9. YOUR CAREER CHOICES AFFECT YOUR SALARIES

 

9. YOUR CAREER CHOICES AFFECT YOUR SALARIES

 

It’s a beautiful thing when a career and passion come together.

 

In the span of 27 years in corporate world, I'd worked for seven companies, ranging from US, Dutch and Taiwan multi-national companies, to local public-listed companies and SMEs. These companies were either in IT, automotive or sports equipment industry.

During my employment with Jobstreet.com, which coincidentally was the last company I’d worked for before early retirement, I was blessed to be given the opportunities to have more  exposure in different divisions and countries. 

My basic salaries had increased with more working experience and exposure gained throughout the years. Higher salaries were also equivalent to heavier roles and more job responsibilities.

I recently read the annual salary survey 2020 conducted by Robert Walters, a market-leading global recruitment group. Robert Walters did a survey across seven core disciplines which are integral part of any organisation on the salary expectations, hiring trends, etc for 2020. And I have done further analysis on seven core disciplines which become the career choices of many. (Kindly take note that this annual salary survey was conducted before Covid-19 pandemic, which has unfortunately affected 213 countries and territories around the world. Nonetheless, the annual salary’s survey result is still relevant in Malaysia’s employment market for years to come.)

I believe majority of you fall into one of the seven core disciplines. I have singled out the top roles in each core discipline with potential earnings of more than RM300,000 a year (or RM25,000 a month) on basic salary alone. Some of these roles (i.e., managing director) can even earn a basic salary as high as RM960,000 a year (or RM80,000 a month). 

If you throw in company benefits, bonuses, and for some selected few even profit sharing or stock options, you will have unlimited income potential. 

And yes, unlimited income potential is definitely achievable from a nine-to-five job. 

Do remember one thing: you don’t need to be chief executive officer or managing director of a multi-national organisation to achieve financial independence. 

As long as you excel at your job, no matter what core discipline, role, industry, sector, or company, you will still be able to make enough money to achieve your financial freedom. 

To make things even more relevant to you, here are the detailed breakdown analysis of top roles in each core discipline based on Robert Walter's Salary Survey 2020.  It serves as a guide for you in case you are lost in your career options and choices. You will also have a better insights as to which career choices and which roles pay more in general.

 

Core discipline: Accounting and Finance

There are four (4) main divisions within accounting and finance core discipline, namely:

1. Finance
2. Accounting & taxation
3. Analyst
4. Treasury

According to annual salary survey 2020 conducted by Robert Walters, the top 7 highest-paying roles in accounting and finance profession with potential basic salary more than RM300k a year, exclusive of benefits and bonuses, are:

No	Role	Division	Basic Salary Per Annum (exclusive of benefits and bonuses)
1	Chief financial officer	Finance	RM420-720k+
2	Head of shared services	Finance	RM420-660k+
3	Finance director - MNC	Finance	RM360-480k+
4	Finance director - SME	Finance	RM264-360k+
5	Financial controller - MNC	Finance	RM240-360k+
6	Head of functions	Finance	RM300-360k+
7	Financial controller – SME	Finance	RM180-300k+

As you may have noticed, the top seven (7) highest-paying roles are all from finance division earning an annual income from as low as RM180k a year to as high as RM720k a year, exclusive of benefits and bonuses. 

There is also a salary disparity between MNC (multi-national corporation) and SME (small medium enterprise). 

A financial director or financial controller in an MNC earns from RM60k to RM120k more per annum compared to a financial director or financial controller in an SME. 

Unfortunately, accounting & taxation, analyst and treasury divisions do not make it into the top 7 highest paid roles. 

What does it tell you? 

If you are in accounting and finance profession and you want to have higher probability to make more than RM25k basic salary a month, you may want to consider finance in an MNC. 

Having said that, your career choice largely depends on your own passion, interest, qualification and experience. 

 

Core discipline: Banking and Financial Services 

There are front office, middle and back office divisions in banking and financial services sector. 

The front office division further breaks down into global markets, investment banking, investment management, transaction banking, wholesale banking, digital banking. 

For middle and back office division, they are made up of operations, finance, insurance, internal audit, risk management, and compliance. 

According to annual salary survey 2020 conducted by Robert Walters, the top 6 highest-paying roles in banking and financial services profession with potential basic salary more than RM300k a year, exclusive of benefits and bonuses, are:

No	Role	Division	Basic Salary Per Annum
1	Private equity	Investment management	RM240-400k+
2	Fund manager	Investment management	RM216-400k+
3	Treasury sales	Global markets	RM192-360k+
4	Treasury trader	Global markets	RM192-360k+
5	Research analyst	Investment management	RM180-300k+
6	Debt / equity capital markets	Investment banking	RM192-300k+

You may have noticed that all top 6 highest-paying roles are from the front office division. None is from middle and back office division.

Therefore, if you are in banking and financial services sector; and if you want to make more money out of your career, you may want to consider front office roles if you have a passion for it.

 

Core discipline: Engineering

A person equipped with engineering profession has a far and wide career choices.

In a manufacturing environment, roles open to people with engineering background are virtually many: operations, quality, plant, project, HSE, production. maintenance, continuous improvement, facilities, R & D, and civil & infrastructure.

In vendor and end user environments across all industries, ranging from technology, construction, telecommunications, to housing development, engineers are highly sort after too.

According to annual salary survey 2020 conducted by Robert Walters, the top 5 highest-paying roles in engineering core discipline with potential basic salary more than RM300k a year, exclusive of benefits and bonuses, are:

No	Role	Basic Salary Per Annum
1	Operations director	RM240-480k+
2	General manager	RM240-420k+
3	Quality director	RM240-324k+
4	HSE (health, safety and environment) director	RM240-324k+
5	Plant manager	RM180 - 300k+

In any manufacturing companies, these 5 roles are the most critical senior positions. 

Even though it's not stated in the salary survey, but based on my personal working experiences with MNC Seagate in Penang and local public-listed company EP Manufacturing Berhad in Batang Kali Selangor, I believe there is a salary disparity between multi-national corporations, local public-listed companies, and small medium size enterprises. 

Generally speaking, those who work in MNCs earn far more than those who work in local public-listed companies or SMEs. The benefits and bonuses are far greater in MNCs. Additionally, an SME may not have such high-position role to start off with due to the company size and revenue turnover. 

Hence, if you are in engineering profession working in manufacturing environment, and you want to make more money from your engineering career, leadership skill and people management skills are mandatory in addition to your technical background. You need to be in senior management position in order to have one of the highest salaries. Being in MNC will be an added advantage too compared to being in SME for their known higher salary packages for the same role.

 

Core discipline: Human Resources

Human resources are all about people, which are the assets of any organisations. 

Human resources core discipline covers a wide range. They comprise of:

1. compensation & benefits
2. talent management
3. business partnership
4. organisation development
5. talent acquisition
6. HR information systems (HRIS)
7. learning & development
8. industrial relations / employee relations

You may think that human resources profession is only a supporting division and HR professionals may not earn so much. You will be surprised at the highly potential income that you can earn if you have a passion in human resources. 

According to annual salary survey 2020 conducted by Robert Walters, the top 5 roles in Human Resources core discipline with potential basic salary more than RM300k a year, exclusive of benefits and bonuses, are:

No	Role	Basic Salary Per Annum
1	HR director	RM330-750k+
2	Compensation & benefits	RM240-480k+
3	Talent management	RM240-480k+
4	HR business partner	RM240-300k+
5	Organization development	RM216-300k+

You should be aspired to be HR director in a large organisation if your interest is in human resources. 

Some large multi-national organisations even have Chief Human Resources Officer position, perhaps with even higher basic salary, better benefits and bonuses.

 

Core discipline: Sales and Marketing

Sales division is one of the most critical departments in any organisation. Within sales divisions, there are usually key account or strategic account team, telesales team, and channel sales team. They can be further broken down by product, by country, by territory, by region, by country. 

Sales division is mainly responsible for bringing in businesses for the entire organisation through revenue growth and market penetration. Without sales and revenue, a company will never survive and grow. This further shows how important sales division is in any organisation. 

As for marketing, this crucial core discipline helps sales and entire organisation on product strategies, positioning, pricing, promotions, packaging, and locations. 

Marketing divisions covers a wide range, from brand / product marketing, trade/channel marketing, digital marketing, marketing communications, corporate communications, to market research. 

Amongst all these divisions, I would like to give a special shout out to the ever increasing demand on digital marketing. With today's fast-changing world, online sales and marketing through multiple digital channels like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Tik Tok, etc are the major forces to be reckon with. 

In terms of team size, sales team can run into hundreds if not thousands of people in many organisations. However, marketing team is much smaller in size. 

According to annual salary survey 2020 conducted by Robert Walters, the top 6 highest-paying roles in Sales & Marketing profession with potential basic salary more than RM300k a year, exclusive benefits and bonuses, are:

No	Role	Division	Basic Salary Per Annum
1	Managing director	General management	RM360-960k+
2	Sales director	Sales	RM240-504k+
3	Country Manager / General Manager	General management	RM240-480k+
4	Marketing director	Marketing	RM240-480k+
5	Marketing manager	Marketing	RM120-360k+
6	National sales manager	Sales	RM84-300k+

Out of the top 6 highest-paying roles in sales and marketing, 4 of them are in sales, including managing director and country manager / general manager. 

In fact, many managing directors or country managers arm themselves with very strong sales background and track record. They know how to bring in businesses for the company. Perhaps that's one of the key reasons why managing director and country manager positions are usually held by leaders who are very familiar with sales. 

They are fully accountable for the company's profitability. 

They also know the overall operations inside out - from product, sales, marketing, business development, customer service, finance to human resources. 

Should one day you become a managing director in an organisation, you potentially can earn a basic salary as high as RM960k+ per annum. Additionally, you will enjoy company benefits, bonuses, and most likely profit sharing scheme too. The sky is the limit! 

Even a sales director and regional sales manager can make more than RM300k a year purely on basic salary alone. 

Unfortunately, many people are reluctant to become a salesperson. They find sales profession to be a job any tom dick and harry can do. They find that sales profession doesn't earn enough credibility in the corporate world. 

Why on earth would someone spend four years in university and end up being in sales? 

If you think sales is not a good profession, why would companies entrust the entire organisation's business into the hands of people with sales background? 

On a personal note, I made a career switch from engineering to sales back in 1994. Despite what others perceive of sales profession, as a degree holder from one of the most prestigious universities in the world, University of California at Berkeley, United States, I still went ahead with my career choice in sales. 

With God's grace, I’m full of gratitude that I managed to make a successful career out in sales. It wasn’t all rosy through. My sales career was full of obstacles and challenges. Yet, I persevered. 

I held various sales positions during my career. Those positions that I held before were sales consultant, pre-sales consultant, field sales manager, head of sales, country sales manager, country manager, and regional sales operations manager. My last job portfolio with jobstreet.com before early retirement was regional sales operations director. It was also a sales role.  

If you still have any misconceptions about sales profession, I hope this analysis helps to debunk some of the myths. 

If you enjoy meeting clients and winning deals, you should consider sales as your profession, or give it a chance. 

And if you are in marketing profession, do aim for the positions of marketing director or chief marketing officer for the highest pay potential. A strong experience in digital marketing and leadership will definitely help to put you up there on top of the career ladder faster.

 

Core discipline: Supply Chain, Procurement and Logistics

Supply chain, procurement and logistics are so important in today's world. It's an intricate profession dealing with procurement from suppliers, manufacturing of goods, delivery of products and services through multiple logistics to customers. 

Look at the effect of covid-19 pandemic. Once the supply chain in China broke down or disconnected with the rest of the world, companies were unable to produce and deliver any finished goods to consumers. 

Everything is interrelated from raw materials to finished goods. 

There are basically three main divisions: 

1. Procurement (regional, category)
2. Supply chain (supply chain, operations, demand/supply planning, production / material planning, customer service)
3. Logistics (distribution, logistics, warehouse / inventory, business development, air freight / sea freight.)

According to annual salary survey 2020 conducted by Robert Walters, the top 6 highest-paying roles in supply chain, procurement and logistics profession with potential basic salary more than RM300k+ a year, exclusive of benefits and bonuses, are:

No	Role	Division	Basic Salary Per Annum
1	Chief procurement officer	Procurement	RM360-600k+
2	Supply chain / operations director	Supply chain	RM360-600k+
3	Procurement director	Procurement	RM240-360k+
4	Air freight / sea freight director	Logistics	RM216-336k+
5	General Manager - Logistics / Transportation	Logistics	RM192-300k+
6	Regional procurement manager	Procurement	RM180-300k

As you can see, all three divisions have huge income potential. However, procurement and supply chain have the most potential to make the highest basic salary, as high as RM600k a year and above. 

And I believe you can only do that if you join a multi-national corporation with a large supply chain spanning different countries across the globe.

With my 6 years of hands-on working experience in the supply chain management of automotive products when I was a senior project manager at EP Manufacturing Berhad, I realised that my supply chain exposure was rather limited.

Unlike my friend who used to work for Flextronics, a multi-national corporation with a large supply chain spanning many countries across the globe, her exposure was much more in-depth compared to mine. Hence, I wouldn’t be surprised that her take home pay was much higher than mine for the same job role and responsibility. 

Whether you will stablish your career in an MNC or local company, it depends entirely on your qualification and working experience. Wherever you are, make the best of your career. 

 

Core discipline: Technology and Transformation

Our daily life can never run away from technology and transformation. 

Technology has become an integral part of our lifestyle. From mobile phone, online purchases, digital wallet, paperless work desk, to streaming Netflix, we heavily rely on technology as consumers. 

If you are into computer gaming, it's also part of technology. 

How about movie and entertainment industry? These industries won't survive without the latest technology. 

In fact, some of the largest companies in the world today are all about technology: Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon, and Alibaba just to name a few. I believe this is a sunrise profession, with ever increasing demand in future. 

In terms of team size, technology & transformation division in a product company can probably have the largest workforce after the sales team. That shows that there are many positions and job demands are out there in technology and transformation profession.

Basically, technology and transformation core discipline can be broken down into nine (9) categories. 

Besides management team (chief technology officer and IT director), there is the digital department dealing with digital transformation and product management. 

There is also projects and delivery department dealing with program management, project management, change management, scrum facilitation, service delivery and IT business analysis. 

For large organisations with ERP, there is the ERP department. 

Business intelligence and data analytics also have their own department focusing on business intelligence consulting, data analysis and data science. 

Software development division includes solution architect, software development, application support, testing, UI/UX design, and quality assurance. 

As for IT governance and information / cyber security division, some of the roles are security, governance, IT audit and IT risk management. 

A department called IT infrastructure supports the backbone IT infrastructure of any organisation providing infrastructure support through service desk, system administration, database administration, network administration, cloud engineering, and infrastructure architecture. 

Within technology and transformation core discipline, there is also IT sales department. But I personally feel that this IT sales department can be grouped under sales & marketing core discipline as well. 

According to annual salary survey 2020 conducted by Robert Walters, the top 15 highest-paying roles in tech and transformation profession with potential basic salary more than RM300k+ a year, exclusive of benefits and bonuses, are:

No	Role	Division	Basic Salary Per Annum
1	Chief digital officer	Digital	RM360-720k+
2	Chief technology officer	Management	RM390- 660k+
3	Chief information security officer	IT governance & information / cyber security	RM360-540k+
4	ERP director	ERP	RM360-480k+
5	IT director	Management	RM294-450k+
6	Sales director	Sales	RM300-444k+
7	Project director	Projects and delivery	RM246-372k+
8	Project manager	Projects and delivery	RM216-360k+
9	Infrastructure architect	IT infrastructure	RM180-336k+
10	Solution architect	Software development	RM180-336k+
11	Development manager	Software development	RM156-312k+
12	Business information security officer	IT governance & information / cyber security	RM216-300k+
13	Digital transformation manager	Digital	RM204-300k+
14	Change manager	Projects and delivery	RM180-300k+
15	Service delivery manager	Projects and delivery	RM144-300k+

Out of all the 7 core disciplines, technology and transformation profession has the most roles making more than RM300k a year in basic salary. 

In fact, there are 15 roles (chief digital officer, chief technology officer, Chief Information security officer, etc) in total. This is more than double compared to 7 roles in account and finance. 

The remaining 5 core disciplines have about 6 roles each with basic salary more than RM300k a year.

With ever increasing job demand and the highest number of roles making more than RM300k a year in basic salary, information and transformation core discipline seems to be a very wise career choice for those who have the passion in it.

 

Make the best out of your career choices

After I have shared with you the above, can you now imagine the possibility of making more income from your career? 

Don’t settle for holding on to your entry-level position until you are 55. 

Strive for a higher role with higher potential income.

Again, I would like to stress that money isn't everything. 

You should listen to your inner voice, assess your own interest and strengths before you make any career choices. 

Since this book's focus is to help you achieve your financial independence through a nine-to-five job the soonest possible, I feel that it's crucial for you to gain some insights on potential earnings in various core disciplines in corporate world. 

The wonderful news is: 

Yes! You can still achieve your financial independence, even in a nine-to-five job. 

SECTION 2

 

INVEST IN YOURSELF AND YOUR CAREER 

 

“The best investment you can make, is an investment in yourself…

The more you learn, the more you’ll earn” 

Warren Buffet

 

F I L L

Financial Independence, Live Life 

 

achieving financial independence from 9-to-5 job before 50

Book manuscript written in 2020 & blog articles published in 2021 by Vincent Khor

Photo by Lukas from Pexels