Hi All,
I'm a mechanical engineer graduated in December 2006 and have experience (1 year) working in a large facility management company with the head office based in Melbourne, Australia.
Cutting the long story short, I have recently applied for a graduate position (also known as the Graduate Program) at my parent company and was offered a position a few days ago. I've analyzed the job offer, and want to negotiate a few points mentioned in the offer, and have a few questions for those with experience.
The position requires me to be moving to a rural country area for three months initially and was told in my interview that my accommodation will be paid for, and also so-called 'living away from home allowance'. In the offer, I will be given only one months' accommodation and there is no mention of the 'living away from home allowance'. I'm not too fussed about moving from city to a rural area, however there is no way a landlord will give me two months lease for a property. A standard lease is one year in Australia. Do you think it is fair that the company fork out the entire three month's accommodation?
Secondly, is working hours. Yes I did express I am willing to fork in additional hard-yard to get jobs done and I made it clear that I am hard-working. However, I think my potential employer is taking advantage of this fact. In the letter of offer, under the 'ordinary hours or work' heading, there is no mention of a ball park figure of the hours of work. In Australia, the standard is 40 hours, that is from what I understand. With my current job I work about 43-45 hours per week excluding lunch time. During the interview with my potential employer, the manager said that "you can expect to start from 7am and finish off at 5pm", and if necessary, work on Saturdays". That would be over 50 hours a week.
The graduate program officially wont start till JAN 2009 and when I asked my potential employer the question "What will I be doing initially if that is the case"? Their reply was something along the lines of "well you could be starting off doing entering time sheets into the computers, and a few other things. it'll be a good opportunity to get your foot in the door".
YES, i know it is a good opportunity, but isn't the whole point of a graduate program is to develop a young gun like me (who, has not got much experience. 1 year is nothing in my current job).
At the moment, I would like to negotiate and ask them to specify a ballpark figure on working hours, and clarify on accommodation arrangements. If the graduate program doesn't start till JAN 2009, I wouldn't mind staying at my current job until JAN 2009. But at the same time I dont want to shoot myself in the foot and loose an opportunity.
Any opinions and thoughts, are much welcomed.
I'm a mechanical engineer graduated in December 2006 and have experience (1 year) working in a large facility management company with the head office based in Melbourne, Australia.
Cutting the long story short, I have recently applied for a graduate position (also known as the Graduate Program) at my parent company and was offered a position a few days ago. I've analyzed the job offer, and want to negotiate a few points mentioned in the offer, and have a few questions for those with experience.
The position requires me to be moving to a rural country area for three months initially and was told in my interview that my accommodation will be paid for, and also so-called 'living away from home allowance'. In the offer, I will be given only one months' accommodation and there is no mention of the 'living away from home allowance'. I'm not too fussed about moving from city to a rural area, however there is no way a landlord will give me two months lease for a property. A standard lease is one year in Australia. Do you think it is fair that the company fork out the entire three month's accommodation?
Secondly, is working hours. Yes I did express I am willing to fork in additional hard-yard to get jobs done and I made it clear that I am hard-working. However, I think my potential employer is taking advantage of this fact. In the letter of offer, under the 'ordinary hours or work' heading, there is no mention of a ball park figure of the hours of work. In Australia, the standard is 40 hours, that is from what I understand. With my current job I work about 43-45 hours per week excluding lunch time. During the interview with my potential employer, the manager said that "you can expect to start from 7am and finish off at 5pm", and if necessary, work on Saturdays". That would be over 50 hours a week.
The graduate program officially wont start till JAN 2009 and when I asked my potential employer the question "What will I be doing initially if that is the case"? Their reply was something along the lines of "well you could be starting off doing entering time sheets into the computers, and a few other things. it'll be a good opportunity to get your foot in the door".
YES, i know it is a good opportunity, but isn't the whole point of a graduate program is to develop a young gun like me (who, has not got much experience. 1 year is nothing in my current job).
At the moment, I would like to negotiate and ask them to specify a ballpark figure on working hours, and clarify on accommodation arrangements. If the graduate program doesn't start till JAN 2009, I wouldn't mind staying at my current job until JAN 2009. But at the same time I dont want to shoot myself in the foot and loose an opportunity.
Any opinions and thoughts, are much welcomed.
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