SINGAPORE: A fresh graduate aired his frustration online after landing a procurement role at a local company that offered him a monthly salary of S$3,500, saying the pay felt like “a mockery” of everything he had worked for.
In a post on Reddit’s r/asksg forum, the individual explained that getting to this stage had been anything but easy.
He said he had graduated with distinction from a “QS Top 30 overseas university,” albeit without honours, and had previous experience working as a procurement associate before pursuing his degree.
On top of that, he had also “submitted hundreds of job applications.”
However, he felt all of his efforts went down the drain after receiving the offer.
“I finally got an offer after hundreds of applications, but kena lowballed like mad. Expected S$4.5k, offered S$3.2k, and negotiated up to S$3.5k.”
“Damn sian with this economy. Also, damn paiseh and borderline embarrassing to accept this role. It’s like a slap to the face and a mockery of my degree and past work experience. Or maybe I’m not hungry enough lol.”
He also lamented that after CPF contributions and tax, his take-home pay would be around S$2,700, which he felt would barely cover his expenses.
“[This is] so low. I already spend around S$2k a month [as it is]. How am I going to survive on S$2.7k? F* my life. F* my life. F* my life. ”
Torn between accepting the offer and waiting for a better opportunity, he asked fellow Reddit users: “Should I take this role, tahan for a while then take off when a better opportunity comes along? Or decline and wait for the right one? Is [the salary] acceptable?”
“Time to wake up”
In the comments section, several readers criticised the fresh graduate for complaining about what they saw as a perfectly normal starting salary.
One bluntly told him, “Is S$3.5k very low for a first job? I think you need to wake up to reality; it’s within a reasonable range that can be offered. There can be quite many seniors to you who are making S$4k+ after 5 years of experience.”
Another wrote, “I have 10 years of procurement experience. If you don’t want it, I am happy to take it and even ask for S$500 lower just to get the offer. You don’t even realise how brutal the market is right now. If you think I am bluffing, DM me the offer since you don’t want it, and I will email them right away.”
A third commented, “Time to wake up. S$3.5k as a fresh grad is very good already, unless you are some NUS FCH finance/tech bro.”
Meanwhile, others questioned why his monthly spending is so high.
“If you’re spending S$2k, what are you spending it on, sia?” one wrote. “I spend less than S$1.5k a month for a single adult. Are you renting?! Because if not, I don’t know, man. Confirm you can cut spending somewhere lol. S$2k for a solo, especially if it’s just their own spending and not rental, ISSALOT.”
Another urged him to accept the offer for now, saying, “I think you should try it out as you already sent out hundreds of applications and only got this job.”
In other news, a local has drawn ire online after stating that his fellow countrymen, or “Sinkies,” make some of the “worst colleagues and neighbours.”
On Monday (Jun 22), he posted on the r/SingaporeR forum, writing that as a “true blue Sinkie” who is approaching middle age, he has generally found foreigners to be “kinder, more polite and easier to get along with” than many Singaporeans, both at work and in HDB estates.
Follow Google News
Join us on WhatsApp
Follow us on Telegram