I think you are misunderstanding where I am coming from, and I apologize if I sounded rude or condescending in my reply.

I'll start by saying this: I actually do want the job even at the salary offered, not just because its covid but because I actually think the experience I'll gain and conditions provided are honestly pretty good.

I really don't think I'm worth 3.5k, I was just stating that it's the top of the range of the salary they are providing for the trainee job and it is not the salary I am aiming for if I were to start talking with the HR person.

The main reason I posted was to ask about my chances and possibly get some advice on how I should go about negotiating for a slightly better salary. A point I should have mentioned but didn't was that HR informed me about some reasons why my salary was below what they'd usually hand out for the role. While I think they have valid reasons on their part, I feel that this gives me some leeway for negotiation because the reasons they provided have nothing to do with me as a person but rather more to do with the current economic climate.

While I do think that this is not a good time to negotiate salary, if it doesn't hurt my chances of getting the job either way, wouldn't it be better at least to have a chance to start off with an extra 200-300 since it'd be helpful not just for my finances but also for negotiating for my next salary. I can understand if you might find this distasteful coming from a fresh grad, but money is money.

I can't comment on law students in training or grads that enter big4 because I honestly don't know enough to provide any actual insight, but I can tell you that I have friends that earn around 4k as engineers in SB jobs that have spent close to a year training on the job. I can also tell you that we have very different job scopes and expectations set on us by our employers. Why would you compare me to graduates from law when other graduates from my major are getting starting salaries of 2.9~3.8k in the public and pvt sector? I am not expecting to be paid the same as my peers in the current climate, but is it really that much of a stretch to say that I am hoping to get a little more from the current arrangements I have been given?

Thank you for this. Yes, I agree that flying the NUS flag is not a good reason, nor will it be a line of argument I will ever pursue. I'm hoping to appeal to them next week by highlighting my non-academic achievements as well as bringing up the portfolio of freelance projects I've been taking over the months while searching for a job.

There will be an adjustment a year from after the job commences, but HR has told me that while there will be a salary increment, it wouldn't be anything drastic like turning the 2.2k into a 2.9k. There is little to no chance of converting to perm as well. These are the reasons why I'm hoping to be able to snag an extra 200-300 if possible so I can at least negotiate a decent salary for my next job should I not be able to get a re-contract 2 years from now.

To the other commenters: Thank you as well for your advice.

@ex-law trainee: I am sorry to hear about your past circumstances, and I hope you've moved on to greener pastures.

I'm honestly not sure what counts as a traineeship, but the training I am provided, while a little extended vs the norm, would generally be no different from the onboarding processes for a fresh grad entering a new job. I don't think most employers expect fresh graduates to work on the level of their perm staff off the bat nor do they want to throw them straight into operations to mess up the established workflow.

I be given a bunch of study materials I need to work on internalizing by myself while working on less important duties on the side before transitioning to actual operations where I will be guided by senior staff for the for a few weeks if I take on the role.

What do you have against fresh graduates that are already having to deal with this covid crap while looking for their first job after investing 3-4 years into a degree? Do you really think that a fresh local university grad trying to negotiate for a 2.4k - 2.5k salary instead of 2.2k for their first job is being unreasonable in a market with a caocao 3.2k avg starting pay for even for FASS, the cesspool of NUS? Are they an entitled brat that needs to be kept in check after he/she busted their asses off studying in school and working internships? He/she is not asking for a 5k salary after getting an office servant internship at Google where they pour coffee for bigwigs everyday. It's 2.5k.

Are you the sort of person who, just because NS sucked during your time, complains about NSFs getting better treatment in recent years? Cry strawberry strawberry the whole day and never upgrade yourself because you're content farming your 4k salary for 20 years, but when you see young people wanting to get ahead using a new skill set you could've learnt as well if you didn't complain as much, you start to rant about management never working to benefit senior employees?

You might try to counter whatever I've said by saying you're in a top mgmt role earning six figures in some top MNC and not the lardbutt I'm describing you as, but you have the mentality of one. Stop trying to pull down people trying to make the best out of a bad situation just because you're stuck in limbo yourself and are too lazy to lift your behind to do something about it.

Get real, boomer.

The personal insults aside, I have to really agree with the 1st para. I don't get the fresh grad bashing in this forum -> at the end of the day, let them try whatever it is they want to try. If they are arrogant and ask for too much, may they lose the job entirely. But if they dare to ask and get the salary, then your negativity just reeks of jealousy.

Right? And it's not as if the person wanting to negotiate is asking for the moon.

To the fresh grad poster: Though I think it is unlikely your negotiations will go through because the contract is already drawn, at least the fact that you've tried will help you enter the SB with one less doubt nagging your mind during your job.

I think that it isn't unreasonable for contract employees to want to consider alternatives for if they don't get their contracts renewed even before they commit to anything. Asking for a slightly easier pay to negotiate upwards in the event the person cannot secure another contract is something any reasonable person, especially you, should at least weigh the consequences of even if they don't actually do it in the end.

I admit I was a little rash while commenting, but seeing some of my batch mates and juniors settling for way less than what they should be getting due to the current market rather than their own shortcomings is just sad to watch. Then I come to this forum and see a confused graduate getting bashed for asking if its okay to negotiate a bad offer and I saw red. My sincerest apologies to anyone that has felt uncomfortable about the contents of my latter paragraphs, but I have no intention of taking them back given the poster's casual yet toxic comment.

Hi all, seeking some advice.

29y. currently in pte industry.
Work experience approx. 4 yrs (creative and PR)
Pte uni (FCH), Arts.
NS in Mindef (if relevant at all)

Planning a switch to CS, specifically DSTA/MND/IMDA. Either in corp comms or policy track.

Reasonable to look at payscale 5k up? Would I enter as MX12?
Current sal is low 4k.

Thanks in advance!

PREACHH THIS!! Thank you for speaking up for the class of 2020 + fresh grads. Everyone needs to start off somewhere. If you can’t even be given the chance to gain experience after grad then how to be an experienced worker.
Attitude and mindset also plays a part apart from jjst the number of years you have slogged away. And this is what most fresh grads can bring in, and there is nothing wrong with demanding a reasonable value for your work. After all if they don’t perform well there’s the probation period to determine whether they should be fired or not. Don’t need boomers to keep telling us off.

oh stfu boomer. gosh.

thanks for reply... But i say the salary range of duputy director and above have more than 10k salary right? Are they really unable to pay for mid career switch from private sector ? Btw , i am only at age 32. Do they even consider a 32 years old to become a duputy director role?

Ooo someone like me - except I got promoted in 2019. Did you ask them why after 3 consecutive Bs you didn't get promoted?

At 32 and earning more than 10K? Mind sharing your annual salary? This will allows us to advise us on the possible rank u might be given assuming u join CS.