The MA programme entices you with a good initial starting pay. But manipulates the compensation (both increments and bonuses) such that at the end of the programme your total salary package is not any better than an equivalent job elsewhere. In fact it can be worse. Also bear in mind the additional hours that you need to put in running the recreation club in which participation is compulsory for the MAs.


The higher your starting salary ( be it due to having a master degree or relevant working experiences etc) the lower your compensation in terms of both absolute amount and % as the company tries to equalise the salary of all MAs at the end of the programme. The end salary after the programme has been forecasted the moment you start your programme. Thus the manipulation of the compensation.


It's an over-rated programme which explains the high attrition rate.

The uncertainties faced by the MAs, the unfair compensation for the master grads and those with work experiences, the non transparency of HR, the disregards of MAs' feedback, the changes to the programme without prior consultation with the MAs even after the programme has already started, the pathetic compensation etc have contributed to the high attrition rate.

Constant changes to the programme without valuing the MAs is not going to help in retaining the MAs. Enticing with a good starting pay and then followed by unfair compensation which can be very pathetic only serve to make the MAs feel cheated and betrayed. It's like being conned into accepting the job offer and after working your ass off you are being told that because they gave u a good starting pay your compensation will be lower so as to match the so called ''market rate''. What is this ''market rate''? How is it determined etc?

So future MAs do think carefully when accepting the offer. Dont be short-sighted to just look at the starting pay.

It’s the first time they’re offfering it to candidates with 2-3 years work experience though, so how would you know this?

Masters and bachelors fresh grad point, I understand.

There were graduates with working experiences joining every year. 2018 batch has a few graduates (both masters and non masters) with 1+ to 4 years of working experiences prior to joining the MA programme.

The person who posted is obviously a current or past DBS MA. Nice of him or her to share.

Thanks very much for sharing, I appreciate that.

Would you be able to share some insights why they decided to re-brand this year as specifically for people with 2-3 years of work experience?

Are mature candidates better in any way?

I applied for the program and only completed up till the pymetrics stage. Have not received any update for pli. Not sure if it is the end of my recruitment journey.
-A

The whole revamp stemmed from the so-called higher attrition rate of MAs and the low engagement scores through thr MyVoice survey (there must be a valid explanation on low engagement with how HR is treating the MAs). The generalize programme where MAs got to rotate around the whole bank was thus scrapped, and hence the birth of the specialist programme where you only get to rotate within one track.

Why the 2-3 years of experience? Well their answer was that people with work experience should have a better idea of what they want to do in a bank.. whether or not that is true, I leave it open. Do bear in mind HR was told this revamp “is an experiment” so be prepared for in-programme changes (what’s new?).

It's not re-brand . New MA programme is basically same as GA programme which is for fresh graduates. You choose one of the 3 groups right from the start and do your rotations within that group. So if you choose for example CBG your rotations are only within CBG. Current and past MA programmes you do not choose any particular group and you are rotated across groups. 4 rotations. So after the 2 year programme you would have experienced both IBG and CBG and maybe even tech and ops. It's a more broad based programme which certainly helps you to choose which group you want to be posted to.

The reason for the change given by HR is because of the high attrition rate of the current MA programme. Asking for working experience is because there is already the GA programme for fresh graduates. The difference is GA programme is 2 years and the new MA programme is 1.5 years with just 3 rotations. Current and past MA programmes have matured candidates as well.

The failure of the company to recognise the true reasons for the high attrition rate has resulted in changes to the programme the past years. And this time they decided to completely changed the programme - extend the GA programme to graduates with working experience and called it MA programme. The 2019 batch will be the guinea pig batch.

There are more than 1 current or past MAs sharing in this thread?

Is the company still trying to short list more MA? How many MA do Dbs take in per year?