Help Me Check This Job?

[Dobb]

Hey folks

I got my first job with a manpower recruitment company but I like to double check whether or not these kinds of condition is okay.

As I have no working experience, I think I expected that my pay is going to be pretty tiny. I earn a basic of 1.5k per month, I have a bachelors and upper second class so that range of salary sounds awkward to me. But maybe it was because of my position and the lack of experience.

I accepted it anyways but what I noticed was that the time is excruciatingly long. 8.30am to 6.30pm. At 10 hours, I'm already tired as all heck. I've had colleagues told me that there is no over-time pay at all, unless it's on the field duty like checking the workers and all that. I checked out of the office at 8.30pm on last Friday.

Then there's the annual leave of 10 days. The fact that I had to earn them sounds really difficult. I don't get the leaves at all now, until I earn them by working past every 30 days or something.

Lastly, the only perks I got is just medical insurance, which sounds pretty basic.

So what do you all think? I've had friends who entered their first jobs told me they had better salary, better time and better perks than I do. Is that true?

[sundaymorningstaple]

If you are working for the Recruitment company as a Recruitment Consultant and not being seconded to a clients office, it sounds pretty normal. I would assume that you will be paid on a commission basis as well, once you meet your monthly target.

Recruitment Consultants always may a small basic as otherwise they have not reason to hump to make their recruitment targets every month.

If you have not been hired to be a recruitment consultant, we don't have enough data as you will be obviously be seconded to a client's office and without knowing the position and the industry, it's hard to guess.

[Dobb]

Thanks SMS for your insight.

I don't think so. Officially I'm considered as Operations Officer or something along that line. At the moment I'm working as admin just dealing with helping out the office and until my probation is over, then I'll be helping out my project leaders doing their stuff. So I'm guessing you're right that I'll be dealing with commissions all the time.

Then again, is this the norm conditions? Maybe I'm not too understanding about typical work conditions in Singapore, that's why I like to find out. I expected 9 to 5 kinda routine like elsewhere reasonable.

[sundaymorningstaple]

Singapore is funny that way. While most do work a 40 or 44 hour week, the actual hours they put in are much more. Asian Bosses, at least here, seem to want to see people "Putting in Time". In other words, they don't realize that you can work more efficiently and strike a better work/life balance and actually get more bang for the buck. What to do?

But yeah, if you are only doing administrative work, and not a commission based employee, then I'd say the company is taking advantage of you.

It's nothing to see local putting in 10-12 hour days, trying to impress the boss. But for me, and I tell 'em when I hire them, if they are working late all the time and it's not due to a tender or something then, they stand a chance of losing their jobs, as I'm sure I don't give them any more than can be done in a standard 8 hour shift. Therefore they are unproductive or spending too much time on FaceBook during working hours. One or the other.

[shhh0812]

I'm in the same boat as you, as a fresh graduate with no working experience, therefore I too did not expect much.

However, I have been offered a basic salary of 4.5k + possible housing allowance, 21 days annual leave and a 37 hour work week (although overtime is possible with no extra remuneration).

So I think perhaps your contract is rather on the low-end, as I take you are not a local? Is it a local firm?

I would guess that you are being taken advantage of and perhaps try and re-negotiate something more worthwhile as at 1.5k a month I wonder how you get by without living like a hermit!

[sundaymorningstaple]

To address you other two questions, MOM says it is mandatory that you are given at least 7 days Annual Leave per year. If the company is giving you more then you are lucky. The other poster is probably working in the financial sector or the O&G sector for an MNC. 10 days annual leave is the norm here. You are not given all your annual leave for the year when you join the company, or on January 1st. Annual leave is accrued monthly, with most companies not allowing annual leave to be taken until your probation is confirmed. Any leave taken during probation is usually treated as unpaid leave. Medical leave, on the other hand is 14 days/year and all 14 days are available from Jan 1 yearly. However, you cannot carry unused medical leave forward to the next year like you usually can with annual leave (you must check with HR to find out company policy on unused annual leave - some will let you carry forward, other will encash unused annual leave).

Most companies have some sort of group medical insurance (often you have to co-pay part of the premiums). It sounds to me like a normal recruitment agency setup. They pay low basic so you have to produce to make any income.

[shhh0812]

Nope, not in the financial or O&G sector, just another marketing graduate.

I truly think I just got extremely lucky, so perhaps my package deal isn't the best benchmark to use. However I still do think your basic sounds extremely low for the qualifications you have.

[sundaymorningstaple]

It's fine if he's in the recruitment game. The rewards are good if he's any good and can gain the trust of a couple of big clients. The draw is nothing more than subsistence, with the money coming as commissions. My problem is trying to understand why he's joined a revolving door company in the first place if his degree is above average. Usually the only people who join agencies in Singapore are those who haven't been able to find a decent job and they usually do as soon as something better comes along....

[Dobb]

SMS, you really hit the nail on that one. I only got this job because it was a recommendation.

I earned a degree from a private college in Singapore and I felt like, seeing I'm here, I should find work to sustain and try it out.

Little did I know it's terrible. I've just came back and I'm all too tired for anything. I've did freelance work that lasts 12 hours but at least that's once in a while.

To be quite honest. I really want to quit this, this is not for me. I can't do this at all, I don't want to do this line of work.

My only option is to quit and find another job. That's what I felt feasible. Is there any consequences in handing in my resignation letter at this point? This is actually my 2nd week of week...