What salary should a fresh graduate expect? Would be happy with?

[batang uliran]

Well, any comments? Also which companies would pay these salaries you would be happy with?

[gwenni]

depends on which industry you want to get into... Banks pay pretty low ranging from 6 to 8K starting salary. Depending on your qualifications, perhaps it is reasonable enough to expect at least 10K starting salary with much room for promotions and salary increases. I heard P&G gives high salaries with its minimum starting salary at 20K and then evaluations for promotions and increases are conducted every six months... If you want to get into P&G, better go now while there are still lots of openings... but I also heard their employees are a bit overworked... Unilab pays at around 10K starting but the benefits are really great and the workload is light. My company pays me 10K basic salary + commissions. This is my first job... I think this will do at least for the first three months of work but I am hoping to get a better paying job soon. With high parking rates in Makati, 10K may be a bit short.

[Mil]

Just a tip --- check the total package, usually fresh grads just check the cash and often since you jump companies within the first 3 years, you never get to avail of the other benefits. but if you're thinking mid term (as in 5 years) check out the others, you should get 50% cash, 50% others (allowances, freebies etc) Internet companies which have the most openings recently (since they're sprouting all over) have really bad non-cash benefits.

[tr|n|ty]

Well, my best friend who is going to graduate from Stanford this year is planning (or should i say, her parents want her) to go back to Manila. She is an exceptionally bright girl (she's an Electrical Eng'g Major at Stanford and with honors too) and she is being pirated all ready by Globe and Smart and some top engineering firms back in Manila. BUt with all the low paying jobs in manila, don't you think her talent and her Stanford Education would come to waste? My suggestion to her is go back home if and only if you get at least 40K a month and that's nearly impossible unless she would work for her dad's firm(which goes against her philosophy to work muna for a big firm before theirs)or GLOBE really loves her. In the states, she would get at least $35,000 a year! (that's the rate for freshgrads here)

What do you think? Should she go back home and obey her parents? OR should she get as much moolah she gets here in the states before settling down in manila?

[batang uliran]

There's pluses and minuses to every decision and while clearly the money is better in the US, the expenses of living here are also significantly higher. My advice would be to go back. If she is really good, she should be making decent money in a few years.

[Sleepless6]

It's really hard to generalize what salary a fresh graduate should expect because the disparity in pay right now is really huge between different types of jobs. Entry level positions in some local firms pay as low as 100K a year while some foreign firms pay as much as P2M a year.

I've done recruiting for about two years and it seems to me that many graduates accept jobs too quickly from the "usual" firms while overlooking the opportunity of working for foreign firms (not local MNCs). This is really sad since many Philippine graduates are world-class and the advantages (material and otherwise) of working for a foreign company can be quite substantial.

On the second Q, "How much should a fresh graduate be happy with?" Now that is a really subjective question I will leave others to answer for themselves.... =)