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lecturer job

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yaya1
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lecturer job

Post by yaya1 » Sun, 22 Mar 2009 7:55 pm

Hi,
My DH offered a job as a lecturer in Singapore, however they ask him how much he want for a salary.
how much should we ask for? we're a family of 4.
what is the min sum we'll need to live well in singapore?
thank you!

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sundaymorningstaple
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Post by sundaymorningstaple » Sun, 22 Mar 2009 10:13 pm

Unfortunately, that is a subjective amount as we know absolutely nothing about you, your family, you habits, your diet, or what you call decent.

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SOME PEOPLE TRY TO TURN BACK THEIR ODOMETERS. NOT ME. I WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW WHY I LOOK THIS WAY. I'VE TRAVELED A LONG WAY, AND SOME OF THE ROADS WEREN'T PAVED. ~ Will Rogers

yaya1
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some answer

Post by yaya1 » Mon, 23 Mar 2009 2:27 am

Hiya,
thank you for quick answer and I've got some answer to you:
we prefer not to live in the city center and it doesn't matter as long as it'll be a saftey place with a MRT or bus station near by (up to 20 minutes walk, we would like it to be near day care and prefare to live in a condo but nothing really posh, we would like something like 2-3 bedroom and we prefer cooking at home.
we're not shopping people...
and we don't need a car as long as all the servise we need (day care, place to buy food) is walk distance.

hope thats help you to help me!
Thank you.

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Post by Girl_Next_Door » Mon, 23 Mar 2009 1:35 pm

Do you have more information like where is he lecturing? i.e. in a polytechnic or university? Is it NTU/NUS or private uni, etc?

I think I saw in another sg forum about some uni & poly lecturers commenting on their salary, so with more information, I might be able to find that posting. You can post your questions there as well, to get a better idea on what benefits they have, etc.

yaya1
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Post by yaya1 » Tue, 24 Mar 2009 2:55 am

Hi, it's a private uni.
so what do you think we should ask for? what is the min salary we need for famlily of 4 people?
thank you.

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k1w1
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Post by k1w1 » Wed, 25 Mar 2009 11:04 am

At the risk of sounding a bit harsh, the university is going to offer what's fair based on qualifications, experience etc not what your family needs.

Lecturing is not particularly well paid here, and I think they're really asking what his "expected salary" is, which is something HR departments do to weed people out. I really hate it and refuse to answer it directly - they know what they are prepared to offer, they're just hoping to get away with less.

If it is already an offer and you're being asked to say what you want, my advice is to not talk numbers per se: tell them you want housing provided for the family and (depending on their ages), schooling provided. These are your two MAJOR costs. After that, you could just ask to be employed on the university's salary scale.

Good luck with the negotiations.

yaya1
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salary of 4200 SGD for a family?

Post by yaya1 » Wed, 25 Mar 2009 8:01 pm

Thank you!
So DH spoke with the HR and she said they can't pay for the house or day care (only the older need to go to day care) and the salary they thought about is 4200 SGD.
now I have look at lecturer' salary and it's sound ok but it seems like it won't be enough for us.
the uni is on distric 7 and we want to live anywhere cheap, nice condo near MRT and day cares. can you help me?
what about the salary? like I said before we aren't looking for a posh place as we aren't posh people, we are very country family.

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k1w1
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Post by k1w1 » Thu, 26 Mar 2009 8:19 am

A couple of years ago, I would have suggested you look at renting an HDB flat and would have told you to go for the adventure... I guess it depends on the type of lifestyle you lead now...

There is no such thing as "country" here. You can live out of town, but you can't find anything really, really cheap. The cheapest possible accommodation that is going to be suitable for a family will be at least 1.5k a month - and that would be an HDB flat miles from anything (even then it would be a very good price). You would certainly not get a condo within your budget (many cost more than the entire price of the proposed salary...)

Feeding a family of four will obviously depend on the types of food you eat, but it is still very expensive here. All food is imported.

Day care used to cost me about $500 a month for half days, and that was a local day care (you can get them cheaper, but this can be a case of "get what you pay for...")

Honestly, I wouldn't do it. It is not even a very good offer for a single person these days but it is enough for a family to be completely miserable on.

If you really wanted to come to Singapore, I would suggest your husband look into International Schools (obviously depends on the subject he teaches). The pay and conditions are much, much better and your family would be a lot happier.

The HR will probably tell you that this is what a local lecturer makes. What they won't tell you is that they won't pay you the equivalent of 20% salary into a retirement fund, as they have to do for local lecturers (and that local lecturers are allowed to use this to pay for their housing). You will not have access to public housing or medical facilities - well, you will, but public hospitals cost the same as private for non-Singaporeans and all our housing has to be obtained on the private (read: far, far more expensive) market. We are not allowed to buy property without higher salaries and much larger deposits... So it is actually impossible for foreigners to live like locals on local salaries.

Sorry not to give you a more positive message. This is not a good offer and your family would not be happy if you have a semi-decent lifestyle right now.

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