If you make 100k+, what do you do?

[fedupofbeingbroke]

I'm just curious. I have two degrees, one being a masters, studied hard, worked hard and still don't make that much money (having DC set me back but was unlikely to have made more than 60k ever). If you make 100k+, what job do you have? How did you make your wealth?

My husband would not be such a high earner without my contribution to our lives. He didn't just magically manage to have a high flying career and a family.

Lots of women manage this without having an unpaid skivvy in the background. I never respect either the husband or the wife who think this way.

Yes. Me

What do YOU do.

Recruiter

NHS management.

My career hasn't been enabled by a supportive partner who picks up the slack at home .

We both work full time.

Life's different for high earning women

I do, as a solicitor (I deliberately chose corporate / commercial as it paid much better).

(my dh earns over £100k too but the question was about me 😉)

Good to hear. DS wants to get into marketing but a friend told me there's no money in it. clearly there can be.

Masters, then PhD

Director for a US based company

I am towards the end of my career, now earning around 350k working as an HR director in a global company, based in a European country.
On top of my (unrelated) degree, I have an MA which I did part-time when my 2 kids were very young. (When I also worked p/t in a university). This helped me get into consulting where I worked long hours, often away from home. I also took many additional courses to build my skillset. This set me up for a senior HR global role in a multinational when I was in my 40s, and it’s grown from there.
In my current role I am responsible for developing and operationalising corporate policies and practices for our company on Diversity & Inclusion, hybrid working, employer branding, culture change etc. it’s a really interesting role with a lot of influence and accountability, directly advising the CEO, Exec Board etc.
My husband earns around 150k in a senior professional role.
We both worked full-time throughout our careers, with no family on hand for support, so we had every type of childcare you can imagine. It was sometimes v stressful and mad, we often dropped the ball. But we were both very flexible, open to change, and supported each other’s independence. Our kids have turned out ok too!
I come from a very working class background and am amazed at how different my life has been from most of my family.

@Getabloominmoveon wow, good for you, inspirational! What tips would you give to women now for progressing their careers after kids? What kind of additional courses did you do? I went back full time after my first and got promoted within six months. Did you job hop a lot?

alwaysdecorating, sure!

I have always been in operational roles in the same sector (data) since uni so in a way it's just been a natural progression.

I've only been COO at the place I'm at and I think my remit probably differs from the same time in other companies so my advice would be more generic. As a woman I think you have to be more visible than a man would be. Put your hand up for things, stick your nose into projects that aren't necessarily strictly to do with you- often people are glad for the help and you get to learn something new which adds to the cv!

As a COO I think you need to stand out as highly efficient, have a keen eye for change, embrace it and be the face of it. Grow a very thick skin. Know as much as you can about every aspect of the business. You don't need to be an expert in all areas but know enough to pass opinion. Get strategic. Make sure you understand the company goals fully and think 10 steps ahead. If you / your team do something today what would that look like in a years time / 5 years time - is that what you're aiming for. Then finally the biggest one for me, don't be afraid to fail. You've got to try new things to know if they're right for the company. They won't always be and don't be afraid of that happening!

Freelance Engineer in a Study Office for the Pharmaceutical Industry (working on design of new facilities or revamping of older ones). 20 years experience. I work p/t so don't earn this salary but could ramp up my hours to earn it. (No paid holidays or sick leave though.) No travel and currently work 100% from home. Have travelled, learned languages and made many sacrifices to get experience under my belt.

Thank you so much.

I am currently Director of Change. So, luckily, I am invoked in all aspects of the business. From implementing a change of British standards to finances transformation to simple change of process. There are some definite areas I could do with more knowledge on though. I can do that.

I do struggle with potential failure. Chronic over thin liner. The CEO is supportive of my goals and definitely wants to keep me involved in Operations. There was the possibility to move to a more finance focused role, but he offered me this position instead as he saw I had more value in operations.

I am also one of the 2 directors that all the other directors like and will discuss issues with. Mainly because I have the position of being able to plan, pitch and execute change properly. Or give them a full explanation as to why a change can’t go ahead.

The CFO is also supportive of me, which is why he wanted to steal me but encouraged me to take this job as he felt it was a better career move.

I could definitely get more involved in the long term company goals. I tend to look 3 years ahead, but not in depth. The next year, is my main focus most of the time.

Thank you so much for the advice and explanation. I feel like I might not be a million miles away.

Working in Asset Management (investment firm) in a regulatory team advising the teams who do the actual investing. I have a degree and masters but learned mainly on the job. Earning £150k a year now plus bonus after 12 years. I think its great women sharing salaries, the biggest change to my salary came after talking to my male colleagues and realising how underpaid I had been compared to them as I had never negotiated for pay increases before.

I think I am still just shy of 100k in sterling but went over it in my currency with my last increment.

Senior management in civil service. Degree and Masters qualifications and a raft of additional training. 24 years to get to this stage.

I have a few more increments at this level for the next few years, and hope I could get 1 more promotion before I finish up but don't think I will get higher than that.

I am involved in Women in Science and have listened to many many women describe how they managed to progress through their career and have children.
One of the ways is to have the support of a partner (the unpaid skivvy you mention). Those who don't have either had plenty of money to pay for nannies or boarding school, or have other family support or don't have children.

And I did stall at my previous grade for over 15 years, having young DC probably had a role in the eyes of my manager at a key point who nearly gave me a nervous breakdown (the person who replaced me there did have one). But I had it all sorted so that DC didn't impact on my work.

Veterinary Clinical Director - two degrees, post grad certificate and current studying for second post grad. Manage clinic with several sites and other professional staff. Only just over £100K by 85p last year, probably won't be over this year as some is performance related and this year has been tough.
Whilst known people are saying not DH, my DH is an example of it being possible to change you tranjectory. He left school without a single qualification did an apprenticeship, went back and did his engineering degree in his mid 30s. Got a reputation as being someone who got things done with a high attention to detail and able to sniff out bullshit. Moved into technical regulation where his bullshitometer lead to him becoming lead engineer. He would admit he has worked very hard and stood up for what is right even when it would have been easier to roll over.

I have a degree, an msc, a postgraduate diploma, and chartered status, technically on 30k ish, but work part time termtime only, so double pro ratad, it goes down to about 18k 🤣 It always amazes me that my profession tops out at about 35 to 40k despite needing a masters! I was thinking about retraining into teaching but it's similar money I think.

I'm a nurse and earn just over £70k, but one of my colleagues is a band up from me in a Director level position and earns £107k (this is in London). It's taken us both blood sweat and tears in the NHS to get to the positions we're in now, and even though on the face of it the pay is incredible by NHS standards it has come at a cost. Specifically related to stress levels and general health etc.

What job do you do?

My husband.....

No, no, no

I’m a lawyer

I started at the criminal bar and earned £40k my first year. It was the last year before legal aid cuts really bit and I quickly realised there was little opportunity to earn more.

i became a SAHM when my eldest DC were born and then set up a successful tech company which I sold for enough for me and the family not to to have work.

I “retired” for a year but was approached about a really interesting in house general counsel role at a big MNC. I’m on my second of those roles and my total package (salary, bonus, options is around £4m)

it sounds very easy written down in three short paragraphs but it was a slog at times and I was in the midst of the sale when my 4th DC was born. It was pretty awful.

my DH has his own architectural practice but like others I couldn’t care less what DHs do. I achieved my successes without a facilitating spouse.

I’ve worked in a few industries, defence, healthcare, compliance, education. Essentially, the role is like a chief of staff/management consultant with delegated responsibility from the CEO to get stuff done.

For example, a healthcare organisation which is struggling with CQC compliance, I would go in, understand the requirements, get under the skin of staff from top to bottom, create a plan for improvement/change, and see it through.

It’s very rewarding but can be immensely challenging with some difficult decisions and conversations.

Interesting. Can you explain a bit more about how being a criminal lawyer gave you the skills and opportunity to set up a tech company? Was it legal tech or something more general? I am looking at a crossover from law to tech myself.

I’m currently split between class teaching and a more specialist, management role. It would be pretty easy for me to side step into middle management at this point but it isn’t worth it in terms of pay so I will return full time over the next 18 months into a senior leader role. From there I’ll progress to HT or I might carve a path into consultancy - depending on pay and the political landscape. Education is a funny sector I think because you can end up with a fair amount of responsibility for very little pay, so careful planning in terms of progression is needed I think! I’m pretty clear on my path but it’s always interesting to hear of others as 100k salary jobs in my sector aren’t often spoken about.

To the poster who said I’m missing the point re husband - I’m really not, I just disagree that in terms of posting about highly paid sectors that it isn’t an interesting addition. As someone climbing up the pay scale, I find it informative to hear about other careers.