Man says the starting pay in his industry is usually around S$3,500 but he’s only been getting offers for around S$2,500; asks if he should wait or “just take a lowball”

SINGAPORE: A fresh graduate took to social media to talk about how bad the job market is and if he should consider accepting a ‘lowball’ offer.

He said that he had been trying to get a job for about three months now and wondered if he should take what he considered an unrealistically low salary. In a post to popular confessions page NUSWhispers, the man wrote that the “hearsay average starting pay for my course is 3.5-3.6k”.

He added that he had a 2nd Upper degree, but was still getting offers of around S$2,500 to S$3,000. “It’s either I take one up now and earn low for say 1 year and jump, or wait a few months to accept a better offer. Resume seems similar to my coursemates and internships gao gao also”, he wrote.

However, his worry was that if he accepted a low starting pay, his next job offer would be benchmarked against that salary. “say 2y later when I jump, I get offered someone’s starting pay as an “upgrade”? It’s 3 months in alr. Should I wait for a better offer or just take a lowball?” he asked.

Here’s what netizens who commented on his post said:

Read related: A woman told her friend to apply for a maid job after the latter, who graduated with a Science degree from NUS, complained that she could not find a job.

The woman said that there are many maid agencies around. “Then, an epiphany dawned on me: if this so-called maid ‘job’ is so terribly insulting and that it’s ‘unfit for locals’ to do, isn’t it really the case that the living conditions and salary for maids is just underpaid by our own standards?” the woman wrote.

She continued: “Would you think it’s okay for you or your daughter to work 16 hours a day with half a day off on Sunday for 500 mighty Singapore dollars a month? What makes Singaporeans so special that they can treat other human beings as being fine to do these jobs that aren’t fine for any local to do?”

Friend who graduated with Science degree from NUS complains she can’t find any job, “so I suggested just apply to become a maid”