luck.

Originally Posted by Unregistered_Making Sense

She is starting afresh, so what's the difference. I advised her to take up the job and progress from there.

So long as the $ can put food on the table, I think it is good. Don't go comparing salary with others, they might have a head start but with perserverence, you can catch up too.

Good luck.

I can understand passion yada yada, but need to be so drastic to take fresh grad pay even if she has 6 yrs work exp?

[Ecce]

I'm a "he", btw.

In my industry, salary is always an issue unless you work for big MNC or you hold a supervisory role. I think a mistake I made is when I came back from overseas, I joined a company that underpaid me, despite that I've already had 5 years experience at that time. I didn't work very long for that company and decided to leave the company and start my own business and teach part-time for a year. The business didn't really work out as well as I have wanted it. So I decided to change plans and go into full-time teaching instead. Actually what the private school is offering me is already 20% more than what I was getting in my last full time job.

The school asked for my past salaries and I had been honest with them. The thing is, I realized my bargaining power is very low if I were to negotiate for better pay. Some more I'm already in my mid-thirties, I think it's very tough for people my age to find jobs. I've already set my mind to teach as 1) I discovered my interest in it after teaching part-time for a year and I have received quite good feedback from my students and senior lecturer (2) it generally offer better income compared to going back to work in my industry, which is getting very competitive. Also, working hours can be quite bad depending on the projects you do.

So, in term of salary wise, it'll definitely be a gain for me with what I am offered. The only thing that bothers me is that I might be "short changed" if this is lower than the market rate for people with my experience. Btw, I forgot to mention that the company also said that my salary would be reviewed after 6 months of working with them.

So I think better for me to take up the offer first and then try to re-negotiate after 6 months? Would that be better?

Yes, you are definitely being short-changed. Do hold out for a few hundred dollars more so that you can la kopi at home while waiting for a non-shortchanging employer willing to give an unemployed failed businessman with non-current industry experience a second chance. A few hundred dollars a month is a lot of money, you can enjoy a few more night outs with it, which is definitely more important than getting a foothold in the lecturing industry.

The shortchanging employer will meanwhile hire someone with masters from india for $2.5k and complain to everyone how difficult it is to hire a local.