3300?!?!? dude for your qualifications thats definitely a lowball... i find it really hard to believe, especially since it's a MINISTRY and youre FCH after all. Are you female or male btw? I hope you made a typo lol. Also, whats the bonus payout like? is it annual package 16 months?

Will graduating into a recession affect my salary in civil service? I'm graduating in May 2021 and am very worried already lol. :(

Definitely something wrong here. You should be expecting about 4k with NS. Did the HR screw up??

dont be stupid MINISTRY has nothing to do with it. There are many Stat Boards paying as well and quite a number better than a MINISTRY assuming generalist role like for like.

Assistant Manager at MCI
 

Hi guys, I'm the female FCH NUS graduate who's taking $3.3K at MCI. I'm really not trolling. :( My friend who was a third class NUS graduate was offered $3.3K at MOE, so I thought maybe it's the standard entry-level salary when you go into ministries.

The package is standard I believe, mid-year bonus + end-year bonus + AWS. I'm on the MX scheme, MX13.

I was afraid of COVID-19 affecting the economy and in general the poor economy (was offered in mid-January, put it on hold and was offered another job in the private sector at $3.2K), so I just took up the job.

I thought $3.5K was pretty good because none of my friends have graduated and most go to work in social services, so they get lower salaries than I do. :(

Man, this seriously bummed me out. I came here because a friend from MTI told me that I was being severely shortchanged, but I don't understand why? Anyone can provide any insights?

Is it advisable for me to start looking elsewhere? I have a probation period of 1 year and I've also heard that it's not good to leave your job before the 1 year mark. I do enjoy what I do somewhat but I'm the type who can enjoy most kinds of work.

sh!t this is bad. they just total low-balled you. it is true.

quickly resign. you can definitely do better at other ministries!!! you should get at least 3.7-5k at other places!!!

you can't nego with them just quit!

I always thought civil service had a standard formula for calculating starting pay, particularly for fresh grads. It's odd that they could be lowballing so much.

ya usually they peg to this system (i forgot what it's called) to formulate the pay right? and with regards to above comment, usually most ministries can afford to pay more isnt it? notwithstanding revenue generating stat boards, of course

sounds like it's gonna be a tricky situation for OP if he wants to bring up the negotiation with HR...considering all's been said black and white. How should OP broach this topic anyway? Also, given our current economic climate, may be a bit risky for him to just quit and source other alternatives.

If anyone's had any successful experiences negotiating with HR, pls post and advise :)

From statistics point of view, i think the chances of you being a stats nus first class honours is very low.

Let me explain why.

Any science major, much less a stats first class honours, should be analytical enough to look at the nus ges.
At 75th percentile it is already 3700 or 3800. So for first class honours even higher. You should have known.

You have seniors who would have tell you the indicative benchmarks, civil service salary are also widely known

The fact that is that you didnt check.

Any first class honours would have done a comprehensive data collection, especially u are a stat major.

Given that my prior experience with stats major is that they believe in data, collect it extensively.

From bayesian stats:

P(first class stats honours|Didnt collect impt info)

=[P(Didnt collect impt info|First class honours)*P(first class honours)]/p(didnt collect impt info)

Since first class is rare, ie p(first class) is small and P(Didnt collect impt info|First class honours) is even rarer
The product is super small

Therefore From bayesian stats, the posterior likelihood of u being a stats first class honours From nus (given that u didnt check the income norm) is very low.