If you're on the 'mumsnet six figures' salary what do you do and what geographical region is the role in?

[flashbac]

I'd love to earn six figures and keen to look into how I could make this happen if possible.

@Crankley

I'm assuming this is just wishful thinking from the OP. How is anyone able to give useful advice without knowing her education, training and experience?

Yeah. Probably. I don't have a degree but I'm good with people and quick to learn. Work in HR. I dare to dream!

It's entirely possible to earn 100k plus in HR providing you're senior enough and probably in a large organisation. The important thing is to have a career progression plan and a line manager/ employer that is genuinely invested in progression and encourage you to apply for internal promotions. You could also potentially look into getting a degree on a part time basis, as that may become a roadblock at some stage (although I personally think "graduate only" screens are BS) -one of the most successful sales guys when I was still in asset management started out as a doorman at the Dorchester - I know that's a super rare career trajectory but my point is, no-one should be discounted because they don't have a degree.

I worked in HR but got into HR tech by implementing a new system. Then moved into IT sales selling HR systems. £110 basic and double that if I hit my target (£2m of sales) plus very generous perks.
Work hours vary, in normal times there's lots of travelling and work load differs day to day. Can be very stressful as a result of company pressure to close business.
Most top companies expect at least 15 years experience in sales.

I had four years off when I had kids but as it's a niche job I got offered another straight away when i decided to return.

Basically it'll mostly be:
Finance sector
Lawyer. Preferably partner in law firm if you want mega bucks.
IT senior role
Any head of department in a decent sized company

Although I know a plumber in London raking it it on 6 figures, with a small team working to them, doing several bathroom refits at once etc

@flashbac I'm in HR, second career, no degree but my employer sponsored my CIPD albeit more than a decade ago now.

My advice would be to get to grips with the data because so much hangs on that. An innate reading of risk and potential consequences helps too. And dare I say, a few grey hairs (metaphorically speaking) are no disadvantage in HR. I've seen so many bullshitters in HR but they pop and fade.

There's a lot of shit shovelling and despite what people think you need a lot of resilience in HR.

I spend 30% on unions, 30% on interpretation of data and summary reports, 20% dealing with the organisation's most difficult people either heading off or dealing with complex casework, 10% running my department of 22 and about 10% catching plates. That's the 35 hours of actual work I do, notwithstanding the 25-30 hours on zoom or teams. So a bit more than the 55 I wrote up thread.

I could not have reached this level before the DC went to university and when I had greater responsibilities at home. Realistically I reached six figures on a promotion only a couple of years ago having started again in 2003 when dd started school. I haven't got more than two years left in me at this pace, particularly post covid and post 60.

When I look at my team op, I anticipate I have one Business Partner and one Officer who will go all the way. They are both very bright, not necessarily academically so, can read a room or situation and are quick on their feet if a meeting/hearing hots up, both very hard working and deliver on time and tell me about any errors or issues. They are also exceptional line managers and excellent with a spreadsheet.

@Jooox

The in-house lawyers - what practice area please?

Commercial

The in-house lawyers - what practice area please

Commercial/ IP. I’m GC for a media group.

Project finance - shipping and aviation

Creative agency owner and director.. it's been a long journey to get to being able to pull over 100k out of the business and could change in a flash.

Meant to say south east but global clients

Financial technology leader, London based work but live in Midlands

[quote RosesAndHellebores]@flashbac I'm in HR, second career, no degree but my employer sponsored my CIPD albeit more than a decade ago now.

My advice would be to get to grips with the data because so much hangs on that. An innate reading of risk and potential consequences helps too. And dare I say, a few grey hairs (metaphorically speaking) are no disadvantage in HR. I've seen so many bullshitters in HR but they pop and fade.

There's a lot of shit shovelling and despite what people think you need a lot of resilience in HR.

I spend 30% on unions, 30% on interpretation of data and summary reports, 20% dealing with the organisation's most difficult people either heading off or dealing with complex casework, 10% running my department of 22 and about 10% catching plates. That's the 35 hours of actual work I do, notwithstanding the 25-30 hours on zoom or teams. So a bit more than the 55 I wrote up thread.

I could not have reached this level before the DC went to university and when I had greater responsibilities at home. Realistically I reached six figures on a promotion only a couple of years ago having started again in 2003 when dd started school. I haven't got more than two years left in me at this pace, particularly post covid and post 60.

When I look at my team op, I anticipate I have one Business Partner and one Officer who will go all the way. They are both very bright, not necessarily academically so, can read a room or situation and are quick on their feet if a meeting/hearing hots up, both very hard working and deliver on time and tell me about any errors or issues. They are also exceptional line managers and excellent with a spreadsheet.[/quote]
The last paragraph has elements that correlate with the type of feedback I get.
Do you work for the private sector?

Quasi public sector.

Got no chance of earning a 6 figure salary as I’m a TA but DH does. He is an aviation insurance expert for a small independent company. Worked his way up from nothing, didn’t go to university.

Not quite six figures. But grades above me are and more. I have chosen not to go further for my family. I am part time.

But it would be v achievable. In house law; financial services

If I had my time again I would become an accountant

@ChazsBrilliantAttitude

OP you need to give us some idea of what you want to do and what your current skill set is. I work in the City and have done so for all my career. I earn what I do because I am well qualified with shedloads of experience. People pay me well because they can chuck a complex situation at me and I can sort it out. I suspect the same is true for many of the people on this thread. We are paid for our insight, our ability to cope under pressure, our experience and the courage and clarity to make complex decisions. What are you an expert in (or would like to be an expert in)? How resilient are you? How do you cope under pressure? Can you see both sides of an argument and weigh up the right course of action quickly? Can you persuade others if needed? Can you make difficult decisions and handle the consequences?

Most of the above will apply to the academic, medical, business and legal roles people have posted about.

This is spot on.

I run the European practice in a specialist area of tech for a "Big". It took years of hard work and managing the double shift but its always been a high paying sector. My income reflects that extensive experience, level of responsibility and the fact that clients return to my specialists repeatedly.

When I first moved to the private sector (before DC) my area was entirely male and white dominated - frankly that caused more challenges than some of the practical issues around wrangling DC and help and work.

I ran my own business for a few years when the DC were small (I was able to negotiate my own T&C for services, I often worked from home, late hours after DC slept and before they rose etc).

I returned to corporate, probably would have made this level a bit earlier if I'd stayed on the ladder continuously but the experience made me more effective overall.

Having DC doesn't stop you building a career of this type. You may need to follow a different timeline to the typical male, uninterrupted ascent but you can end up more rounded and with broader experience as a result. These days I know plenty of women who have changed careers or taken breaks and returned but who still achieve high level.
I would say having a supportive partner helps (or at least one who doesn't actively get in the way or expect you to be the "default mother").

@ihearttc

Got no chance of earning a 6 figure salary as I’m a TA but DH does. He is an aviation insurance expert for a small independent company. Worked his way up from nothing, didn’t go to university.

What compromises did he make when planning his pregnancies, maternity leave, all the other child responsibilities? Or was his career plan based on the assumption that you would do most of this for him?

Surely what the OP and other women looking to build better paid careers are looking for here. How women do this, how they managed it with families etc. Rather than what various DHs have achieved whilst the wives put their own careers second to support a DH.

Financial advisor, Bucks

High 5 figures - writer. Some in my own name and some ghost written. I also supplement with magazine writing, the occasional technical piece and I teach on the side. I have fitted most of this in around my husband's extremely inflexible military career and also around bringing up our DS. I mostly work from home and my career is easily portable. I had tax issues last time we went overseas and I was low earning for those 3 years. I have built it up again but my earning capacity has definitely been compromised by my husband's career.

@C8H10N4O2

Apologies in my less than degree educated state I obviously misinterpreted the thread title, I assumed the OP was looking for examples of jobs which earned 6 figures. I didn’t think it was specifically looking for women who earned that much.
His boss is a woman though so clearly earns more than him…she also built up the company from nothing pretty much the same as DH did.

Qualified as an accountant first. Then 25 years of solid graft, long hours, political turmoil, hideous stress, climbing the ladder step by painstaking step, taking risks.

Not seeing my kids beyond 6 months of age, having no social life for 20 of those years, very few real friends. Hanging onto sanity and marriage by a thread at times.

Director of large public service organisations. If you are prepared to accept that they own you every minute of your waking and sleeping day, then you can earn a six figure salary after a 25 year solid career.

You’re discussing your DH’s salary not your own. Pretty pointless to be fair @ihearttc . As it has happens my own DH is on 6 figures but that’s not what the thread’s about.

I don't have all the answers but what worked for me (retrospectively) was:

Move to a large company that can and will be ok with absorbing mat leaves late twenties - started on 50K

Get established for a couple of years, promoted to 65K.

Have kids in thirties, put up with being treated like shit at said large company (US investment bank) and put on mummy track for 10 years with no further pay rises or promotions. Grit teeth as useless and/or lazy men promoted above you. take all the shit unglamorous roles and projects that the men don't want (because not sexy at the time, so no vendors lunches, golf days etc) but that you can see could have strategic value in the future (in my case this was cloud computing projects). make sure the father is pulling his weight so that one does childcare drops offs and one does pickups so both can do the presenteeism that was so prevalent then - one early starts, one staying late. Be mega organised with children's uniform, homework etc - I was often called anal and OCD but, you have to be. Grit teeth for 10 years with little career progression but quietly doing certifications, qualifications etc in the background and doing reasonable hours to spend lots of time with the young children.

At the decade mark as enter forties, fuck off and be self employed for 5 years, doubling income overnight (IT contractor) but still pretty 9-5 with junior school aged kids, able to take (unpaid) time to attend nativity plays, sports days etc.

Mid forties with plenty of consulting experience at other organisations under belt, join a tech company with a much more modern out look that values diversity and actively wants technical women in the workforce (positive discrimination, maybe, but, hell, I deserve it after that decade at the investment bank, trust me). Starting salary 100K to attract the experienced IT people they want. Kids now at or approaching secondary age, don't need my time as much in the evenings, senior IT roles are normally all or part WFH anyway. Pedal to the metal to maximise earnings as head into fifties.

I do see it getting easier for younger women I have to say - companies are way less sexistvthat they used to be - tech companies anyway.

@SmallThingsEverywhere

Yes as I have already said, I clearly didn’t read the thread title properly. I assumed (wrongly) that it was any 6 figure salary because in the area where we live that’s quite rare. Clearly not the case on Mumsnet.

I’ve already been told once, don’t need to be told again and again. Feel shit enough as it is that I cannot possibly ever earn enough to partake in threads like this, so telling me it’s pretty pointless is also rather shit.

I think it’s a bit harsh to complain about posters referencing DH’s salary. We know nothing about the set-ups of the women posting and they could have sahp at home etc which might make their situation completely irrelevant to the OP.

I also think decisions around family income affect career profession. My husband is a high earner. I am middle management in a low paying sector. Still a higher rate tax payer but the sacrifices to hit the £100k salaries which are feasible but rarer wouldn’t be worth it to me at my point of life with small children.

It is much easier to make £100k in some industries than others. My husband has been shocked making the comparison to how hard I work for my salary, the pressure, accountability, stress etc versus what people are doing in his sector for equivalent pay.