Will my life be really that much worse if I took a lower paying job?

[endingupinmanchester]

My parents told me I should be happy that my entry paying professional job pays me £30k in Manchester but
a) I undertook an annoying and challenging degree for 4 years so this salary seems like a piss-take
b) The non-professional people I know such as shop-keepers, hairdressers etc. that I know seem to be living well despite not receiving my level of education

However:
a) My job gives me chartered status after I am done with it
b) My salary may increase every year but that really depends on how well my company is doing -- it recently lost millions in a failed merger
c) After receiving chartered status, I may be able to move into a higher-paying industry or a better paying firm in London

You generally start with an entry level job and move up the ladder to higher paying positions within your profession.

Your qualifications don't necessarily make you a good employee. You need to learn those skills too.

Do you even have the skills to be, say, a hairdresser? I know I don't. There is much to learn there too. Have a bit of respect.

Shop keepers running a business taking a lot of skill and stress especially in the current climate, you are massively underestimating the work it takes to run a successful business.

Hairdressers, I think many in lockdown realised just how skilled a job that is and how much training it takes.

shop assistants at tescos don't run the business...the c-suite at tesco hq does

hairdressers don't get paid that much compared to other trained jobs and they don't go through obnoxiously long degrees to gain a job

I’m not sure what you’re trying to say. Are you considering becoming a retail assistant at Tesco?

I do agree that all employees in the U.K., and generally globally, are underpaid for the work done and the cost of living.

Shop keepers and shop assistants are completely different roles, your degree obviously failed to teach you basic knowledge, respect and manners.

When you say your job will give you chartered status, does that mean you are doing some sort of training? Is your work paying for this?

Or is it just something you get from the experience? And even so, they are getting someone who isn't chartered, so presumably will pay less.

In my experience of having done everything from retail and call centres to one level below c suite

Lower paid lower level jobs often come with insane amounts of stress and micromanagement from bosses due to edicts handed down from higher management who have no idea how things really work

Ive worked less hard, with less micromanagement, impossible targets and mystery shopper stress when i was a technical expert on 47k than I did as a retail person on minimum wage

Honestly your logic of going to a minimum wage job because 30k isnt high enough seems flawed and only shooting you in the foot.

Sounds like you need to live in the real world a little. Maybe you do need to struggle on minimum wage for a bit to develop some sense of what life is like on a low wage. You're privileged to have done a degree but it doesn't entitle you to a large salary, you still have to work for it and prove yourself in the working world, where there will be plenty of others just as keen to prove themselves.

Will sleep better and or be happier?

In most jobs, work experience trumps qualifications. Which is not to say that there aren't jobs you need qualifications for - there absolutely are. But as a hiring manager, I am going to pay an entry level salary to someone who is starting out in the field, and a salary commensurate with experience to someone who has been doing it for a long time.

Everyone puts in the graft, and everyone has to demonstrate they can be trusted to do the easy, boring stuff before they're given anything more interesting or complex to do. This is the same whether you're a hairdresser or a chartered accountant.

If you've just graduated and are on a training contract somewhere, you are still very much an untrusted unknown, whether you're in Manchester or in London (and higher salaries don't necessarily equal better quality of life; you need to take into consideration the cost of living as well). Your peers who are doing well as hairdressers presumably have at least 4/5 years experience in their chosen careers already which they got while you were doing your degree, which will be why they are where they are - you're not comparing yourself now to them when they were on apprentice wages.

Jeez so many people on here getting professionally offended!

OP was just saying there's loads of jobs where people do well but they didn't need to waste their time doing a degree and getting chartered status, or running up a shit load of student debt no doubt, so she's doubting the sense of what's she's done.

OP do what makes you happy, don't listen to anyone else.

How long till you get your chartered status? I'd get that and then use it as leverage to get a higher paying job. In this economy, the more options you have, the better.

Doing what makes you happy in the short term may not equate to long term contentment though.

Presumably once you're chartered the options and salaries go up accordingly. Better to start with £30k as a base rather than a maximum. Office jobs also generally more flexible about WFH and giving annual pay rises.

I'd wait until you're chartered and see your options then.

I know what you mean, having started at £20k in Manchester 10+ years ago. Once I became chartered, the salary increased to be in line with the minimum wage if you account for the hours. I am now on nearly £100k (including bonus) working part-time, still in Manchester - and am in a leadership position with great flexibility which allows for spending time with my family, so it was definitely worth it for me.

What does your chartered status bring you?

In fairness a hairdressing qualification takes 3 years to complete and £30k is at the upper end of what one will ever earn. I absolutely agree that not all jobs are equal and training, experience, responsibility etc should be reflected in pay (although it often isnt) but its not true that the majority walk into a hair dressing job, apprentiships are rare now. Retail work is often not full time anymore and you are expected to be fully flexible.

I'm not saying that they should be paid the same as you (without knowing what you do I presume this is still true), but it's disingenuous to suggest its milk and honey out there for people on low wages or that all low paid workers saunter into a role. Your question is also somewhat ridiculous as only you know how much you'd need to be paid to satisfactorily cover your outgoings and afford a decent standard of living.

A) Is your entry-level graduate salary commensurate with the general market average for an entry-level graduate salary in your field? B)Has it significantly decreased since you started your degree?

If the answer to A is yes, and the answer to B is no, then I’m not sure what you were expecting. You’re getting paid what your graduate entry-level status promised.

Exactly as @NoSquirrels says. You can be qualified and educated up the wahzoo but if that's what your industry pays, it's what it pays.
My husband (lawyer) and me (graphic designer) have the same education level (undergraduate and masters) and his entry level pay was five times mine. The gap grew bigger every year.

Yes I agree with your parents, can’t see what the problem is?