Dan Magallanes, CEO of Headhunter Manila, says your salary should be four times your age. Meaning if you are 30 years old, you should be getting P120,000 monthly – at least.
Bink, blink, blink.
I make a mental roll call of my acquaintances and close friend and find that I can pull out only 10 percent of the names in my roster that meet this rough rule of thumb. CEOs, senior management in a multinational firm or entrepreneurs who have already made it big in their chosen businesses are what their calling cards say.
What does that mean? If we are not getting this kind of pay scale, we should get a career consultant to fix our sagging careers, Magallanes says. I admit that the previous sentence is laced with a bit of jaded flippancy, but the headhunter makes an impassioned case on why paying a career consultant a hefty fee is worth it, even when our salaries are languishing.
I have observed that most of our executives and professionals at any point in their career would rather buy a high-end mobile phone or an expensive designer bag than pay a career consultant for their stagnant or sagging career. They tend to forget that they have to live on a parallel lifestyle based on their position in the company and of course their take-home pay. If you are bent on having a good career, you have to focus on how you will attain it at a certain paradigm. It is not wanting but not doing anything.
He cites several cases to drive home the point. Here’s one: a 38-year-old who graduated from a “not-so-known college in the southern part of the country” gets half-a-million per month on top of dizzying perks, besting nine other candidates from top universities. He even got a sign-on bonus of $50,000. He had no MBA and does not intend to get one.
Raising your eyebrows yet? Here’s another one:
Magallanes says he plucked this 28-year-old communications officer who graduated from an up-town college in the south from an international NGO and placed him in a blue-chip company for three times his salary in the NGO. This blue-chip company was bought by another giant, so Magallanes advices him to get a job somewhere else. Three months of searching ends up a dud and guy gets nervous. Magallanes tells him to be an entrepreneur. On his first month, he earned his salary for the first quarter of the following year.
I would love to meet this guy and get him to coach MoneySmarts readers next year. In a country where UP, La Salle, Ateneo and UA&P lords it over all the others, a guy who says he does not look for MBAs from top universities has something important to say to Filipinos. But here’s the most controversial part in his article:
“The best career is in the Philippines nowadays. Blue-chip companies are coming our way. This is the place to become successful. The most comfortable life is here. You leave the country because you feel you cannot make it here. If you cannot make it here, you cannot make it anywhere.”
True or false?
Read the entire article here.
October 9th, 2007 at 3:07 pm
Such an irresponsible statement from Magallanes- a salary 4x ur age that’s absurd, no average filipino can have that.
And about that ” if you can’t make it here you cant make it anywhere” What do you think of our OFW’s, Health Worker that are buying condominium’s here and happens to be the top clients of leading developers in the country!
Do you think that by working here they could possibly afford even a studio unit?
We are all aware of the inequalities in the job market, companies that prefer lasalle, ateneo,UP grads than other less popular universities. I think Magallanes didn’t spend much time in the country.
October 9th, 2007 at 11:11 am
Hi Salve! this is interesting and intriguing. i’ve read the thread and most of the comments pasted a smile on my face.
“The best career is in the Philippines nowadays. Blue-chip companies are coming our way. This is the place to become successful. The most comfortable life is here. You leave the country because you feel you cannot make it here. If you cannot make it here, you cannot make it anywhere.”
Re that statement, i beg to disagree. The world has become a global village. and we are all invited to create a niche anywhere, whether here or abroad. Filipinos armed with excellent skills in different fields of expertise should not just be limited to making it here.
Leaving or staying in the country is a personal choice. Some feel that “making it here” takes a lot longer than working abroad. But those who chose to stay are here because they have chosen to.
Personally, I havent met Dan’s salary qualifications. However, I am happy with what I am currently receiving along with the perks (unique to the company i work with) and am so looking forward to my next year’s merit increase and 15th month bonus.
I would be happy if i get more but i choose to be happy right now where i currently am.
Dan’s sweeping generalization is wee bit too harsh. Filipinos just opted to exercise their freedom of choice to complement their priorities in life.
October 9th, 2007 at 11:03 am
May be he meant 4 time your age per annum?
:) 
October 9th, 2007 at 10:55 am
where do you get your figures - your salary is 4x your age. I don’t buy your unrealistic view.
Even in abroad you cannot have this. Not mentioning those jobs in war zones and high risk areas (Iraq, Oil Fields in the far flung areas - i mean off shore)
October 9th, 2007 at 10:52 am
wow how i wish my salary is 4x my age…if this would be the salary of every filipinos here in the Philippines i think everyone has their own house and maybe they would not commute everyday for work because they can afford to buy car…its only possible abroad not here in the philippines…maybe some are fortunate to enjoy salaries 4 times their age but i think 90 percent of filipinos still earning less than 2 to 4 times their age…