By Julailah Wahid

The first step for many after graduation is to land a job. The workplace can be a scary place to navigate for a fresh grad and the biggest challenge can be trying to understand your new boss.

Question:
I am a fresh graduate who currently has multiple job offers from various companies. For my first job, which would I be better off joining: a Multinational corporation (MNC) or a Small and Medium Enterprise (SME)?

Answer:
Firstly, congratulations on your graduation! Now that you’ve achieved a major milestone in your life, it’s time to take the next big step – your first job.

As the corporate culture found in an MNC and SME is vastly different, choosing which to work at rests heavily on what your interests, priorities and long-term career goals are. Let’s take a look at some differing characteristics between an MNC and SME:

By Juliet Soh

64% of recent graduates expect a monthly salary of at least $3,000 for their first job, according to an annual survey conducted by JobsCentral, Singapore’s most popular job portal for university students and graduates. In 2011, the same survey reported only 55% of respondents demanding more than $3,000 per month for their first job.

The higher expectation is even more apparent among the top students who were surveyed. Three out of four of them (73.9%) indicated that they’re expecting a monthly salary of more than $3,000 from their employer. Top students are defined as those who have attained or are expecting to obtain a degree with First Class Honours, Second Class Honours, Summa cum Laude or Magna cum Laude.

According to the data collected from the JobsCentral Employers of Choice Survey since 2009, the proportion of students who expect a monthly salary of more than $3,000 has been increasing by approximately 10% yearly, and the proportion of top students who have this expectation are approximately 10% more than the overall cohort.

A total of 2,213 respondents took the 2012 JobsCentral Employers of Choice Survey, which was conducted online from April to May this year. All respondents are from National Technological University, National University of Singapore and Singapore Management University, from the graduating classes of 2010 to 2017.

Computing/IT majors have the highest salary expectation among those who were surveyed. Close to 78% of this group of respondents expects to earn more than $3,000 per month. Arts undergraduates and fresh graduates, on the other hand, have the lowest expectation, with 46.8% expecting to earn more than $3,000 per month.

Entry-level jobseekers expect higher wages for their first job, according to an annual survey by JobsCentral, Singapore’s most popular job portal for university students and graduates.

A total of 3,255 respondents took the 2011 JobsCentral Employers of Choice Survey (University Edition), which was conducted online from April to May this year. All respondents are from National Technological University, National University of Singapore and Singapore Management University, from the graduating classes of 2009 to 2016.