65 million

Hi,

I'm a display designer by trade and earn nearly £30k, here in England which is an reasonable salary.

Last February I visited a company in Melbourne that does the same kind of thing as my company. I was given a full tour of the company and everyone made me feel really welcome. I was on a high until I asked the dreaded question...

"How much could I expect to earn here?"

I was gutted when his response was "AU$35k-$45k". I didnt expect to earn the equivalent of my UK salary (that would be around AU$82K) but was honestly expecting more.

I'm 32 years old with plenty of experience. They have offered me a position with the company next year, though have not negotiated a final salary. Should I be bartering with him or are you expected to simply accept or refuse an offer?.

What's your opinion of this offer?. How does it compare to average salary's???.

Many thanks

col

Take what ever you can get, settle then barter. You have nothing until you have a Job. 35-40 will see you all right.

pommie bastard

Welcome to the land of plenty you have seen the real wages offered here are crap, do not forget tax is higher here to.
I would say for many if you earn 1 pound that would earn $1.4 here take home.
How cheap does Australia seem now, just had a couple of pints tonight at $6.8 each divide that by 1.4 not cheap hey?.

65 million

Thanks for your reply's.

So this is the norm then?. Ive obviously been mislead as I know both my cousins their earn considerably more. One is earning au$60K and the other is earning $120k - Melbourne (though he's in I.T.). may stay in the UK a little longer to increase savings before coming over.

Devlin

I know a guy who transferred within the same company from London to Melbourne, he was earning £50k in London and got $60k in Melbourne. The simple argument by employers is that you have to be paid at the current market rate - even if it is shitful.

Chris

"65 million" wrote in message
news:426961.1033128368@britishexpats-
.com...
    > I was gutted when his response was "AU$35k-$45k". I didnt expect to earn
    > the equivalent of my UK salary (that would be around AU$82K) but was
    > honestly expecting more.
    > I'm 32 years old with plenty of experience. They have offered me a
    > position with the company next year, though have not negotiated a final
    > salary. Should I be bartering with him or are you expected to simply
    > accept or refuse an offer?.
    > What's your opinion of this offer?. How does it compare to average
    > salary's???.

An average salary is around $36-$38,000pa. In Melbourne, I'd expect it to
be a bit higher than that though. On the neg. side of things, simply tell
him you need an offer which makes the move over here worthwhile.

Oh, and don't think in UK pounds. The silliest thing expats tend to do is
convert everything they earn and spend back to their home currency. Doing
this is irrelevant. Aussies do it when they work in other countries (where
the currency is stronger) too... happy about the size of the wage in AUD,
but pissed off about the cost of living. People coming here from higher
paying countries tend to think, oh great the cost of living is a bargain,
and then get pissed off about their pissy salary and high tax. Don't do it!
Just think in AUD when in Aus and compare your wage with the cost of living
here

Chris

    > Many thanks
    > --
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com

shorrock

I agree that you have to think in AUS Dollars, however most people don't have anything in AUS Dollars to compare against. So people go back to what they know and thats there home country pay / living expenses.

If your trying to find avg wage for your job, see if there is a trade organisation that you could send questions to in Aus. i.e Aus Computer Soc,...

One thing that took me back on prices was baked beans.

Back in the UK you would see a tin for sale for 34p. Come to OZ and you see Beans for sale at $1.60. Just a mental barrier you have to get over.

Kieron

shorrock

I can only assume that your drinking imported beer. Try out some of the local beer, it's far better than most of the beer back in the UK.

Local beer will cost you half what you pay for an imported beer. I pay about $3 for a local beer.

Kieron

stay or go ?

some people really need to place a "Coffee Alert" on the subject header of their posts.....thats one keyboard that wont be coming back in a hurry...!

unless there is some magical beer in Australia that I (and a good cross sectional representation of Melburnian beer drinkers) havent seen, even australians agree that british beer is far superior to this fizzy crap over here !!!!

$3 for a local beer as well ?? bloody hell, try $1.60 for a pot (VB, Carlton, Boag etc etc to name a few but not all).

sorry, not making fun of your post, you may well find australian beer to be superior to the british stuff - you just may be in a minority, thats all !

shorrock

You must be a "real" Beer drinker then? I'm just trying to think of any british beer that is good! Nope can't think of any!

There are a few Bitters or Milds that are very nice, but I'm not sure of any beers "Lager" that are good.

If you tell me Carling Black Label, Thwates Lager or Bass Lager are good Beers then you need your tasted buds recoating. They are as bad VB and Tooheys.

I do agree that VB and Tooheys are bad. I can't drink the stuff. But there are some other local small brewers beer that are good.

Carlton is a nice drop.

Kieron

stay or go ?

Theaxtons, John Smiths, Tetleys, Stones, Guiness (that doesnt taste like Molasses), the list is endless (also it helps that they are drunk in something not resembling a school dining cafeteria !). If you think they are bad, then you sir are the one who needs their tastebuds realigning !

shorrock

Guiness?? thats not english and the English version of Guiness is NOT the same as the Irish version. Irish version tastes better.

Theaxtons, John Smiths, Tetleys, Stones are either a bitter or mild. Not like an AUS Beer, they are produced differently

And they are better than Beer "lager" in both the UK and AUS.

I do agree that if you want a Real Beer (i.e something that doesn't look the same going in, as coming out) then the beers you have mentioned are good.

But if your after a "Aus" Beer (known back in the UK as Lager) then AUS Beer is better.

Kieron

stay or go ?

christ - this is supposed to be lighthearted - get a sense of humour will ya ???? I am not interested in the semantics or origins , nomenclature or classification of historical beer brewing. If you are after Australian beer, then drink it - if you feel like it is the best beer in the world, then who am i to tell you otherwise ? It was meant in light hearted humour. I am thoroughly aware of the difference between Bitter and Lager (i am a british citizen of 30 years, by the way, who has lived in australia for a couple of years now).

shorrock

I thought my responses were lighthearted.

Kieron

Herman

I'm in Sydney for 2 years and just got promoted here to a grade which pays 75k pounds in London and 55k pounds outside of London. My new salary in Sydney after the promotion is $92k which is enough to live on if renting but obviously extremely disappointing compared to the UK figures. $40k for a job that pays 30k pounds sounds a bit light but its all about demand and supply in the local labour market.