What do YOU consider a good starting salary for a graduate?
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polar_wrath11
35K - 40K. Don't tell me I'm being overly optimistic. I know loads of people from Imperial/UCL/Kings (with 2.1/1st class in Computer Science) that have salaries that high in technology division of IB in their first year.
You haven't even started university yet, but you know "loads" of people who have graduated and gone to work as (presumably) analysts at investment banks? It's possible, but it sounds very unlikely, especially given that recruitment basically stopped for lots of IB positions during the recession.
Not necessarily aimed at you, but I think a lot of people here are making a much bigger deal out of first-year salaries than it really merits, both judging the salaries that most graduates start on against the very highest available in the City and assigning an importance to the first-year salary that it doesn't deserve. Let me address those one by one.
First, as many people have said, only a few people will start on those £35k+ City salaries. Those people will be selected by a process that contains more than a little luck and which does not always select the best or most committed people, so you can't be sure, no matter how talented and hard working you are, that you will get those jobs. If you consider only £35k or more to be a good starting salary then you're being both extremely optimistic and making a huge error in assessing the importance of that starting salary. I'll come to that now.
What does a starting salary of £35k mean? It means that, for one year, at the very start of your career, you will earn £35k. It does not guarantee that you will be promoted, nor that you will be the best at your job, nor anything else - it's just your salary for one year. Anyone saying that "a good starting salary is £x" without attaching an enormous number of caveats is either a fool or being deliberately misleading. Do the skills you gain not matter? Do qualifications you obtain through the job not matter? Do the quality of the work, the possibilities for professional recognition and the possibilities for advancement not matter? Trying to learn anything of any importance from the starting salary alone is completely absurd; it would lead to telling a trainee solicitor on £20k a year, but whose firm operates a lockstep to partnership in 9 years, that they have made a mistake by not going to work at the £35k/year firm with little staff retention. It would lead to telling someone working at the LSE to get the experience to become a financial consultant, or someone interning at the UN because it's seen as valuable by commercial barristers' chambers, that they should have become a manager at Aldi.
Exactly I agree with Fysidiko. It is funny how some of those who are quoting such high starting salaries are those who either have not yet entered university or are still way off finishing their course. Believe me, I work within a certain area of graduate recruitment. I wish you all the best luck in trying to attain jobs with these salaries but believe me when I say it is tough. Furthermore I receive graduates who expect to earn over £30k and have shocking levels of numeracy and literacy. Yes well done if you manage to secure such a well paid job, but remember unless you really stand out you will be a small fish in a big pond. A degree can be a gateway to a wonderful career, however many people lose sight in how important experience is. After a certain stage, your degree will be of little significance. If you have worked from lower levels as a unproven graduate and progressed then employers will view this favourably.
Also remember, that graduates can get fired even a few months into graduate schemes for various reasons. I distinctly remember a girl I met at a club who'd been fired from GS M&A after 3 months in 2008. So take from that what you will. These firms will hire and fire at will, so do not assume once you're in its a bed of roses.
You have to look at the entire package on offer with several of these firms, especially long-term opportunities. A friend of mine recently secured a job at a relatively new VC fund, the pay was low £20-25k (low for london anyway) but included alot of long-term benefits ie equity in the fund, board seats on portfolio companies, lockstep to partnership within a few years plus several others. This experience in itself will potentially pay handsomely, more so than a banking grad scheme in the long-run if the fund does exceptionally well. Plus the learning, responsibility and indeed exit options seem to be just as good as IBD.
You have to look at the entire package on offer with several of these firms, especially long-term opportunities. A friend of mine recently secured a job at a relatively new VC fund, the pay was low £20-25k (low for london anyway) but included alot of long-term benefits ie equity in the fund, board seats on portfolio companies, lockstep to partnership within a few years plus several others. This experience in itself will potentially pay handsomely, more so than a banking grad scheme in the long-run if the fund does exceptionally well. Plus the learning, responsibility and indeed exit options seem to be just as good as IBD.
(edited 13 years ago)
unknown demon
This experience in itself will potentially pay handsomely, more so than a banking grad scheme in the long-run if the fund does exceptionally well. Plus the learning, responsibility and indeed exit options seem to be just as good as IBD.
This is the sort of more subtle factor that I think is easily overlooked. The first few years of your career are formative; you're learning a profession, gaining the experience, the skills and the contacts on which you will base your future development and performance. Whether you earn £25k or £35k is much less important than how well the job prepares you for the rest of your career - your first year is only one of potentially 50 years of paid employment. How much you earn in that year is not the be-all and end-all of success.
Why are people being slaughtered for suggesting £35k+! If your desire is to work in an Investment Bank (either BO or FO) you will more than likely earn this in your first year!
I have received a job offer of £47k first year including sign-on bonus. This obviously doesn't include the end of year bonus so their is potential for more. And before anybody asks I go to Manchester University and have no contacts in the Investment Banking world I have just worked hard and prepared well for interviews etc!
I have received a job offer of £47k first year including sign-on bonus. This obviously doesn't include the end of year bonus so their is potential for more. And before anybody asks I go to Manchester University and have no contacts in the Investment Banking world I have just worked hard and prepared well for interviews etc!
>£40k.
Original post by tazarooni89
Actuarial, either at a Big Four firm, or at another reputable firm (Towers Watson, Mercer etc.) Although I might change my mind if I hate the internship.
I know this is an old post but does this imply Towers/Mercer pay £30k base to their Actuarial Consultants?
I would be content to start off my graduate career with c. £13,000.
LOl @ people at saying '35k at the very least'; the **** outta' here.
LOl @ people at saying '35k at the very least'; the **** outta' here.
IB: Minimum 35k. This is regardless of division (and the BO roles like IT and Operations really aren't THAT competitive)
Big 4 (all roles) and Consultancies (Actuarial or Investment): 27k-35k (London)
Energy (Oil & Gas): 25k-34k
Practically all ACA/ACCA/CIMA graduate roles: 25k+
If you're a decent graduate and well organised 25k really isn't really an overambitious expectation.
Would expect 25k as an absolute minimum and have 6 ACs coming up which pay significantly more than this. Still anything can happen and I'd work for less if the prospects were good.
Big 4 (all roles) and Consultancies (Actuarial or Investment): 27k-35k (London)
Energy (Oil & Gas): 25k-34k
Practically all ACA/ACCA/CIMA graduate roles: 25k+
If you're a decent graduate and well organised 25k really isn't really an overambitious expectation.
Would expect 25k as an absolute minimum and have 6 ACs coming up which pay significantly more than this. Still anything can happen and I'd work for less if the prospects were good.
(edited 12 years ago)
Original post by Regent
IB: Minimum 35k. This is regardless of division (and the BO roles like IT and Operations really aren't THAT competitive)
Big 4 (all roles) and Consultancies (Actuarial or Investment): 27k-35k (London)
Energy (Oil & Gas): 25k-34k
Practically all ACA/ACCA/CIMA graduate roles: 25k+
If you're a decent graduate and well organised 25k really isn't really an overambitious expectation.
Would expect 25k as an absolute minimum and have 6 ACs coming up which pay significantly more than this. Still anything can happen and I'd work for less if the prospects were good.
Big 4 (all roles) and Consultancies (Actuarial or Investment): 27k-35k (London)
Energy (Oil & Gas): 25k-34k
Practically all ACA/ACCA/CIMA graduate roles: 25k+
If you're a decent graduate and well organised 25k really isn't really an overambitious expectation.
Would expect 25k as an absolute minimum and have 6 ACs coming up which pay significantly more than this. Still anything can happen and I'd work for less if the prospects were good.
I admire your opimism but can I just confirm that you are yet to find a job?
I agree with the £20k+ though now in the current job market, times are harder and a job's a job I reckon £18k is a good starting salary 
Original post by Roobagnall
£14,000K or more would good for a starting salary.
Some people do seem very nieve as to wages for graduate now a days.
Some people do seem very nieve as to wages for graduate now a days.
Haha so £14,000,000?
:P
Why has nobody mentioned that the university you go to, the degree you take and, of course, the score you achieve is going to heavily impact on your starting salary? Somebody who scores a third in a Sweepology degree at the University of Sainsbury's is not going to do quite as well as someone from Oxbridge/LSE/UCL etc who studies medicine/law/economics etc.
Original post by INTJ
Why has nobody mentioned that the university you go to, the degree you take and, of course, the score you achieve is going to heavily impact on your starting salary? Somebody who scores a third in a Sweepology degree at the University of Sainsbury's is not going to do quite as well as someone from Oxbridge/LSE/UCL etc who studies medicine/law/economics etc.
Because that would be correlation without causation?
Very very few companies care what you did or where as long as you pass the auto filter of a 2.i.
If you are good then you are more likely to to go a uni higher in league tables and you're more likely to earn a decent wage. I don't think the choice of degree really matters all that much for the vast majority of people.
Which is why there are people from Leeds Met and Oxbridge on my grad scheme.
Original post by Quady
Which is why there are people from Leeds Met and Oxbridge on my grad scheme.
Which is why there are people from Leeds Met and Oxbridge on my grad scheme.
Are they on the same money?
As for moi, most nurses start on around £21k
Original post by philistine
I would be content to start off my graduate career with c. £13,000.
LOl @ people at saying '35k at the very least'; the **** outta' here.
LOl @ people at saying '35k at the very least'; the **** outta' here.
Which is lovely for you, but some of us were earning more than that before graduating. My placement year paid a grand more than that, counted towards my degree, had a free canteen for lunch and a defined benefit pension.
That gives higher expectations for graduating.
Neither answer is right or wrong, just personal expectation.
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