Negotiating a Salary

[wicky]

How you getting on rep - any progress?

[dvdx2]

i think your leverage for salary negotiation in this current climate isnt great. Most people are just grateful to be working.

Employers have never had it better - they can pick and chose. I wouldn't really bother negotiating at all to be honest, unless you have a track record in the industry and can market extensive 'added value' to them. I work in careers advice/employability support and the graduates i have recently spoke to have very little to offer an employer, other than their 'degree'. Essentially they are competing against industry experience - having a degree doesnt come close. You should see there face when the penny drops that having a degree does not guarantee a right to an 18-20k job.

Good luck to you m8 - do your company research, have loads of competency based scenario responses prepared to meet their essential criteria and remember everyone has to start somewhere. You'll be in a much stronger salary negotiation position, with a few years experience under your belt.

[dataDave]

I am a senior developer at a software company and we are currently hiring graduates, I am amazed at some of the cv's coming in, you will be surprised at how many people with a few years experience behind them applying for a graduate position.

I have 13 years experience and have been applying for everything there is over here in Singapore. Even if I'm only on $2000 a month (£1000) I would feel privileged to have at last gotten work abroad finally.

Anyway, one of the senior position ad companies gave me an offer last week. At the interview they all literally lolled at my salary request and asked me why I priced myself so low, I just kept honest and told them I was bloody desperate to get a job abroad. They lolled again and have offered me what I'm currently on now, which is sweet.

[Dirty Sanchez]

Congratas on nailing the job. What class of work permit do you have? What are you doing about a pad?

[dataDave]

Cheers. They're going to try putting me down for the Employment Pass, but I reckon it'll drop down to the S-Pass due to my lack of education.

I'll be staying here with the Mrs. She rents a room from a Chinese family and they're dead sweet, even if they don't speak much English - they're always giving us drinks, cake and fruit. I offered them $200 for my stay but they would only accept $100, so we're going to look out for a 2nd hand washing machine to replace their broken one (currently washing by hand).

The bloke sleeps on the settee in the living room each night which I'm not too keen on. I'd love to get them a bigger sofa. We'll have to see about that though.

[Rep]

How you getting on rep - any progress?

I literally heard nothing for weeks, then got bombarded with phone calls early this week, asking about interviews etc. The most positive thing I did was get a CV on those job-sites for agencies to view, feedback from doing that was immense.

[dataDave]

If nothing comes of those, I recommend gathering a list of companies who aren't advertising and emailing them all asking if they are looking for any fresh grads - I had seven replies from companies who weren't even advertising, and only three responses from the adverts.

Also, it's best that you email the company directly rather than relying on the 'Quick Apply' button on the job search sites, that way it looks like you've used a little more effort and can introduce yourself properly with your CV/portfolio/cover letter attached.

[Rep]

I've just noticed It's two months since I started this thread and I'm yet to have been offered anything. I keep getting beaten to Graduate roles by people with "experience", I don't understand how the hell you get your foot on the ladder though.

The agencies promise so much too, then never seem to follow up on what they do It's all a bit disheartening, as I've tried everything I can think of to get a job now.

[Colin]

Get used to the fact now that agencies are absolutely full of ****, no matter what line of work we're talking. I have to deal with several of them in my job, the amount of lies they'll tell in order to get work from me is staggering.

[noobish hat]

Only two months? Try a year!

[Dirty Sanchez]

Agents = pimps = Devil Spawn

[dvdx2]

I've just noticed It's two months since I started this thread and I'm yet to have been offered anything. I keep getting beaten to Graduate roles by people with "experience", I don't understand how the hell you get your foot on the ladder though.

The agencies promise so much too, then never seem to follow up on what they do It's all a bit disheartening, as I've tried everything I can think of to get a job now.

Volunteer, undertake additional professional development, set your sights alittle lower to gain experience of demonstrating core skills (communication/teamwork/IT/working to deadlines etc)

Back your degree up with skills (ie actually doing a job - even if its any job) and you'll be a much more attractive employee.

As i said before, employers can pick and choose in this climate and graduates are now faced with more competition from the 1000's of recent redundancies throughout the UK.

[Dirty Sanchez]

Go look in the Banter thread - you'll see a perfect example of how not to do it - re Billy has an opportunity that you can see he's going to waste.

[Rep]

Volunteer, undertake additional professional development, set your sights alittle lower to gain experience of demonstrating core skills (communication/teamwork/IT/working to deadlines etc)

Back your degree up with skills (ie actually doing a job - even if its any job) and you'll be a much more attractive employee.

As i said before, employers can pick and choose in this climate and graduates are now faced with more competition from the 1000's of recent redundancies throughout the UK.

This Is part of what bothers me, I worked full-time for 6 years, before going to University, on paper the only thing I seem to be lacking Is experience In a Software role. I'm not sure how "Graduate roles" are defined, If people with several years of experience are getting them. My girlfriend who graduated with the same degree, at 21, never worked a single day managed to walk into a £24k a year development role, 2 months back.

[Baseley09]

Volunteer, undertake additional professional development, set your sights alittle lower to gain experience of demonstrating core skills (communication/teamwork/IT/working to deadlines etc)

Back your degree up with skills (ie actually doing a job - even if its any job) and you'll be a much more attractive employee.

As i said before, employers can pick and choose in this climate and graduates are now faced with more competition from the 1000's of recent redundancies throughout the UK.

Agree, after being unemployed for a year I took to volunteering in a professional environment (a school to be exact) and from that finishing employers were clearly much more interested in hiring me and one infact did.