Assistant Director position in Government Agencies
 

Hi,

I am considering to apply for Assistant Director/Associate position in MAS IT Division.
Can anyone tell me whether this is a junior position or considered middle management?
I have 7.5 years experience as a IT systems administrator and about 3 years Project Management.

Also, is the title the same across government agencies?
Meaning AD@MAS = AD@People's Association/MOH/HSA etc.

To clarify, I have a total of 7.5 years work experience, which includes about 3 years project management.

Anyone with the civil service can share?
thx!

title varies across agencies.

AD in MAS is probably for someone with 3-4 years experience.

Consistency comes after DD. Most agencies peg DD to MX10 or equivalent. AD can be entry to junior mgment level.

There should be several job grades for AD. Can range from 3 to 10 or 11 years of experience. Probably equivalent to mx12 to mx10. At 7.5 yr maybe mx11b?

AD in MAS is equivalent to at most a Senior Associate in many big MNCs.

Almost anyone with a degree except for freshies in MAS is some sort of Director... The whole system is a joke.

I thot the bigger issue is the pay, rather than the title?

I am in the Pte sector (engineering) and I constantly benchmark my pay with those of my classmates who are in the CS or stat boards. I am not holding any fancy management title but pay wise I find my annual remuneration is on par if not more than theirs. Some are DDs which they said are superscale grade with at least $14k pm.

Below, I copied from some other forum on the CS pay scale for 2011. By now the salaries should be much higher.


2011 Civil Service Salary Range

Job grade: MX9 (Superscale)
Job title: Deputy Director, Director
Pay scale: S$10,580 – S$14,550 / S$14,551 – S$16,540

Job grade: MX10
Job title: Assistant Director, Deputy Director
Pay scale: S$6,350 – S$9,050 / S$9,051 – S$10,400

Job grade: MX11
Job title: Manager, Assistant Director
Pay scale: S$4,100 – S$6,160 / S$6,161 – S$7,190

Job grade: MX12
Job title: Assistant Manager, Manager
Pay scale: S$2,550 – S$5,130

Job grade: MX13
Job title: Management Executive
Pay scale: up to S$2,800 for fresh graduates

The salary ranges indicate the basic monthly wages that a civil servant may earn, and the figures exclude the potential value of civil service bonuses. Based on past newspaper reports, bonuses for an average civil servant could range from more than 2 months to 4 months inclusive of AWS (annual wage supplement), depending on the performance of the economy and individual performance.

In my current company, I am getting about 100k pa. I am also due for promotion to manager in 1 - 2 years time, which is officially considered middle management.

If I join MAS, pay wise should be getting about 110k pa. I will need to confirm with them whether I will be AD for MX 11 or 10. If it is MX11 it seems to be a downgrade for me.

Is my analogy correct?

MAS AD pays 110k??

UOB lagi jia lat. Very easily get Assistant vice president.

Almost everyone in the office is some sort of vice president. The lowest ranking being the management associate who is also a MANAGER.

why you sound so surprised?

Seems abit on the high side

IS that including all the bonus components or purely 12 months

Btw any idea the salary range in MAS for someone joining with 6 years relevant experience and male with NS?

If they are offering 110k on just basic alone for AD, that means you are almost at the maximum range of AD. Most ADs are only paid 70-80k and anything >100k is usually the old timers who have reached career ceiling.

You better think carefully as MAS like all other gov sectors will slow down pay increments for those that are close to max of salary scale. Unless you are able to promote within 1-2 years, you will get almost no increment for average performer going forward.

Hi, 110k is an estimate inclusive of bonus.
Base pay = ~$7000
3 mths bonus (lets say norm performance)

Yar if inclusive of bonuss then is OK, about average.

I was wondering how come MAS offer someone so high in the scale knowing the implications that come with it.

Agree if 110k is just the basic then will probably be reaching AD max. This could be mx10 already. Although I always had the impression that MAS, like GIC, pays better then other stat boards or even MOF (so ceiling could even be higher than mx10). can anyone verify this?

so 6 years exp mid career switch to MAS can expect how much annual?

Heard that gov agencies need 2-3 months to screen the background of a person.
Anyone know what do they screen?

How much does an AD earn in NParks?

All heads in NParks now are redesignated to be ADs

I've attended 2nd interview with a stat board in mid Nov. I called up HR last week and they told me the management is still in the process of interviewing candidates and they haven't reach a decision who to hire. Is this normal for govt sector?

sounds a bit too long. I've interviewed with 2 stat board. Both time they tend to arrange all applicant to interview within 1-2 weeks then very soon after that give result. but my experience with stat board is rather limited and it depends on how ergent the team needs people so anything could happen.

How long the time gap bet verbal offer n signing of physical contract?

1 week since I received verbal offer but haven received call to go down n sign

did they provide a package? if yes they shall also instruct u of the follow ups like go for medical checkup and provide referees.

Nope.. Juz call to say they keen to have me n settle salary as well as explain their bonus structure

Den day they will put the salary up for approval n contact me when contact ready to sign

Until now waiting loh

:(

I am offered $6000+ base pay for position of Assistant Director in MAS IT div.
Taking a conservative 4 mth bonus into account, I shd be getting ~$100k pa.

For someone with 7.5 years of work experience in IT, is this a reasonable amount?

Is 7.5 years very long? The best person to answer is you. Have you always been outstanding and a good performer? I have seen many people working 10 years plus in civil service and just barely breaking 5-6k. And yes, these are graduates.

If you are an outstanding performer, maybe 6 k is Abit low but if u are just an avg joe, it's quite a decent pay I think.

Is it less than 6500? Sounds reasonable.

Bro Mai ham

That's the MAS usual rate... Lowball monthly by focusing on their huge bonus

I've seen people take more den 500 payout caus they still get more with bonus

They offered me <$6500. Personally I feel that it is low.
Currently I am getting $5700 (base) + $300 (allowance), and my company gives 6 mths bonus (including AWS).
I highly doubt MAS will be able to match the bonus.

Also, looking at this as reference from 2011:
2011 Civil Service Salary Range
Job grade: MX10
Job title: Assistant Director, Deputy Director
Pay scale: S$6,350 – S$9,050 / S$9,051 – S$10,400

Job grade: MX11
Job title: Manager, Assistant Director
Pay scale: S$4,100 – S$6,160 / S$6,161 – S$7,190

A MX11 AD is already earning minimum $6161. I guess by now will be higher.
Or is this reference too optimistic?

MAS is a stat board, you cannot just blindly use ministry numbers. Stat boards in general have even more inflated titles.

Secondly, they are already offering you a higher basic. If you die die want them to offer higher than your whole package with a 6 months bonus, then public service is not where you should be.

MAS has more stable job security and bonus levels tend to fluctuate very little over
the years. You might get 6 mths this year, but kana 1 financial crisis maybe 0 bonus plus paycut for the next few years.

Your total package of 106k is higher than what most stat board employees will get with just 7.5 years experience. If you want them to go even higher than that, either show that you are from some pedigree top MNC with high potential (which you are not judging by your career progression so far) or find another private sector job that is willing to pay you even more.

mx11 earns min 4100, and can be called manager or ad, depending on the ministry. the 6161 is just the efficiency bar, need to cross the bar before u r eligible to be promoted to the next mx grade

I work in a ministry and total 7 years experience also, current total package inclsuive of bonus only 87k, to exceed 100k in just 7 years usually need consistent B+ & above performance.

Are you a AD already?

AD for 3 years already

At the end of the day, public sector offer not up to nego for junior level staff. What is the point of constantly reference this reference that? Will it make you feel better and accept the job if you hear someone getting lower than you as AD?

Just make a decision if the total package is good enough for you and accept or decline. If you heart is already made up that you want better $$$ just decline and move on in life.

mas has more flexibility to offer 6k+ with just 7 years exp, if civil service unless is niche skill or position where high cep hire is expected, confirm wont be so high for a support function like IT.

It is precisely the point that i need to reference this and that. It is a big decision for me and this forum is only a tool for me to get additional info.

Of course it is easy enough for you to say just decline and move on blah blah blah cos it doesn't even concern you in the first place.

U quite strange. Already telling you it is above average. Unless u can find many other ADs in MAS specifically to compare with then. To me most prob they are over paying U. If you were really top notch $ potential, there would tons of people headhunting U with attractive $ package. Most probably over paying U for your 'pvt' sector experience.

This is just emo crap talk. So how does all this reference affect your decision? Again I ask if somebody tell you he make less than you as AD are you going to accept? Conversely if someone tells you he make more than 6k are you going to reject?

The fact is simple, mas is unable or uwilling to match your bonus package. Either you suck thumb and just accept or go look for something else. As others have mention, AD in a stat board is just a junior div 1 officer, I am surprise they are even willing to give you 6k+ considering you are just a normal private sector employee without any distinction so far.