If you started in a mediocre low paid job, tell me your success stories and how you got to your current job

[ihavenoclue11]

Really keen to hear some positive encouraging stories about how you 'bettered' yourself and how long it took you. What does your life look like now compared to how it did?

I'm trying to get out of my retail job. Have an interview in 2weeks for a banking job that I'd love to get so that I can maybe go down a different pathway in life.

Tell me your stories 😘

@ihavenoclue11 take a look at this link showing low, mid and high salary ranges for a selection of banking operations roles to get an idea of what you could work towards

www.roberthalf.co.uk/salary-guide/industry/financial-services

I hated it and didn't even last a year haha! But if there was an opportunity to progress quickly I would have stayed probably.

I think it was a good stepping stone to have on my CV, and then be able to reference customer facing, corporate experience going into client facing, corporate roles. So looking back it was helpful but it just wasn't a good fit for my personality.

If they don't promote you within a year, I'd leave - worst thing is getting "stuck" and before you know it it's been years.

I went straight into full time retail at 16. I worked my way up to supervisor within a year, left to work for an insurance company in the home claims team, returned to retail at 19 as an assistant manager, worked up to manager within a couple of months, had a child at 22 and decided I didn't want to do retail manager any longer.
I got a job in a bank, also in home insurance but sales at head office. The hours weren't great so I moved to branch and was offered branch manager. As a single parent I couldn't go away to do the training so I stayed as a banking adviser. I started studying to be a mortgage adviser and then had a fall and was in a wheelchair for 14 months. At that point I set up my own handmade retail business and eventually accepted I wouldn't be able to work in a normal job again.
I'm still running that business 11 years later. It's the best and worst job I've ever done, but I wouldn't change it and the flexibility I've had while DS is growing up has been priceless.

What about roles like account manager? Could you leverage your retail experience to work as an account manager in retail?

Or client services in any capacity. Or customer experience, where it's customer focused but there's more scope for growth.

Not a job I would enjoy but customer relations (aka complaints) could be a good fit too.

Ultimately it all comes down to how you frame your experience on your CV but I think you sound like you have lots of transferable skills and getting a 30k job should be doable (depending on where you're based I guess?)

@FatAgainItsLettuceTime thank you ever so much honey!!!! I love it when we all work as a team to enrich each other!!!

@Miajk I really need to have a good think. I have no qualifications (😩) and while I could start a course I'm unsure as to wether I'd actually see it out if I'm being honest. I'd like dealing and working with customers and helping them. Whilst working in complaints would be partly this I think I'd rather deal with customers that were needing my help in a more positive setting if that makes sense lol

If you have applied for a banking job you will be asked competency questions. Google glass door and they will give you some examples for the organisation you're applying for.

I started my career in banking in a call centre and worked my way up. I'm now in a mid-senior role.

@Emmagr1 thanks so much for your help. I appreciate it so much xx

Did a degree in Economics, really want to be a spot FX trader but couldn’t get onto any of the investment banking grad schemes. So joined a bank in a branch on the counter, on about 9k at the time. Moved internally to the trading floor after 2 years (my degree obviously helped). Worked on the floor for nearly 25yrs now, in a sales role, earning a good 6 figures. It was hard in the early days as it was still incredibly male dominated, but I stuck with it. Also met and married a spot FX trader via work and got 2 lovely DC’s into the bargain!

In the past I managed in a contact centre, and part of ny role was to spot the bright, hardworking ones with a 'can do attitude' and helped to open doors and help them grow so when an opportunity came up in the business they were in a position to apply. This may be in people management, project mgt, junior product roles or into corporate jobs. I know CCs get hard press, but there are opportunities available and lack of qualifications don't hold you back.

@NextPrimeMinister I'm applying for a contact centre job. I'm hoping I like it but I'm also hoping it will help me find something new. I love hearing peoples stories and advice!

@ihavenoclue11 Good luck! There are all sorts of roles behind the scenes which would get you to your 30k goal, or at least a stepping stone. Then don't stop at £30. Go for higher!

21-22: call centre earning 14k per year.
22-25: sales earning 30k per year.
25-27: back to uni, cash in hand jobs.
27-28: professional services earning 26.5k
28-30: consultancy firm, earning 30k moving up to 38k.
32: project manager type role earning 64k (although 0.8 FTE). Got this job while on mat leave from previous company. Likely to be increasing to 70k early next year.

The additional qualification helped, but the big jump came from basically not giving a shit if I got the job or not, knowing my worth & absolutely holding my own/negotiating the fuck out of the recruiter.

I went from retail on minimum wage to call centre work at 18k, got promoted after 6 months to a manger on 20k, stayed at that level for about 4 years then moved into tech (I had shown an aptitude for data analysis in my role) and went to 30k, about 2 years later I got to about 50k. I could earn more but I'm happy to hover around this wage for the time being

If you think you might have the slightest inclination for tech it's a great move. It doesn't have to be coding it can be project management, scrum master etc but the one thing that is more rare in tech people are great people skills. Which means anyone like you with lots of people skills will be in great demand and get snapped up, so certainly something to consider.

@Greennetting that's very interesting! My hubby is in tech so I know how lucrative it is. Definitely something to consider- as it stands atm I'm rubbish at tech but there's room for learning

I am following this thread with interest. I am very similar to you @ihavenoclue11. I have worked in retail most of my adult life, having started in my current job 15 years ago as a Christmas temp! I would also love to have evenings/ weekends and Christmas with my OH. But I only ever think of my customer/people skills in other service industries eg hospitality which would have just as bad pay and hours! So I am interested by the other suggestions coming up! Hopefully I can be brave enough to have the courage to break out of retail!

@Noseylittlemoo well I'm here for a little hand hold because I know how difficult it is making that move. It's such a shame retail is so poorly paid and the hrs are rubbish

That is a great thing you are doing there for the company. However if you are the manager of the call centre, won't you be loathe to lose your superstars to another department?

Not my story but a friend's daughter. Started in an entry level job. 6 months later applied to a similar company for a slightly better job. Did the same a year later. Then got some training in site and asked for more money. refused, so applied for job elsewhere and was then offered even more by existing firm. Stayed with them for a few years. Now headhunted by team in NYC. Moved from about 21k to 60k within about 8 years.

She also has ADHD and when she was little I worried for her that she'd be too scatterbrained to hold down a job.

Having been a manager for a call centre that actively coached and developed peoples careers I would say its way better for the business to retain the good staff than to have them leave because they are bored. Plus that way you get support from other departments because you have people in them who you helped get their jobs, so that's always nice!

Support Worker with adults with learning disabilities
= £9.50 ph

Qualified Counsellor, BACP registered, four years training, private practice
= £30 ph

This is pretty much it! I'd always have a queue of people waiting in the wings to step up and take their place. We had created a culture of opportunity and progression. I gained by having their contributions helping me to hit my KPIs and I helped coach and develop them for their next step. The business benefited to from keeping the talent in house.

Sorry for spelling errors!

Did an apprenticeship at 17 in Civil engineering bloody hated it

Jumped back into retail then started working for a local authority as admin/supervisor roles but have swayed back into engineering for the last 15 years (eg maintenance/highway construction)

just about to start a new job doubling my salary as a project manager out of local authority

I have paid for all my qualifications myself and the last 5 years made myself very employable by doing Prince 2, nvq’s etc