Know Your Exact Market Value So No Employer Can Underpay You

Ma Hnin Si works as an admin assistant at a trading company near Bayint Naung wholesale market in Yangon. When she was offered a new position at a logistics company in Hlaing Tharyar industrial zone, the HR manager asked her expected salary. Ma Hnin Si froze. She had no idea what admin assistants with three years of experience actually earn in logistics. She panicked and said 350,000 kyats because that was what she currently made. She got the job. Three months later, she discovered during a tea break conversation that her colleague — hired the same month, same role, less experience — negotiated 450,000 kyats. That is 100,000 kyats per month Ma Hnin Si lost. Over one year, that is 1,200,000 kyats. Not because she lacked skill. Not because the company refused to pay more. Because she walked into a negotiation without knowing the one number that matters most: what the market actually pays for her work.