Sei Shain, salary?

[TFG]

It seems I may at last, actually 570 resumes later, have gotten a job.
Phew.......Thought it would never happen at my age and felt the charcoal burner quickly approaching.

The job is working for a company that builds kids indoor play parks and they have offered me the position of manager of the foreign staff.
It is probably going to be 6 days per week, Sat and Sunday and but it is my field of work and I am sure I will take to it well.
The only thing is, they offered me the job without even doing an interview, this is probably because they are opening a new location very soon and are pushed for time, but also the person in charge is a foreigner and extremely laid back, I mean EXTREMELY.
They seem real keen on having me do this job but, when I asked about the renumeration they asked me to tell them how much I want saying, "They really want me to take this position and don't want to risk me turning it down by not offering me enough money".

As I have never actually had a Sei Shain job I am wondering what kind of figure I should ask for considering this is probably going to be a lot of hours and will be a managerial type position.

Any ideas on a figure would be greatly appreciated.

[GomiGirl]

Congrats on the job.

Not sure on what you should ask for but if it is a private company, don't try to be too greedy. Just figure out what sort of money you need, add a bit and then add a premium for age and responsibilty.

Just to give you an idea - the highest salary that I have ever paid is ¥1,500,000 per month. The lowest salary I have paid is ¥200,000 per month. So somewhere in there would be good.

But anything is more that what you are earning now right??

Get a contract!!!

[FG Lurker]

I don't think it is possible to give a good answer with the information provided.

What exactly will you be responsible for? (Sales? If sales, then what sorts of volumes? After-sales work? How many people will you be managing? Etc etc.)

Is Japanese required for the job? Are special skills/qualifications required that are reasonably scarce?

From what you said it seems as though they really want *you* for this job. Why is that? What skillset do you offer them that can't be found elsewhere?

All of these things (and others) will combine together to determine your salary. On the low end it could be as low as 4 million... On the high end it could be 10 million, even as high as 20 million for someone in a large company with a considerable amount of responsibility & an expat package. If you can give a few more details about the job you will likely get better answers.

[oyajikun]

As FG Lurker said, we don't have enough info about the job, but starting salary for Manager? In Tokyo I would expect at least ¥600,000 per month. Shoot for ¥800,000 and see what reaction you get.

Good luck!

[TFG]

Thanks for the advice people.

Yes, I am fully aware that there is not enough information to form a decision on and this is the problem.
I suspect this company is expanding really fast, they have over 50 locations in Japan and the opening date is very close by for this new location.

They are just being so vague about everything but I will mail them asking them to outline the work responsibilities, benefits and conditions.
All I know right now is that my job will be to create some English activities for the kids to do for 15 mins every half hour or so and that there will be some more foreign staff who they want me to be in charge of and that they want me to liaison with the parents in Japanese.

There again the chap did say they are also looking for a Japanese manager to staff the place and if I was interested I could do that job.

I am going to have to nail them down a bit more before I can make a decision as to the salary but, I was thinking of shooting for at least Yen 300,000 take home pay, until I can get a better handle on all this.
This all came down unexpectedly last night over the phone so things are still up in the air right now apart from having been offered the position.

This is a little strange way of doing things isn't it and also puts me on the spot as I am going to have to drop the little work I have currently very suddenly even though the kids have all just bought new textbooks.

This also is not my fault as I applied for this job over a month ago and was waiting for them to setup an interview.

Phew.....This is all so sudden but in my situation I have to go with the flow of things.

Thanks again people.

[kurohinge1]

[Behan]

Congratulations TFG! Can you(we?) remove the the 'T' from your name and make you just 'FG'? Too early to say yet?

Seriously, congratulations! Good for you!

By the way, I've been looking to get out of the eigo industry for about 14 years, need any workers there...

[FG Lurker]

I am going to have to nail them down a bit more before I can make a decision as to the salary but, I was thinking of shooting for at least Yen 300,000 take home pay, until I can get a better handle on all this.

I think you are underpricing yourself for any management position at 300,000 / month.

400,000 / month is really the lowest you should consider for a management position that carries responsibility. Depending on how much responsibility it should go up from there. (I did say starting as low as 4mil, but that would be a very very low salary for a manager, really.)

You'll want to find out what sorts of benefits they might offer as well as if they have a bonus structure in place.

So many things to consider. Good luck with it all, I hope you get a decent wage out of it in the end.

[TFG]

Thanks for all the advice, duly noted.

If it pans out and they need any people, I will of course keep all informed.

[Behan]

There was no self interest in my congrats meant at all...

[TFG]

There was no self interest in my congrats meant at all...

None taken.

[kamome]

Don't just offer a straight salary figure. You need to try to add in a provision that guarantees some kind of COLA (cost of living adjustment) each year at a fixed percentage or some other kind of guaranteed raise each year so that you are not stuck in the same salary for the rest of your life.

If they don't want to meet your salary figure (or if you just think you can get away with it), see if they can further accommodate you by providing benefits such as airfare home once or twice a year, reimbursement for the cost of doing your taxes (that is, if they don't withhold for you already as they should under law), making your rent a non-taxable benefit provided by your employer, etc. If you're an American, see if they will make you whole for US taxes that you will become liable for while working in Japan.

There's a ton of things to bargain for, not just your salary.

[TFG]

Good advice..Thanks

I have mailed them asking for concrete details of contract type, work days, breaks, paid vacations, bonuses, benefits, term and type of contract and job title.

Strange to have to do this but for some reason they are not very together.
It may work in my favor actually. I hope, touch wood.

[AssKissinger]

the highest salary that I have ever paid is \1,500,000 per month.

Goddamn. How much do you make?

[Mulboyne]

Goddamn. How much do you make?

GomiGirl can speak for herself - she may be as rich as Croesus for all I know - but I wouldn't assume that a business owner paying a high salary is earning as much or more than that. The business owner is trying to grow the value of the company which usually means leaving money in the business, not taking it out as a salary yourself. In the early stages, there's often negative cashflow so it's not uncommon for an owner to pay himself only a nominal amount. Owners can convert their company asset into cash by selling a stake.

I looked at a company last year which was hoping to sell a strategic stake. There was a salesman on the books earning 2 million yen a month with no extra benefits and two other specialist staff on 1.2 million with housing, commuting and other benefits. The business was growing but they had serious negative cashflow. The owner was paying himself nothing and had just given up his apartment and had started sleeping in the office. Hence his need to find some other finance.

[GomiGirl]

GomiGirl can speak for herself - she may be as rich as Croesus for all I know - but I wouldn't assume that a business owner paying a high salary is earning as much or more than that. The business owner is trying to grow the value of the company which usually means leaving money in the business, not taking it out as a salary yourself. In the early stages, there's often negative cashflow so it's not uncommon for an owner to pay himself only a nominal amount. Owners can convert their company asset into cash by selling a stake.

ding ding ding - we have a winner.

I get paid at the end of the month after all the other bills are paid and the staff are paid and the rent is paid and the taxes are paid and the electricity is paid etc etc. The guy that was on the huge salary was an outsourcing project and he was on a contract for a very limited time for a very specific project. He was a true expert in his field and had a PhD in electrical engineering and that was the going rate in the market. Fortunately my client paid for him as they were getting the benefit from his work so I was on a zero sum game with him but his project earned the company good money overall. If that makes sense.

There was a time where I didn't draw a salary for a long time - this is fairly common from time to time with small business owners. However, this has been made up in shares rather than get the back salary. So it does all work out in the end and in my favour. It is just hard to deal with when you are going through it. It is the risk you take when you work for yourself.

I take home a "normal salary". It is not the highest or the lowest in the company but it is what we can afford and still grow the business and still gives me a decent living wage. We are growing as I have just added two new staff to the team and need to add more soon.

[amdg]

There was a salesman on the books earning 2 million yen a month with no extra benefits

At least 50% of that 2 million per month was sales commission wasn't it?

[kamome]

Strange to have to do this but for some reason they are not very together.
It may work in my favor actually. I hope, touch wood.

This should be a huge red flag for you. Think about it - they're not together on basic details about hiring, they are desparate to fill a position and seem to be very laid back about things that they should be taking seriously. If they're this disorganized during the hiring process, it sounds like they are going to be a dysfunctional organization to work for. They might even have cash flow problems.

Definitely do your homework on these people. I don't know anything about this company beyond what you said in this thread, but I'm getting a bad vibe.

[AssKissinger]

k

He doesn't have anything to lose man

[kamome]

k

He doesn't have anything to lose man

Perhaps not - I'm just pointing out what seems to be a red flag and telling him to be wary because this outfit could screw him over. You can never be too cautious.

[TFG]

Ok...It worked out and I got the job, Signed and sealed.

I also found out why they were so not together, they were working their butts off because the company has expanded so much and demand for their stuff has gone through the roof.
The deal is, 450,000 Yen twice yearly bonus of not less than 2.5 months guaranteed in the contract but the bonus is usually like 3 months or even more over the past several years.
They put me in a nice duel core machine in the office with a fiber connection.

Looks good.......And eh..for some reason chicks are hitting on me left, right & center since this job came up! Guess, I can put the charcoal burner away but remember it always to remind me to keep this job and indeed do a good job for them.


Jah......Has been looking out for me. For sure....

[Greji]

Ok...It worked out and I got the job, Signed and sealed.

Congrats! Whether or not they tell you, you will have an evaluation which will last from six weeks, to maybe as long as six months. This is normal. They can sneakly force you out at anytime during that period if they feel that you are not what they want. This probation period is fairly standard and in some cases, routine.

Also, if you are the only gaijin, don't touch the furniture. Obviously, beaver is available in Japan and the gainjin haters will use any fratranizing with the OLs as a reason to dump you, for such things as "ruining the work" enviornment, etc.

However, if you are not the only gaijin, then you can stuff all the local beaver you want and blame it on the other gaijins!

Good luck. Sounds like a pretty good deal for you.

[kamome]

Has anyone else experienced the phenomenon of getting hit on by local J-beaver when newly hired, which then wears off by around the 6 month mark? That happened to me on two different jobs.

[TFG]

Thanks people...
Yeah, I am on a 3 month probationary period and am actually only doing 4 days per week for that time.

I am not only the only FG in that place but the only guy in the place also.
It's funny you should mention this though as after the interview, the boss tells me this, "I will make sure all the 10 female staff are single and cute for you, so that you really want to stick with out company'...I thanked him but nearly fell off my chair. I will be like the fox and not steal chickens from the place I abode in, but go farther afield for them...

That is interesting.....So, others have been hit on all over the place after getting a new job? Must be the mind set they pick up on.

[FG Lurker]

Congrats on the job, sounds like things have worked out.

Regarding getting hit on, only one bit of advice: Don't shit where you eat.

[TFG]

Thanks FGL.
I was lucky indeed.

Yeah, I mentioned that in the post above yours & the hits going on right now have nothing to do with the job.