[unpretty]

A Consulting Company is interested with my IT skills and experience and they are asking me about my expected package.

If they will be offering me a job, I will have to relocate from Manila to HK. They will apply for my work visa.

I am aware that HK has a high cost of living so in my expected package, I plan to tell them that I'd prefer the following aside from the basic pay:

1) Free housing (1st preference) or monthly housing allowance or at least 1 month free housing (if the package does not include accomodation)
2) At least 1 or 2 flights back home per year
3) Relocation allowance (flight from Manila to HK)

Is my expected package good enough? Or should I include anything else?

I don't drink and party a lot. If ever I move to HK, I want to at least save double the amount that I am able to save in Manila and be able to spend a little on shopping.

Your inputs will be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance.

[Darkangel]

Originally Posted by unpretty

A Consulting Company is interested with my IT skills and experience and they are asking me about my expected package.

If they will be offering me a job, I will have to relocate from Manila to HK. They will apply for my work visa.

I am aware that HK has a high cost of living so in my expected package, I plan to tell them that I'd prefer the following aside from the basic pay:

1) Free housing (1st preference) or monthly housing allowance or at least 1 month free housing (if the package does not include accomodation)
2) At least 1 or 2 flights back home per year
3) Relocation allowance (flight from Manila to HK)

Is my expected package good enough? Or should I include anything else?

I don't drink and party a lot. If ever I move to HK, I want to at least save double the amount that I am able to save in Manila and be able to spend a little on shopping.

Your inputs will be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance.

Hi the package sometimes varies with your experience/seniority in the line. I am not from IT hence it's difficult for me to comment on reasonable salary. i could help by commenting yes you need housing as housing will eat up big chunk of your salary as housing is expensive in HK. Of course you could choose to stay somewhere not central in HK depending on your requirement or office location.

I think you can refer to some old threads in Geoexpat website as it has many useful information on how much you should ask for your salary. I think there was this page of information telling you how much things cost in HK? In general you can lead a very good life with 10-15k spending/mth excluding housing for single.

Relocation allowance should be a lump sum help to pay for bills when you first come over. Home leave is required too. i think 1 or 2 flights are reasonable.

Hope it helps...gd luck!

[Alby]

Ahhh the simple act of negiotation to get what we want - those who state what they want / expect first runs the risk of having to be the one that makes the compromise.

Obviously the company knows what they are willing to offer so ask them to send you what they will offer - as there is a chance they may offer more than what you are asking for - but you will never know if you state your expectations first - if not you can go back to them and state that this is package is not what I was expecting and state at that point what you want.

Companies tend to either offer at first a scaled down package with room for upwards negiotation or a fair package from the go. Companies that tend to ask the prospective employer what they expect in a package are either using it as part of employee selection process or even a ways to stay under budget particularly if they know the prospective employee may not be fully aware to the market in which they will be entering.

I suggest do not sell yourself short - ask them first to make you an offer on the package afterall they know the market a lot better than you - literally tell them this!

Best of Luck!

[tsuiwah]

unpretty, your expectations are not very aggressive, so I would follow Alby's advice and let them make you an offer. If you don't like it, you can then go back and negotiate. NEVER negotiate against yourself. Flights to/from Manila are cheap, so I wouldn't even bother making that part of your negotiations unless the salary package is lousy. They should help you with the initial relocation though.

[freeier]

8-)
just price everything into your monthly pay, (e.g. flights home etc) and compute a lumpsum. add 30% to that final figure computed and negotiate from that basis.

even housing, at the end its just a sum of money. put in a sum of 15~20k p/m for rental (alot of people can make do with less than 10k though) into your base computation.

if you add too many fanciful stuffs, your company is going to press down your pay and use the excuse that they are oblidging to alot of your fancy requests.

keep in mind u need 3xrental for the first month to sort out your lease.

[coolgirl]

agree with most of them, but advice is see the offer first before asking for everything. saying everthing upfront now is a double edged sword.

if you tell a number too low, youre short selling yourself.

if you tell a number too high, youre pricing yourself out of the market.

Do your best and see how it goes