Hi, im a guy who graduated 3-4 years ago and im really looking for some career advice here and hopefully someone could chime in on working in the public sector. Would really appreciate the advice and if you are too shy maybe could you reply in another confession post. I got a job offer but i am wondering whether to take it, here are my considerarions. Hope you guys could list down any other things to think about! Which would you take? What questions would you ask job B? If you resigned from job A how do you tell the boss why you want to quit?
Myself:
-Engineering degree
-FCH grades and had scholarship from uni
-Good at writing and presenting
-Good at numbers but prefers talking to others
-Singaporean guy
Job A:
-Been here 3 years since i graduated
-Large global MNC, huge international projects, opportunities for overseas assignments to offices in every continent
-Very good networking, smart colleagues, international office very few singaporeans
-Heavy workload but decent work life balance, good medical coverage and dental, fun office perks, parties and sports ccas like badminton/soccer. Nice colleagues,good friendships. Flexible hours, dont need MC if sick, can take leave quite easily, just finish your work dont need to turn up on time. Paid overtime (sometimes)
– Minimal office politics, not being micromanaged (means i need to take initiative for everything)
-Good learning for technical skills
-Low start pay below market below market avg, unlikely to improve as company is looking to outsource work to lower cost offices (vietnam/jakarta), annual increments about 5%. 8% considered very good. Negligible increment despite promotions. After 6 years people typically dont cross $5.5k even with a masters degree from NUS/NTU. Freshers who join Job B sometimes make more than me despite my experience.
– Senior management not making financial savvy business decisions, too focused on brand image, CSR, and internal networking. Spending money on perks instead of salaries
-High turnover amongst Singaporeans due to low pay, hence the company hires mid to senior staff from overseas. They are good workers and a lot less picky about pay, making it hard for me to ask for more money.
-Boss thinks highly of me, but unlikely that translates to significantly higher compensation due to company policy
Job B
– Government job in a stat board
– 20~30% increment from current role. (i need $ to buy a resale hdb, cannot wait for bto alr)
– Stability and protection from foreign competition as work cannot be outsourced
– Heard rumours about public sector having too much red tape, is this true?
– Afraid of not learning any new skills and being unable to switch out of public service if i dont like it. Afraid of being a paper pusher until i retire
– no opportunity for overseas posting. Ive always dreamed about working or living overseas for awhile, even for a short while. Just for exposure.Maybe it is a dream worth giving up on? Or there are other avenues?
– im not on the “gov scholar track” although i have decent grades and CCA records. Will i be discriminated against? Not that i think that good grades always translate to good work output but since i have the grades i hope to use it to increase my pay/CEP?
– what is the annual increment? Does it beat inflation?
– what if i stay at job A and jump to job B later in my career? Will that give me more pay?