Went for a job interview yesterday morning at a US listed technology company (As my current job contract end this dec – I need to get prepared if they don’t want to improve my contract – Or I should just return back to NZ?). I have about 5 years’ relevant experience doing things similar to the job requirements, so I asked for 4.5k starting salary (I mentioned that the figure is negotiable). The hiring managers kept asking me questions like… “is money important to you?”, “is your family dependent on your income?”, “how much are your peers earning?”. One of them mentioned that 4.5k is the rate for someone with about 10 years’ working experience (I don’t believe it).

The irony of it is that they know that the pay is low, probably not even enough to feed a family – they are the ones being unrealistic, not me. Welcome to Singapore, where graduates are expected to earn scarcely enough to feed or start a family.

After that I had another interview, a very different interview experience at another company. Unfortunately, the pay being offered is very low again. However, there is a very strong focus on work-life balance in this particular organization – little OT required, plenty of benefits geared towards ensuring work-life balance. I pretty much like the idea of working in this organization… and the job seems to fit exactly what I am looking for. The only downside is the salary being offered. But I might just take the low pay for the benefits.