A career in a flashy company may not necessarily receive a high salary remuneration. What industries provide the best salary?
The first year of my career at BMW, I had asked HR, “Why do our salary standards tend to be lower than the FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) industry?” HR who are very supportive responded, “Look, sir, we apply remuneration based on the results of HR consultancy research, and unfortunately our industry is included in Manufacturing which is less competitive in remuneration.”
Based on the results of the salary research, salary remuneration at BMW is indeed very competitive in the Manufacture industry, but it is still under FMCG and Telco. The salary of a Sales Vice President in the Automotive industry could be slightly below the salary of a Senior Manager in the Telco industry.
Even so, what made me feel at home working at BMW at that time? Of course, in addition to being an extraordinary team that is great and can learn a lot about how to handle international premium brands in Indonesia, BMW is one of the companies with exceptional employer branding, and this is the main attraction. With an appropriate employer branding strategy, companies are able to recruit talent at more competitive prices.
So, it is not a guarantee that a career in a classy company will get high remuneration. In their home country, many people are willing to accept smaller remuneration in order to be able to have a career at BMW.
Oil & Gas Industry
Five years undergoing the profession as a headhunter, as far as my experience and observation, Oil & Gas is an industry with the best and fairly average remuneration – between one level and another, both above and below, the difference in salary is not too large.
There are several types of companies in the Oil & Gas industry, such as contractors (for example: EPC / Engineering, Procurement & Construction companies), consultants, tender holders, and others. Some operate upstream, others downstream. All of them evenly provide good remuneration. In addition, this industry also provides better benefits compared to other industries on average. These benefits include health insurance, pensions, stock options, and others. So it is not surprising that the average industry employee has a longer career than other industry employees.
As a head hunter, recruiting a professional from one Oil & Gas company to another presents its own challenges, especially when negotiating remuneration as a whole. Many are hard to leave their companies because of the mounting retirement value, stock options, etc., so if other companies want to attract executives from competing companies, they must be prepared to prepare attractive attractive sign-on bonuses.
The salary of a Legal Admin in this industry can be up to the salary of Managers in other industries. Especially the salaries of their top executives. But of course, this large salary is followed by also large responsibilities and long business trips.
After Oil & Gas? Some say Telco, some say Finance & Banking, some also FMCG. When talking about second place, the company needs to be seen first. Telco companies can differ from one company to another, and so can one bank with another, although the difference is not significant.
Telecommunication Industry
Telco operators in some countries are classified as very generous in providing total remuneration for their executives. Even so, it is not easy for head hunters to recruit top executives to state-owned companies because of the challenges of different cultures.
Telco also includes technology vendors such as Ericsson, Nokia Siemens Networks and Huawei. This type of vendor is also generous in providing remuneration. I had a career at Ericsson and was initially quite proud (and a little big-headed) because of my large salary. It turned out that after a long career there, I just found out that my salary was in the normal category.
Included in other Telco industries are handset providers such as Sony, Samsung and LG. This type of Telco also includes those that provide high remuneration. Based on my observations, Samsung is among the highest in some countries.
Finance & Banking
This industry is also generous in providing remuneration for their top levels. For the first layer or the board of directors, in addition to the salary element, they also generally get a bonus or profit sharing which is quite tempting. The amount of bonus is regulated and limited by financial services authority, calculated from net income after tax. The Commissioners are also entitled to this bonus.
In 2014, one large state-owned bank in a report on the JSX stated that the total remuneration for the board of directors and commissioners reached 514.8 billion. For example divided by 25 people only, on average each person receives about 20 billion per year. Fantastic, right? Like the explanation above, this number has been regulated and limited by financial services authority. Can you imagine if not?
For the beginner level, they must be satisfied with a salary slightly above the Standard Salary.
FMCG (Fast-moving Consumer Goods)
How about FMCG? From the top to the bottom level is fair enough. But this analysis is only limited to my observations on multinational FMCG companies who happen to be my clients.
If you get a promotion, the salary will be adjusted to the new responsibilities.
While writing this article, a colleague who is also a member of the FMCG directors called me to ask several prospective candidates for senior positions in HR. She is a perfect example of a woman’s success story in a career in the FMCG industry. Since graduating from the University in 1997, he has worked in just one company and built his career to this day at the director level.
Different industries, different salaries. Some industries are able to provide better salaries because they have better profitability. In the end, if the company has a good profit, employees should also enjoy the results.
So, in what industry do you want to work? Whatever your choice, be the best!
Experienced Recruiter with a demonstrated history of working in the media production industry. Strong human resources professional with a Bachelor’s degree focused in Psychology from Universitas Kristen Satya Wacana.