How much increment can you ask for when you are looking for a new job?

[darkstar]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

your salary is pretty low for a degree graduate honestly. did you recently get your bachelor's or since 5 years ago have already? what institution? what exactly is private education sector? have you only been giving tuition the past 5 years?

Hi,

I got my bachelor's degree 5 years ago and have been working full-times for 5 years since, from the University of Queensland, no honours, only Dean's List Merit Award.

Private Education sector means working in educational institutions other than NTU, NUS or SMU.

For example, it refers to institutions like SIM, PSB Academy, Kaplan, Curtin Singapore or JCU Singapore.

Funny thing is, when I go for the interviews, (I already went for 6 interviews, 5 with GLC-related organisations), they say asking for $3.3 still okay, for senior executive positions, but maybe $3.5 a bit too much out of their budget.

My sixth interview, was a private sector organisation, actually quite large organisation, is actually a spin-off from one of Singapore's more-important Stat Board; they were really keen in me, the interview dragged to nearly 1.5 hours, and even asked me to consider other positions, but they said being paid $3.1K is currently way-above the market rate.

Please do not think of hospitals being govt link, as they do not follow the cs pay structure at all. Generally bulk of the money in hospitals goes to the doctors (to retain them from joining private) and so the rest of the administrative positions get a smaller cut.

It is common for fresh grad to receive ard 2.8k for executive position. Granted $100 increment a year, your given salary of 3.3k is reasonable for the no of years of exp.

[darkstar]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Please do not think of hospitals being govt link, as they do not follow the cs pay structure at all. Generally bulk of the money in hospitals goes to the doctors (to retain them from joining private) and so the rest of the administrative positions get a smaller cut.

It is common for fresh grad to receive ard 2.8k for executive position. Granted $100 increment a year, your given salary of 3.3k is reasonable for the no of years of exp.

Hi thanks a lot, it really helped me to put things in perspective; advice like this is really great - I got some organisations calling me up offering $2K (max) for degree-holder executive positions, while I have friends and people telling me to go for $4K. I also think asking for 3.3K is also reasonable, although I am not sure if I want to hold out for 3.5K, if possible, when i apply for senior executive positions.

Honestly you pay is really on the extreme lower end considering you have around 5 years of graduate working experience. perhaps it is due to your business major (too many from psb / sim etc around here)

Since you do not have a job currently, you have less bargaining chips play. Which is why companies are offering ~ 3300ish.

You can try putting "As per company HR policies and remu sops" in the expected salary.

Originally Posted by darkstar

Hi thanks a lot, it really helped me to put things in perspective; advice like this is really great - I got some organisations calling me up offering $2K (max) for degree-holder executive positions, while I have friends and people telling me to go for $4K. I also think asking for 3.3K is also reasonable, although I am not sure if I want to hold out for 3.5K, if possible, when i apply for senior executive positions.

your asking of 3.3k for 5 years is low.

suggest that u stop looking at govt linked organisations and educational sector as your overseas uni degree is as good as a diploma to them. this was the case for my sis who grad with a distance learning degree from murdoch.

MNCs, GLCs and SMEs may take u in as a local degree grad's equal IF u can convince them at your interview. this was for my case, where i entered with higher salary than some of my local uni grads colleagues.

all the best.

[darkstar]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

your asking of 3.3k for 5 years is low.

suggest that u stop looking at govt linked organisations and educational sector as your overseas uni degree is as good as a diploma to them. this was the case for my sis who grad with a distance learning degree from murdoch.

MNCs, GLCs and SMEs may take u in as a local degree grad's equal IF u can convince them at your interview. this was for my case, where i entered with higher salary than some of my local uni grads colleagues.

all the best.

Can I ask how much asking salary do you think I can ask for?

[darkstar]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

your asking of 3.3k for 5 years is low.

suggest that u stop looking at govt linked organisations and educational sector as your overseas uni degree is as good as a diploma to them. this was the case for my sis who grad with a distance learning degree from murdoch.

MNCs, GLCs and SMEs may take u in as a local degree grad's equal IF u can convince them at your interview. this was for my case, where i entered with higher salary than some of my local uni grads colleagues.

all the best.

I did not do a distance learning degree, I went on-shore to do it full-time.

the weird thing is when I went for a interview with a rather large organisation that was spinned off from a govt stat board, the HR manager told me that even in comparison with local uni grad with 2nd upper, I am overpaid - but I go for other interviews with similar organisations and they said it was okay.....just that they are slower in screening through all interviews.....

Originally Posted by darkstar

I did not do a distance learning degree, I went on-shore to do it full-time.

the weird thing is when I went for a interview with a rather large organisation that was spinned off from a govt stat board, the HR manager told me that even in comparison with local uni grad with 2nd upper, I am overpaid - but I go for other interviews with similar organisations and they said it was okay.....just that they are slower in screening through all interviews.....

Spin-off from a govt stat board means that the senior management will have people from there, and that they take reference from their time in public sector. That means unless you're from ivy league universities, chances are they'll prefer local grads and will offer less for those who went overseas (even if on-shore).

3.3k is only about there for positions in hospitals, as they generally pay lower to begin with. You cannot expect them to give you a position higher than entry level despite having 5 years of experience, unless you have connections or you were from public sector (chances are even low for this).

Alternatively, try to apply for other stat boards/agencies if you're truly keen to join the public sector. While you may not be offered a position higher than entry level, at least you can expect 3.8 - 4.2k depending on where you're applying to.

Originally Posted by darkstar

I did not do a distance learning degree, I went on-shore to do it full-time.

the weird thing is when I went for a interview with a rather large organisation that was spinned off from a govt stat board, the HR manager told me that even in comparison with local uni grad with 2nd upper, I am overpaid - but I go for other interviews with similar organisations and they said it was okay.....just that they are slower in screening through all interviews.....

that's just a tactic HR will use when negotiating salary. i think anything from 3.5-4k is ok.

also like another poster mentioned the mentality of recently spinned off stats boards (eg CAG) is largely still a stat board.

try looking at other types of companies.

Originally Posted by darkstar

Hi,

I got my bachelor's degree 5 years ago and have been working full-times for 5 years since, from the University of Queensland, no honours, only Dean's List Merit Award.

Private Education sector means working in educational institutions other than NTU, NUS or SMU.

For example, it refers to institutions like SIM, PSB Academy, Kaplan, Curtin Singapore or JCU Singapore.

Funny thing is, when I go for the interviews, (I already went for 6 interviews, 5 with GLC-related organisations), they say asking for $3.3 still okay, for senior executive positions, but maybe $3.5 a bit too much out of their budget.

My sixth interview, was a private sector organisation, actually quite large organisation, is actually a spin-off from one of Singapore's more-important Stat Board; they were really keen in me, the interview dragged to nearly 1.5 hours, and even asked me to consider other positions, but they said being paid $3.1K is currently way-above the market rate.

Hi. When you say you work in educational institutions what exactly do you do in the educational institution? Are you a teacher or do you handle some business function for the educational institution? More specifics on your competency and experiences will help us better gauge how to position yourself better for the market.

I still think $3.3k is too low for a graduate with 5 years experience. Unless you have been sweeping floors and making coffee the past 5 years, I really think you can gun for higher.