salary prospects

hilly said:
Ah, we still have some image contract employees knocking about within Cap and Fuji (We share a building). Can't wait till I leave though! :)

I aim for age + 000. So 25000 at the moment.

And I agree, the only way to earn money is to move companies, you need to hop twice to get to where you need to be, then if you want another place, hop twice more to get there and so on
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I agree - I worked for Logica for a long time before moving with a division that was sold off. Only way to make increases is to move between companies every 3-4 years.

Part of the reason after 12 years I jumped overboard and I'm finding the roles being offered by companies themselves (not recruiters) being almost double my old salary.
 
I agree. Avoid "common" agencies. Either go to the company directly or use a specialist agency which covers real job roles.

Normal agencies make me sad as they advertise jobs as "IT, Marketing, Sales" and can't ever really seem to specialise.
 
Just out of interest what sort of raises do graduates in new jobs tend to get, and how quickly? As I've already mentioned, I'm about to start in a PR role at £15k a year. The job and the training offered sound great, but I'm a tad worried at how easy I'm going to find getting by on that money. I'm more than prepared to work hard for it, and have confidence in my ability to do well. I was just wondering if any graduates are or have been in similar positions in the past, and how quickly they were promoted or given a pay rise...
 
manic111 said:
Just out of interest what sort of raises do graduates in new jobs tend to get, and how quickly? As I've already mentioned, I'm about to start in a PR role at £15k a year. The job and the training offered sound great, but I'm a tad worried at how easy I'm going to find getting by on that money. I'm more than prepared to work hard for it, and have confidence in my ability to do well. I was just wondering if any graduates are or have been in similar positions in the past, and how quickly they were promoted or given a pay rise...
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It depends on the sector, the firm and the role in question. It would be impossible to generalise.
 
Example 1... company goes bust and you are made unemployed
Example 2... "due to economic climate" no pay rises for a year or so
Example 3... you're top of the class, 50% payrise after a year


Or somewhere in-between :p
 
manic111 said:
True, I realise that; I was more after some examples!
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Well, I can only really speak for my sector (law). Graduate salaries typically increase by +30% upon qualification (2 years in) and subsequently increase at 5-10% a year, for the first few years at least.
 
Redundancies just announced where I work so it looks like a second successive year of pay freezes (meaning probably 3 years between rises) :( Very frustrating to be in a situation where doing a great job beyond your remit cannot be rewarded and there is virtually no prospect of promotion given the management hierarchy.

I used to think that 'dead-end jobs' only existed at rubbish companies or highly specialised fields, but it seems after a point jumping ship is the only way to progress.
 
quick question

scenario.

you've applied to a couple of graduate positions. couple have got back and 1 post seems to be really keen offering a interview. salary is 22k starting. the other potential applications are betweek 27-29k

what do you do
 
amigafan2003 said:
Why does everyone think if you're in IT then you must be rolling in it? As I said earlier, you have to hop companies to get significant pay rises. I don't want to do that - I don't want to move house - I don't want to commute further - I don't want to work extra hours or overtime - I like the benefits 13yrs working in the same company have bougt me (42 days holiday a year, extended flexi time, respect from peers etc).
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A refreshing attitude - I like my job and co-workers for the most part, I like where I live and I can walk to work. Part of me feels like I made a mistake moving here as career wise I should be looking to move on. But it's hard to measure the value of not having to travel to work, of having a job I can do comfortably and get on with colleagues compared to the unknown and potential discomfort I might feel at another firm.

Was eyeing up a job earlier, more senior, more money but it'd probably mean an extra 3hrs travel every day. It'd be good for my long-term career but almost certainly bad for my quality of life in the short-medium term.
 
Amp34 said:
Also you have to remember, the city pays a lot, however engineering and the oil/gas industry also pay huge amounts. My (hoped for) expecations were borrowed from someone who went into an oil/gas service industry (usually paid less than working for the big four (oil and gas companies). He started on 25k and was on 6 figures within 10 years. Engineering can easily be similar, civil engineers with a little bit of specialisation within their course (eg offshore or coastal) can easily start on £27k.

The only problem I have at the moment is I can't find a job within the oil and gas industy, they don't seem to be employing at the moment.:(
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Amp34 said:
It does, even if the job turns out to be a bit boring at least you get half the year off...:p

The only "problem" as such is HSE, it is VERY strict in the oil industry, to the point almost too much, even the environmental side is strict, spill a litre of petrol and fill out half a dozen forms, spill a jerry can full and fill out a dozen forms, explain to the client why it happened and how you are going to sort it out and stop it happening again, spill a tanker/1000L and you may as well kill yourself...:p
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Amp34 said:
That is the only issue, but at the moment i'm free of any commitments and the only major hich is the GF, who I would probably end up seeing more as we currently reside at the other sides of the country from each other. She also had a father who worked in oil as well (coincidentally) so knows what it's like.

Interestingly enough she actually admitted that although she didn't see him for weeks at a time, overall she probably saw/did stuff with him more than all her friends as when he was home he had nothing else to do.:p
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Jobs are few and far between in O&G, tough times, but its peaks and troughs. When I first started at the end of 2004, the industry was just climbing out of a trough, and at the beginning of this year we have slowly started falling back into one.
Plenty of money to be made in O&G if youre in the right sector and make some wise choices.
The marriage failure rate is slightly higher than average, simply because people are away for months at a time and for some marriages, they just cant take the strain. I work with a lot of people who are divorced and cite the main reason as being the whole working abroad thing. Then again, I work with a lot of people who have been happily married for years because they take their wives with them on assignment, or they get good leave cycles and get to return home often.
My next assignment in Australia next year will be 8 weeks on 2 weeks off :cool:
 
sandman06 said:
quick question

scenario.

you've applied to a couple of graduate positions. couple have got back and 1 post seems to be really keen offering a interview. salary is 22k starting. the other potential applications are betweek 27-29k

what do you do
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What's the scenario?

You go to every interview you get offered. A proper scenario would be assuming you got offered all the posts. But then that's moot imho as it isn't all about the money.

For example, Come the end of the year I can go down two roads, one will be close to double my current salary, one will be the same, perhaps slightly more. Chalk and cheese.
 
Epic fail moment!

I forgot I only work 4 days, so my pro rata salary for the last three years (when I got promoted into this role) is as follows:-

29 = 31682
30 = 34027
31 = 35047
 
NickK said:
I would suspect that they're permanently "On the job" but that's not surprising for jobs over about £50K as you enter the "married to the job" zone.
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Not really. In fact they have very strict working hours (typically 42 hours a week). If they work over time then this time is taken as vacation or overtime payments are made.
Usually they work 8-5 (the european standard), if they work late one even ing then they sleep in the next morning.

1 or 2 may work a little more but nothing excessive.
 
Jonnycoupe said:
No, that would be a terrorist. :p

Who designed the rocket to put the satellites in space that form part of the telephone communication system before Bill Gates got near anything like that.
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The Nazis Scientists desigend the rockets that would later put sattelites in space...
 
amigafan2003 said:
If I went to NathanE's definition of an engineer though (which is correct -i t's just not as black and white as that) then I'd have to work longer/harder/travel further etc. I'd say I've made the smart choice by sticking where I am.
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In fairness, I'm a systems architect, at an EMEA level. So not exactly a software engineer these days.

You seem proud of what you do, and that's great. Unfortunately, supporting the same system for n years isn't going to do your career much good in the end. There are plenty of challenging roles within the company I'm sure you'd enjoy that would be far more professionally & financially rewarding.

I walk to work in 20 minutes and am home by 6pm.

Consider a change :).

Btw, I'm not trying to sound magnanimous, or patronising, just trying to offer some advice.
 
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