To wonder how you get that amazing career

[Mrswhiskerson]

There are a lot of people on here earning fifty k plus and I really admire them, a high flying career is what I have always wanted. i'M currently working as a clerical officer banking money filling in invoices on oracle etc and I am wondering what the next step is I want to have worked my
way into a really good well paidjob by the time ds is five , he is six months now. I would mostly like advice on what qualifications are best to take and what are the well paid jobs like? Is it having loads of money but no time ?

I love my job and it's well-paid (nearly £50k).

But that was more luck than planning because it's an area which requires very strong quantitative skills which happen to be in demand at the moment. I wasn't thinking of earning power when I chose my career!

However, in my field you need at least a post-grad qualification and entry level salaries are lower so I doubt you'd reach £50k within 5 years. Probably within 10+ (4-5 years of study, 4-5 years experience) if you get promoted within a reasonable time frame.

You need to carefully identify areas of shortage and how much money you can earn, as well as how much you'd enjoy doing the job.

Could you do some informational interviews with people in positions you'd like to be in?

getorf you are an inspiration.

Basically, if you want to succeed, you have to a. believe you can. b. have a plan of how you intend to acheive it and c. actually do it.

Most people just don't get on with things.

£50k is not very much actually

Can I come and live on your planet please fig?

Well there are certainly plenty of people achieving it...and they are not all financial wizards.

I was in the office 60 hours a week and permanently on call when I wasn't in the office before having dd. At certain times of year I would also work in the office over the weekend and do 12 days without a day off. I earnt over £50k.
I cannot imagine doing that with dd in the world.
I am now working on a two day a week strategy that I hope will earn me up to £40k p.a. Working for myself... Seems to be the only way to do it talking to other successful mums I know.
That's not much help to you though as it relies on contacts from life pre babies.
Accountancy exams?

GetOrf - Agree with pushing yourself and marching forwards into the unknown. What's the worst that can happen?

you are already working with money and invoicing why don't you start your AAT qualifications.
As you study and gain work experience your salary will increase
Then you could use the base knowledge gained in AAT to start you ACCA or CIMA exams to become a qualified accountant

I have known a number of people who have done this and gain really good jobs with great salaries

Good advice from Happycamel - I would head straight for CIMA, based on the skills you have. You'll be earning £40k+ in three years, as long as you pass the exams, pretty much guaranteed. If you're working in finance now, see if you can get your employer to sponsor you?

None of my stuff was planned - I just happened to be in good places at the right time.

I wouldn't say I am an inspiration - I just did what I didto keep the wolf from the door, found out I was quite good at it and then staggered on from there.

Mind you, I know my limits. i earn a pretty good salary but I am not at city levels, say 200K, and never will be. I don't want that kind of pressure, and couldn't be a banker or lawyer in a million years.

fig everything you say is spot on. You need to put in the initial slog for 5 to 10 years as a foudnation for a more balanced career having established reputation a nd contacts.

Indeed, depending on where you are £50k is really not a big salary. Business school grads come out expecting £60k on the lower end in London.

As others have said I too would head straight for CIMA with your experience. But think about what you want to do and how much you're prepared to put in rather than the salary.

well doone to you goml

DH and I both earn that sort of money and we don't work that hard, just normally iyswim. But then we are both in our forties and have been working in our careers for 20 years or so. Teaching and Property respectively. I think it is doable, but you have to work your way up so to speak in order to get to a decent salary and not also be thrashing yourself to death.

In fact what thebrownstuff says had I bothered to read the thread first! And agree that our salaries are actually a compromise between working REALLY hard and earning £90k or so and working reasonably hard and having a decent standard of living.

I agree with what others have said about finding what skills are in demand and therefore command those kinds of salaries. Sometimes though it's about being in the right place at the right time.

For example loads of people who graduated at the same time as me went into IT as It was supposed to be very lucrative, but they were just a bit too late and there has been a gradual squeeze ever since with jobs being moved to India etc. Same with plumbing and then the recession hit.

The other option is to get a professional qualification that will always command that kind of salary e.g. Accountant or an Actuary like me.

What I will say about those are that they require several years of hard exams and studying. I couldn't have done it when I had kids.

I also don't do very long hours or weekends. Some actuaries do and get paid very well for it. I'm happy having a lower salary than I could achieve albeit 50k+, but more free time than some of my ex colleagues on enormous salaries.

thats the other key, qualifications. I qualified as a solicitor and DH as a teacher before we had children. Not sure I could put in that level of commitment now though. Twas a long slog!

Well I meant to say 50k was not v much at the time - it is likely to be beyond my wildest dreams for the next ten years, maybe forever.

But I have never actually valued money much anyway, I am not a big spender at all. I have never stayed awake at night worrying about it or kept a detailed spreadsheet of costs. A quick glance at my bank statement to made sure no fraudsters have hacked in, that's it really.

I did all my qualifications when I was in my 20s (had dd, then did my degrees).

I can't even imagine contemplating study now I am in my 30s.

I agree, GetOrf is extremely impressive especially for a scummy teenage mother

GetOrfMoiLand - yes, but I have met several mothers who do not seem phased by doing this at all. Personally, I found it a drag beyond my mid 20s.

Oh bollocks off with impressive, I am sat here with Asda tights on which have a great big hole in the crotch which I am praying won't creep down my legs.

I have just been to Tesco to buy more tights, came out with a BLT, Heat magazine and a car air freshener but no tights.

very far from impressive!

Getorf - Tesco value tights are great (you don't get that hole as quickly as Asda ones).

Primark tights are v good.

To get the job you want you need to get qualified (and keep up to date), get experience, be willing and be positive. There is an element of luck. I am lucky to be good at and enjoy something which pays well.

To be able to do it all and have a family and a large salary does mean that something has to give. For me that meant the early years when DCs were small. DH did this bit without much input from me.

Agree with GOML about the unemotional bit. I work in Misogyny Central - hormones are not appreciated.

£50k wouldn't even pay the school fees but certainly aim for that in the first instance.

Getorf is right in the advice above. My older 3 who have graduated have obviously spent the last few years and their friends looking at what people do, what they would like, what people earn so it's a topic issue here. I suppose the traditional route tends to be get 8+ high graditional GCSEs, AAA in traditinoal A levels, an d 2/1 or higher from Oxbridge or equivalent and have the looks and accent and people skills and work ethic and have made the contacts to get on. That's in a sense the easier way to start at its being likely to earn good sums, although as someone said above there are other routes.

You wrote
"Qualifications wise I have ten gcses a gnvq and nvq in care I have been working in residential care on and off for ten years but I have also worked in sales . THis new job seems like a good platform for a career I am going to get computer training (I am very good with computers) I have good people skills too I am just not entirely sure where I want to go career wise this is why I am asking advice , I have been thinking about healthcare recruitment I have heard the money is good and I having seen a lot of terrible carers in the past do actually care about getting the right people in the job however i'm not sure if I am a cut throat type of person. Maybe it's something I need to work on ."

Healthcare recruitment could be a good place to be as more and more of us live longer and need care at home etc. Specialise in help for the reasonably well off elderly perhaps and course in due course set up and run your own business

I work with a lot of salemen - some earn £10k a year and some earn £200k. Just depends on your selling skills.

YOu can make money without qualifications if you're good. Plenty of owmen have set up recruitment agencies and sold them off for huge sums.

Work harder than most people and love what you do. I suspect that's one reason I've done fairly well.

If a qualification is normal in a particular sector then you need to have it. If that means night school then so be it. Being 'qualified by experience' alone often means a ceiling to salary and difficulty in transferring from one organisation to another.