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Originally Posted by Unregistered

I thought I will chip in since I had just a somewhat similar experience:
- Moved from the #1 MNC in my field (based on revenues) to somewhere #30+ down the line (new employer role is a more of a niche player)
- Previous role had 3 direct reports. New role individual contributor,.
- New employer was bleeding for last 2 years when I was talking to them
- Increase in salary was about 18%, not factoring bonuses (for my industry bonus is quite quite heng suay but previous employer was consistently paying out about 2 months since I was there)

My eventual reasons to move:
1. Change in product of which new employer is top 2-3 in that space (like I said niche player). so an opportunity to expand at least horizontally and hopefully be more employable.
2. Financially, I figured I will at worse break-even if there are no bonuses. Also, the company was also seem to be turning the corner based on publicly available information.
3. There's also some shortage in the market at the moment for what I do so I figure I could go elsewhere if it really goes tits up at the new employer.

For the OP:
- My advice is that you really need to think about why this role is attractive to you since your financial upside somewhat limited like in my case.
- You didn't say whether you are currently from the O&G industry but if you are not, I will be very cautious since the GM does not seem to indicate if there is a plan for the business to survive the current downturn. (I am not from the industry so I can't judge what can be done but companies should at least have a plan.)
- What is your risk-mitigation plan if this goes bad in 12 months? Can you find another role somewhere else relatively easily or even go back to your current company? Alternatively, do you think the new role will make you even more employable in the future?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Some good points shared, but I think your advice to OP isn't really realistic for him to have an answer.

Firstly, GM ain't gonna share about business plans that are likely very confidential with an interviewee. You end up with generic directions and strategy talk that in most cases mean nothing, not to mention there is no reasonable way for OP to judge whether they make sense without looking at the hard numbers. So this idea of judging the company based on 'plan' isn't reliable.

Risk mitigation plan is a fancy word, but in reality 12 months later whether he can go back to his old company will only be known when he actually apply by that time. Nobody can promise anything and in life we just have to accept unknown. The way to mitigate this unknown is to demand a much higher salary so that if it doesn't work out, at least the big financial gain can cushion the impact.

My advice to OP is to:

- Negotiate for a much larger increase, the current offer is way too low considering the risks involved.

- Find out from the interviewer, industry sources if available, online etc. to gather more information on how this company works. Currently OP's main attraction is the job is much bigger (he says its a promotion to the 2nd highest guy in the region), but the lowball offer and the job scope (lead a 2-3 man team) does not sound like senior hire at all.

- Based on my understanding of most mid sized mnc, a deputy head of the region should be drawing 500-700k including bonus/shares and leading at least a core regional department or business unit.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

For the OP:
- My advice is that you really need to think about why this role is attractive to you since your financial upside somewhat limited like in my case.
- You didn't say whether you are currently from the O&G industry but if you are not, I will be very cautious since the GM does not seem to indicate if there is a plan for the business to survive the current downturn. (I am not from the industry so I can't judge what can be done but companies should at least have a plan.)
- What is your risk-mitigation plan if this goes bad in 12 months? Can you find another role somewhere else relatively easily or even go back to your current company? Alternatively, do you think the new role will make you even more employable in the future?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Sorry wasn't clear.. the position has 2-3 direct reports and is also the No 2 in the region with oversight of the other departments. Not all departments has so many support functions doing grunt work.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

OP: How much you make now?

The lowball offer + 2-3 pax team does not sound like #2 senior position in the region of a mnc at all.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Have to go with above q as well. My brother is a lower level project manager in Seadrill (consider small mnc) already supervising ~10 technical and project support function staff. How can no. 2 senior in the whole region be leading a 2 man team?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

OP: How much you make now?

The lowball offer + 2-3 pax team does not sound like #2 senior position in the region of a mnc at all.

Originally Posted by SELXM

Thanks for the advise. While I agree that 10% may be on the low side for the uncertainty but 40-50% would be unrealistic.. maybe somewhere in between.



The industry is the offshore oilfield services, more specifically OSVs. Similar local companies are Ezion, Ezra/EMAS, Swissco, CH Offshore, Swiber (yes, Swiber)... all of them combined would be the size of this US company. This industry is an asset play with an oversupply of highly leveraged assets competing for a shrinking pool of jobs. The availability of jobs are tightly linked to world oil prices, which in turn determines the no of capex intensive projects undertaken by the oil majors.

For this role, most similar companies have a small team of 2-3 in this corporate function. A similar person in my role usually reports directly to the CEO/MD and could be considered middle-senior management. Such openings do not come by often as there are few positions in each company.

The pros of the offer is career advancement (this is the no 2 position of the region) and eventually to the regional GM position.

Downside is the uncertainty of this industry but there could be a light at the end of the tunnel with oil prices hopefully set to bottom out?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

O&G industry? Forget about it. Even the big oil co are shedding jobs like mad, you join some tier2/3 company with almost confirm zero bonus and just the aws and get like 10+% increase in total package? This is too low even for normal job hop, much less a hop into a disastrous industry when everyone is fleeing.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

The offer is too low. Singapore each jump is normally 20-30%. For a company that has no job security, loss making and in a slump industry, I would ask for at least 40-50% to justify the risk. If it were me and they come back with 10%, I won't even bother to entertain.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

What is your experience & skill? If it is those very specialize that only a few companies in sg will employ then you can consider for career advancement although IMO the offer is not very tempting.

If your skills are the normal kind can apply to many companies and industries, then it really makes no sense IMHO. You say the GM also admit they have low job volumes and no new projects, that's why making losses for many years.

Seems like quite boh liao to join such a high risk company when you can just wait for another company that can make the same offer without all this danger. Under the law if you dont have 3 years service, the company is entitled to terminate you any time without any retrenchment package.