Author Topic: First salary request?  (Read 7617 times)

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Offline etstudentTopic starter

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First salary request?
« on: December 06, 2012, 02:44:16 am »
I'm pretty sure I'm gonna get an interview for an Electro-mechanical technician position I applied to. They gave no salary indications on the application except it says "to be negotiated". Now I just graduated, like just graduated from my ET program, so what would you think is an in-line right starting hourly wage to request? I was thinking $17.00 but what do you think? Thanks for any guidance.
 

Offline EEVblog

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Re: First salary request?
« Reply #1 on: December 06, 2012, 02:51:57 am »
No idea about the US, but the minimum wage in Australia is $16 ($31K/year)  :o
A new graduate tech could probably expect $40K or more here I suspect.

Dave.
 

Offline etstudentTopic starter

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Re: First salary request?
« Reply #2 on: December 06, 2012, 03:00:23 am »
WOW! Australian minimum wage is 16 an hour! Awesome, I'm the only one here that thinks the minimum wage should be 15 an hour. Thanks for the info, I forgot once again to say I live in NJ.
« Last Edit: December 06, 2012, 03:10:52 am by etstudent »
 

Offline FenderBender

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Re: First salary request?
« Reply #3 on: December 06, 2012, 03:00:35 am »
No idea about the US, but the minimum wage in Australia is $16 ($31K/year)  :o
A new graduate tech could probably expect $40K or more here I suspect.

Dave.

Wait so a 16year old kid makes $16 minimum??
 

Uncle Vernon

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Re: First salary request?
« Reply #4 on: December 06, 2012, 03:06:45 am »
Wait so a 16year old kid makes $16 minimum??

Yup! plus 9% Superannuation and applicable penalty loadings.  The Chinese and Indians who do all our manufacturing off-shore do so for lesser remittances,
 

Offline FenderBender

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Re: First salary request?
« Reply #5 on: December 06, 2012, 03:23:20 am »
Sheesh...I made like $6 something when I was working a a minimum wage job. :o
 

Offline EEVblog

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Re: First salary request?
« Reply #6 on: December 06, 2012, 03:53:49 am »
Yup! plus 9% Superannuation and applicable penalty loadings.  The Chinese and Indians who do all our manufacturing off-shore do so for lesser remittances,

Don't forget the 20 days annual leave a year for full time employees.

Dave.
 

Offline EEVblog

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Re: First salary request?
« Reply #7 on: December 06, 2012, 03:57:07 am »
Wait so a 16year old kid makes $16 minimum??

No, it's less for juniors:
http://www.fairwork.gov.au/pay/national-minimum-wage/Pages/default.aspx
Only gets to $16 when you hit 20. Can be pathetic under that age.

Dave.
 

Offline EEVblog

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Re: First salary request?
« Reply #8 on: December 06, 2012, 04:11:03 am »
I tweeted a photo of a pay slip from my first job once (Technical Officer), but can't find it. IIRC it was $23K/year, maybe $11/hour?
That was in the late 80's, and I was 17 at the time.

Dave.
 

Offline FenderBender

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Re: First salary request?
« Reply #9 on: December 06, 2012, 04:21:22 am »
You spoiled brats, you Aussies are. No incentive to get a better job with wages like those.

All jokes aside. That is pretty impressive.
 

Offline FenderBender

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Re: First salary request?
« Reply #10 on: December 06, 2012, 04:22:24 am »
Wait so a 16year old kid makes $16 minimum??

No, it's less for juniors:
http://www.fairwork.gov.au/pay/national-minimum-wage/Pages/default.aspx
Only gets to $16 when you hit 20. Can be pathetic under that age.

Dave.

At 18, I'd gladly take $11/hour minimum!
 

Offline SeanB

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Re: First salary request?
« Reply #11 on: December 06, 2012, 04:28:59 am »
Minimum wage here is around $100 per month, and no working under 16 ( rigggggggghhhhhttttt................) both of which are regularly ignored.
 

Offline EEVblog

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Re: First salary request?
« Reply #12 on: December 06, 2012, 04:41:42 am »
BTW, when negotiating salary, never fall into the trap of responding with a value when asked. The correct response is "what are you offering".
Then when they tell you, the correct response is a roll of the eyes ::) and a chuckle  ;D


Dave.
 

Uncle Vernon

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Re: First salary request?
« Reply #13 on: December 06, 2012, 04:56:08 am »
You spoiled brats, you Aussies are. No incentive to get a better job with wages like those.

Before you think of emigrating consider that until recently $1AU has been a lot less than $1US

A Toyota Ordinary in US money starts at $22,055 http://www.toyota,com/camry/ the same piece of automotive boredom in our wide brown land would begin at $30,490 http://www.toyota.com.ao/camry/ same

Do the comparisons for software and electronics and the difference is a chasm.
 

Uncle Vernon

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Re: First salary request?
« Reply #14 on: December 06, 2012, 05:01:15 am »
BTW, when negotiating salary, never fall into the trap of responding with a value when asked. The correct response is "what are you offering".
Then when they tell you, the correct response is a roll of the eyes ::) and a chuckle  ;D


Dave.

Correct! The second quickest way to bum out of the interview process is to ask "how much pay do I get" without mention of what you may have to offer. The quickest is to ask "what sort of car am I going to get!"
 

Offline EEVblog

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Re: First salary request?
« Reply #15 on: December 06, 2012, 05:10:59 am »
Before you think of emigrating consider that until recently $1AU has been a lot less than $1US
A Toyota Ordinary in US money starts at $22,055 http://www.toyota,com/camry/ the same piece of automotive boredom in our wide brown land would begin at $30,490 http://www.toyota.com.ao/camry/ same
Do the comparisons for software and electronics and the difference is a chasm.

Our aussie batter is worth 82.5cents according to the Big Mac index:
http://www.thebigmacindex.com/?from=AUD&to=USD&value=1

Dave.
 

Offline peter.mitchell

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Re: First salary request?
« Reply #16 on: December 06, 2012, 06:10:28 am »
Until they standardized apprentice/trainee wages they were pretty shocking; like $7.50 for an adult (270/week) for a first year, that doesn't buy you much at all (here in Australia at least).
 

Offline Bored@Work

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Re: First salary request?
« Reply #17 on: December 06, 2012, 07:01:32 am »
I don't know Australian specifics, so take the following with a grain of salt.

Depending on the job / company / industry there might be a union active. The union might already have done the negotiation for you, whether you like it or not. Even if a union doesn't direly be covering your particular job, if they are big enough  they set an example / trend for salary in an area or industry. So it can be beneficial to for you to figure out if a union is meddling in your area (i.e. check their website for the collective agreements they have).

Where I live it is common practice among employers not to negotiate at all or not much when it comes to entry level jobs. Especially large companies have internal standards, or are bound by union agreement, of what they pay for an entry level position. In particular for the "nothing special" kind of job. It simplifies recruiting, budgeting and reduces envy between those working the same job in the company. These companies more or less directly tell you what they are willing to give you, and you can take it or leave it. For fun you can ask for a bit more when they tell you their number. If it is still within their internal standard range for that position and they like you, you might get it, if it isn't they will stick to their first number.

Employers then differentiate later after they have seen you work for some time and offer you a salary raise (or don't). Even the first salary raise is often pre-planned and budgeted in very large companies and not much negotiable. At least not the upper limit :-), the time of the raise is sometimes a bit negotiable. I.e. when you obviously perform very well you can give them a hint by asking about a raise.
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Offline _Sin

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Re: First salary request?
« Reply #18 on: December 06, 2012, 11:10:18 am »
BTW, when negotiating salary, never fall into the trap of responding with a value when asked. The correct response is "what are you offering".
Then when they tell you, the correct response is a roll of the eyes ::) and a chuckle  ;D


Yeah, thirded. The only reason anyone asks that question is so they can make an offer as little as possible.


Programmer with a soldering iron - fear me.
 

Offline EEVblog

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Re: First salary request?
« Reply #19 on: December 06, 2012, 12:31:42 pm »
Where I live it is common practice among employers not to negotiate at all or not much when it comes to entry level jobs. Especially large companies have internal standards, or are bound by union agreement, of what they pay for an entry level position. In particular for the "nothing special" kind of job. It simplifies recruiting, budgeting and reduces envy between those working the same job in the company. These companies more or less directly tell you what they are willing to give you, and you can take it or leave it.

Yes, but they are always willing negotiate down!  ;D
That's why you never fall into the trap of saying a number yourself if asked.

Most times it's not even negotiated at a meeting, they will simply send an offer letter. Then you either take it, leave it, or negotiate.

Dave.
 

Offline etstudentTopic starter

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Re: First salary request?
« Reply #20 on: December 06, 2012, 06:43:44 pm »
Wow that turned into quite a discussion. I guess I will says "what are you offering" then? Sounds like a right answer to me. Thanks guys.
 

Offline MikeK

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Re: First salary request?
« Reply #21 on: December 07, 2012, 01:08:07 am »
I tweeted a photo of a pay slip from my first job once (Technical Officer), but can't find it. IIRC it was $23K/year, maybe $11/hour?
That was in the late 80's, and I was 17 at the time.

In 1990 our minimum wage was $3.80/hour.  Yeesh!
 

Offline aluck

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Re: First salary request?
« Reply #22 on: December 07, 2012, 02:48:15 am »
A Toyota Ordinary in US money starts at $22,055 http://www.toyota,com/camry/ the same piece of automotive boredom in our wide brown land would begin at $30,490 http://www.toyota.com.ao/camry/ same
In Russia a cheapest Camry goes for $31,000 http://www.toyota.ru/cars/new_cars/camry/index.tmex

And the minimum wage for full-time employment is roughly $141 USD. So much about prices.

We have a very restrictive custom duties on vehicles "to protect the local manufactures". And the local manufacturers (actually, there's just one major player with about 90% share of local vehicles market), being protected by the government, just keeps making outdated clones of older cars. Just recently they introduced a new model equipped with AT, A/C and even ABS! Airbags are still in top models only. Reliability? Ugh, I would consider a 10-year old Chevrolet much more reliable than a new Russian-made car.

 


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