Salary size set for white-collar jobs

[shan]

CHINDAILY

So how much do you think someone has to make to be categorized a white-collar employee?

Depends on where he or she lives; and the difference can be substantial.

It could be as high as 18,500 yuan ($2,481) per month in Hong Kong or a mere 900 yuan ($120) in Lhasa, capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region, with about 5,000 yuan ($670) making the cut in Beijing.

The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) released its findings over the weekend in the 2007 White-collar Workers Salary Standard in Major Chinese Cities - the first of its kind.

The benchmarks in some major cities at the upper end are: 8,900 yuan ($1,194) in Macao, 5,350 yuan ($717) in Shanghai, 5,280 yuan ($708) in Shenzhen of Guangdong Province, 4,980 yuan ($668) in Hangzhou of Zhejiang Province and 4,750 yuan ($637) in Guangzhou of Guangdong Province.

At the lower end are: 1,300 yuan ($174) in Nanning of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, 1,100 yuan ($148) in Yinchuan of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and Xining of Qinghai Province.

The report was based on a comprehensive calculation of many local factors including commodity prices, living expenses, transportation costs and urbanization level.

But for some people, the income levels are only an academic exercise.

"The 5,000-yuan standard is vastly different for people who have to pay monthly mortgages and for those who don't," said Liu Meiyu, a 28-year-old architect who works for Beijing Design and Research Institute and bought a two-bedroom apartment a few months ago with bank loans.

"A monthly salary of 10,000 yuan ($1,341) might be just right for a white-collar benchmark," she told China Daily.

Lhasa's low figure has also raised some doubts.

"The 900-yuan level is far too low as the cost of living is not low at all," said Lei Wenzheng, a local tourist guide.

A manager at a local department store can earn an average of 2,000 to 3,000 yuan ($402) a month, while public servants are paid higher there than those in eastern provinces as the central government provides extra subsidies, according to Lei.

Xia Xueluan, a professor in social sciences of Peking University, said income alone is not the determining factor.

"White-collar' or 'middle-class' means a combination of factors such as wealth, power and prestige, not simply income or property, Xia said.

[The Smoking Man]

Yeah ... you hear that bullshit all the time.

You should teach at a University for the prestige.

Horseshit.

You can't eat 'prestige'.

[shan]

Yeah ... you hear that bullshit all the time.

You should teach at a University for the prestige.

Horseshit.

You can't eat 'prestige'.

Good morning, did you brush you teeth today since I smell so stinky here.

Please note that a good pay is usually offered by a prestigious company and your experience in a prestigious company usually gives you a high credit to your latter employers, it makes you much more competitive and much easier to a get a next good pay job in a next prestigious company.

A world fortune company will not even consider your case if you self employed or worked for average companies all the time even you are the greatest guy in their candidate pool regarding the ability .

Yes, prestige can’t be eaten or changed into money, but sometimes it’s an invisible asset more precious than any credential you have .


As recruiters we pay high attention to the fames of your former employers and that's our first impression on your ability and it’s a prerequisite for us to offer you an interview opportunity.

As a man with 25 yrs working experience, I don’t know if you couldn’t see this obvious reason due to half –vision or half-witty or you just intentionally twist the truth ?
 

[The Smoking Man]

Unfortunately, I discovered that 'recruiters' were a waste of space on my second job.

I was looking for a new job and managed to get my hands on the Honeywell Users Group mailing list and sent out my CV to the people on the list.

Thank heavens I did.

The manager of the IT department had been searching for a person to fill a position for two years.

I was hired on the spot.

He thanked me for taking the initiative because most of the HR department was unable to understand the contents of a technical CV and just looked for a few key words and the size of the company I had worked for before.

Since I had never worked for a large company at that time but I had completely written an accounting system by myself from scratch at my previous job, I had the experience the boss was looking for.

HR would not have passed my CV long to him.

Prestige is bullshit unless you can do the job and I would rather hire someone who has worked at a startup than the occupant of a cube farm at a multi-national.

Recruiters are a waste of space.

[shan]

HR would not have passed my CV long to him.

That just approved what I said .

Even though you think HR people are useless, they are still there and ward you off and stop you contacting with top management directly

A day when CEO and GM act as HR managers will never come

you can give us an individual example to oppose it , but you can’t push your luck all the way .

HR people have their power and it's hard to hop them

[The Smoking Man]

HR would not have passed my CV long to him.

That just approved what I said .

Even though you think HR people are useless, they are still there and ward you off and stop you contacting with top management directly

A day when CEO and GM act as HR managers will never come

you can give us an individual example to oppose it , but you can’t push your luck all the way .

HR people have their power and it's hard to hop them

Actually, no it isn't.

Most get bitch slapped and begin to recognize the CV's that are out of their depths.

Certain recruiters however are still at a loss to understand that when an IT job comes up, ALL experience must appear on the CV because it is an exacting field.

Even in China when teaching English at a company that does IT, it often requires that you know a specific language or methodology. If you are ambiguous, you lose out on the job because you are not considered because you DIDN'T mention that you know Prince 2 PM methodology.

And so it is that the HR people or recruiters only short list the ones who have put that in their CV.

Remember, I said that my second job would not have made it through to the IT manager because it didn't have any fortune 500's on it. It was only my second job too and nowhere as near as long as it is after 25 years.

Recruiters are notorious for not knowing what they are talking about when it comes to technical fields and actually perform a disservice to industries by imposing their own beliefs on things they know little about.

[shan]

Even I agree with you at certain point regarding HR people's skills in judging specialists 

but remember even yourself mentioned that And so it is that the HR people or recruiters only short list the ones who have put that in their CV

YES, they have the power to make the shortlist

YES, they have the power to  eliminate you at the first round just by judging the fame of your former employers and your graduate school .

Tell me what you can do ?

Call the CEO or GM directly to let them review your CV or meet them in person ? I guess there's no way.

You have the reasons to hate HR  but you have to face the fact and acknowledge their power

[The Smoking Man]

But like I said.

They are wrong in those cases and I would rather be right and hope for a company that recognizes the TRUE value of who it is they hire.

Any company who hires by conforming to the inferior selection process you eschew is not worth working for.

Good old Roy in my second job used ME as his reason for being allowed to hire directly from the public and bypassing the HR department.

Until that point, they had interfered with the hiring process and thus the efficiency of the company.

[Polly]

To be fair, the HR does the important job of identifying those with sufficient EQ and are team players, both important qualities in any organisation.

[The Smoking Man]

To be fair, the HR does the important job of identifying those with sufficient EQ and are team players, both important qualities in any organisation.

Yes, but having a person who fits in is NOT sufficient when they are unable to recognize a person who can actually DO the job.