To think that there are no well paid family friendly careers?

'My DH earns £250,000. If I were to get a £30,000 per year job, I’d be taking home less than £2k but we’d probably have to get a nanny and it just doesn’t stack up. We don’t need the extra money enough to make it worthwhile.'

Remember OP childcare is covered by both of your salaries - I hate this fallacy that the woman's salary alone has to cover childcare or not be 'worth it'!

Agree with developing your PR experience locally in an area that interests you. Or remotely.

Also you just need good childcare - lots of families have 2 parents in full-on careers. if money isn't an issue, can you get a nanny?

It also sounds like you're operating under assumptions (from DH or you or both) that you need to do something high paying for it to be 'worth it'. Your self-esteem, independence and wellbeing all make it 'worth it' alone!

What do YOU want to do? You have the freedom to make that choice, that's a lovely position to be in.

Same local charities are often looking for pr some may volunteer which will give a in to l the local world .

Don't write off PR and don't assume what's local is boring or beneath you (they will sense it and you wont' get the job despite your experience!). Find something you can be passionate about and PR that. There's PR for everything, right?

I saw this today and thought of your thread, I thought PR might be a good background for this
https://uk.indeed.com/pagead/clk/dl?from=jobi2a_multijob-en-GB_email&jrtk=5-cmh1-1-1joethdnmpf4s805-5bc3baab69f2febe&mo=r&ad=-6NYlbfkN0DFW5kd_ngs1lpicTAjjgRFiuiHc8s-NhDbaxv_GW5BODNEt-_j4NIV-80y9h3Xr-On9QwKDCrITH9tqQD5DYSa4dNh8zlykD26il6wppyg69DOVAVwNt_etwKLkhOK9ut-auF-H5KHRciKuaGjn-czaEi9LOxRF7_6Q4HKDsKRLPfXYZNUbzMl-LyofgbKm_EweI-kpuGDTAFtbTu8CM4rvk9GsnxIewyHUY-jSV86sSSsZ_hAspwze8N-ZzSSMK_nI_jtdV-rhVMIb2hwOY1LHRkciao2j8SRcOQvljpeILOBwI48a9IuLGc4PVFrUvpMt9mxupzpwO1l5Dfl9AA4M5GW2vyncggO5vvvI3ec_6FkNScutAtohWen4_ToHTAdEoZ2IXo9yxzV5qulq1651zFk1kbHB7rdgFgQin6u4F3myHiuaKhldyjNYv_8KSZNo6jAaz2V4gvfnENNOLbJHHPyX4LNQ668juc9Nh3wt7oHp9PElJoddoinu5AQG_tJOWipUnfsFjAG-5jj0CvZ7tI91Xp4KqsTRq8HmqCEh-G3daKIJeuDThvtWd1sXeKc8J_5q8OXUyU6Ali7Jdqm-RWgtK_9DsIUL0KwNdcQOAnOXmJrOaKfWwtwxWsQIEnrw4YPUuXikoWCDxY51Imm-I2yNU0Z1-jJc0eQAF1L0ARIve_0sMs8rHJmRz3jo3G3n8ZtEO0ODwhbOih2r85QmD53h69TvHa6YlYjtnlHU4BzBebpD0gcB99ggfoWmJM%3D&rm=2&xkcb=SoCX6_M3jOzKFmectZ0IbzkdCdPP&jsa=3110&camk=C3EPSzFlQw-D-upBTtxAaQ%3D%3D

It is daft to bin off your PR experience!
And what do you mean “all PR is in London”?

There are loads of related jobs - for instance Newcastle Building society are offering a job as “Press Officer and Media Manager” for £50-72k for 35 hours a week of which 3 can be remote working, happy to talk flexibility, you can buy extra holiday etc etc.

I don’t understand why you’d think you can be more successful in a career you know nothing about . You want to bag a very healthy salary (300 miles from London, £50k goes a lot further) whilst wanting the job to not be “dull” and expecting it to flex around family life.

I think you should stick to what you know’

eg stick to jobs like Brand Manager or Social Media Strategy Manager or Corporate Communications Manager you’ll likely do much better because you bring recant experience.

or start your own brand management agency, but then don’t expect to be rich at first.

I put myself through 15 years of hard work to get to a place in my very full career where I can do 30 hours a week and still earn £60k in the south east. My job is very tiresome and stressful and requires a lot of know-how. But i knew it would be okay for family life so i stuck at it.

I don’t think there’s the same pressure to work like a lunatic in a lot of provincial towns and cities so you may find a FT job isn’t consuming 65 hours a week

I don't understand why your discounting local PR opportunities as too dull. A lot of the jobs here sound pretty dull to me too! If you think PR outside of London is dull, would you really find being an IFA or accountant any more interesting?

Also, your DHs salary means you can do whatever job you like, whatever the salary, unless he views it as his money not family money. Childcare should be paid from the family pot, not your salary alone. You are never going to get to £50k if you refuse to spend any money on childcare.

PR is a very transferable skill and can be done from anywhere in the digital age. I think you are missing the opportunities in your own skill set. I do something PR-adjacent and work from all over the world. Indeed my clients are global. Even if you were relatively junior there are gigs doing things like newsletters and content marketing. I pay freelancers around £400 a day to do those things, although they do have some specific sector knowledge (tech in my case).

True but at that income hopefully there would be savings and a good pension

The six years is the bit after the Medicine degree 😂

5 years PQE, commercial litigation

So it might be helpful to add how many years post-qual you are and in what sector.

Very risky strategy. You never know when he might lose his job, run off or leave this mortal coil.

No, but OP isn’t looking for my salary, she’s looking for £50k+ which is very achievable as an NQ salary, with great earning potential as she progresses.

That’s not your newly qualified salary though, is it?

I think even with a conversion course/masters you'll be highly unlikely to grab a 50k/Yr flexible first job. You're most likely still going to land a job that's ranging between 30-40k with flexibility or one that has a higher salary but with much harsher work conditions.

I don't really get the logic of spending 10k+ on a masters that may or may not transition into a viable career vs potentially working at a very small net profit for a couple years building up your cv to eventually get to a 50k+ post in a few years time.

Regardless of what choice you make, your career progression is likely to be constrained unless you put in the effort in the early years and work up a good cv with lots of relevant work experience.

I think the bit I find a bit jarring is that at 250k from your husband's earnings, you actually have more flexibility to work up a top notch cv than the majority of people can - you have the financial backing to take on lower paid starter roles/internships or even start up your own business. You have the financial flexibility to take on a role that you enjoy and find meaningful, and to drop it if you no longer like that job. I feel like the 50k salary limit is setting up needless constraints that will likely impede your likelihood of actually taking on a job you enjoy.

I wouldn’t write off law. I earn £89,500pa in Scotland for 4 days a week stretched over 5, so I finish early enough every day to do the school run. I occasionally have to log back on in the evening but it’s rare. I work 50% in the office and 50% from home.

If I had a husband earning £250,000 I’d 100% pack up work and NEVER go back!🤣

Psychotherapy is rarely offered by the NHS, so they rarely have jobs available to offer it. In theory people tend to set up their own private practice early on for that reason, but you have to consider that a) very few people who would want psychotherapy have the money to spend on psychotherapy and b) many more people are turning to AI chatbots as an alternative. I know quite a few people who studied it but none who have made it into a career recently, I know a few who are older and more established who have practices but it's very much a part time thing around other work, and they have to offer evenings/weekends as the client group who can afford their services tend to expect convenience/to fit around their own working hours.

Clinical psychology is an established NHS role and has a much broader application. As has been mentioned though the training posts are extremely limited. Many people who start that route, ie by doing psychology degrees/conversion courses have to eventually switch into an alternative career if they can't get access to the doctorate. I know you said you have good grades but you have to appreciate that there are others who have the same grades but are 21 with no major responsibilities, the willingness to work 60 hours a week and the flexibility to move across the country for the right post.

I have worked 45 years as a speech and language therapist. It is an extremely rewarding career - I have no regrets. The hours were no more family friendly than any other 9 to 5 type job. When you are dealing with people who have appointments you cannot suddenly cancel when your child sneezes and you need to pick them up from daycare. I coped with the children because DH was a teacher - and taught in the same building as they attended. MIL also came in useful.

My children now have tiny children. One is a lawyer and one is an accountant. The accountant chose that career after doing her Masters. It was great that you can choose the pace of your learning. She did it in 3 years because she was single. I think you need to have a contract while taking exams.

The lawyer had a brutal early career progression. Working long hours so less than minimum wage if you divide the salary by the number of hours worked. She now takes home six figures but could not do it without help from both grannies- even the one that lives 1000 km away.

Both of them know that they need family around to cope with sickness, inservice days and holidays.

OP given your DH take home salary it is like that you are going to be the one to have to drop responsibilities when the children are off school. That can be hard with young families. I would have thought that there would be roles out there that may not be bringing in mega bucks but still using your skills. I’m thinking of things like working in PR for a charity.

Clinical psychology is roughly about 7-8 years minimum. You need degree and doctorate and most people do a masters and have work experience in between. It’s competitive. You don’t have to work with NHS after but it’s strongly advised to build your skills within a team and supervision. Also I would never recommend someone who was offering private input without a decent CV so it might not be as easy to get patients as you think. Also most patients want evening slots so unless you have great reputation, middle of school day slots may not be taken up - I only offer school time slots and take off holidays but I’ve build a solid rep and have a lengthy waitlist.

With that level of income (how secure is it?) your DH should be supporting you to undertake any role you like regardless of whether it covers the cost of childcare or not (which is a very sexist notion).

The economy is shrinking. A forecast of 160k fewer jobs over the next 12 months. You're highly unlikely to walk into a £50k job as a newly qualified anything in 5 years time (when you’ll be even longer out of the workforce) but a £30k role can lead to a £35k role which can lead to a £40k role etc. The longer you are out of the game the harder it will be to hit that £30k role.

I’ve done lots of different roles in my time but Psychotherapist and IFA are worlds apart in terms of skill set and opportunity, so it feels like you don’t actually know what you do and don’t enjoy doing (and IFA is a lot more complex than managing the household budget. You need an in-depth understanding of pensions and insurances and tax and fraud legislation). Psychotherapy is really emotionally draining, it requires a lot of resilience and you have to undergo therapy yourself as part of the training. Many NHS roles are now temp funded by charities so there isn’t secure employment. It probably takes about 10 years to become established securely as a private therapist. Lots are having to use agents like Better Help to get work as people can’t easily afford £100 an hour - my friend used it alongside other routes and was getting something like £35 an hour through BH.

The world could be very very different in 5 years time. If Reform come into power <shudder> they are proposing to outlaw WFH. Most companies want attendance of 40-60% now for new staff so your 1 day a week is unlikely to work.

I so wish I’d studied speech therapy rather than the course I actually did do .
speech therapy is very flexible and family friendly.