To not understand how low income people become high earners?

[KissesAX]

Okay so hear me out, I'm not bashing anyone who earns a lot of money. Nor am I saying you didn't get there through hard work. But here's my story:

Was severely depressed in sixth form causing me to drop out and do an apprenticeship instead of A levels. Years on, I'm 21 and I'm unemployed. The only jobs I can apply for are entry level jobs but even these such as retail jobs all prefer people with retail experience, same with waiting and cleaning jobs. Plus they're all £7.50 ph minimum wage.

I can't go to uni as I wouldn't be able to afford it. My parents don't fund me and I have too many bills to pay that are behind from being unemployed as it is.

So here's my question. How on earth do people who are poor like myself ever get to a high paying job because I can't even seem to get an entry level job. I feel so defeated at so young but I can not find work.

I have no qualifications and couldn't get a job or go to school because of some pretty extreme life circumstances. I lived on benefits for years, in poverty, in a terrible situation. But while I was stuck in the house I taught myself as many skills as I was able -all kinds of things in all kinds of ways. I learnt computer programming and UX/UI/HID by joining open source projects and volunteering to fix things. It took me a long time but I built up enough skills to start my own business.

Tech is a great industry for people without quals if you can do the work. Most jobs in tech go off your portfolio of work - your actual code- they care what you can do in real life, not what pieces of paper your parents bought you, because the code has to work and it's easy to see when it doesn't! You don't have to be a genius, you just have to be self-motivated and prepared to work at it.

www.codenewbie.org/
www.firsttimersonly.com/

Accountancy can be a good option in terms of starting low and working up, even without previous qualifications.

A lot of employers will fund your training for AAT qualifications, and from there you can continue all the way up to Chartered Accountant (still with employers funding your training).

It does take years of commitment and after-work study, but it's a surprisingly accessible profession in that you can start off with nothing at all (unlike, say, law). And a good Chartered Accountant can earn a lot.

If you're unemployed now try to get yourself onto an Access course at your local college either for this year or next. They might ask you to do it for two years. Then choose a degree which will lead to a decent income - see a careers adviser at the college for that.

You're 21 - all is not lost!

I'm in much the same position except I'm a lot older than you. Despite experience and enthusiasm and a willingness and indeed desperation to learn and succeed I am stuck. I had a job path but was made redundant and back to square one.

I was unemployed at 21 as well. But did anything that came along. Lots of factory work and other crap work, 2yrs later i met someone on said crappy job (person had 2 crappy jobs)who had just been offered a great office job...they asked me if i would like to do their other crappy part time job that was office based and i said yes! stuck at crappy office job for a yr and got first proper admin job in an office in a big company. From there, i got into IT, taught myself networking etc at home, passed professional exams and got first job in a bank in the city...the rest as they say is history. I was on£50k by age 32.

Don't give up, just do anything available, you never what opportunities might present or you who you might meet that will open doors for you. You just need that one opportunity but you have to out there first.

A lot of people dont acknowledge how much luck and contacts help you get off the ground floor. Its not all about studying and graft.

They start businesses and work for themselves.

Almost everyone I know that came from a financially constrained background but now has a substantial income
has made their money through working for themselves, rather than seeking employment.

For example, you don't get a job as a cleaner; you start your own cleaning company by popping an ad in a local publication offering your services and, say, specialising in cleaning for the elderly or for new mums through offering a discount introductory rate.

I know someone who made a shed load of cash mowing people's lawns, for example. Before long, he set up a maintenance business as a limited company and took on a couple of helpers.

Don't get distressed thinking you've nothing to offer. In the real world, people need other people to help them with jobs and tasks they cannot do themselves and they are willing to pay for that help.

I believe very strongly that our education system and culture leads people to think that employment by a third party is the path to making a living. It's not. There are other paths.

I think deciding what you want to do and going and volunteering for a few hours a week would be massively beneficial to you op.

If you want to work in retail, go and volunteer in a charity shop. If you want to work with children go and listen to children read in the local primary school, or look into guiding/scouting etc etc. It will be valuable experience and it will be a good reference for your cv.

It can be done but takes hard work and time.

I left school with literally minimal GCSE's. Started with an apprenticeship hated it left once I had a tiny bit of experience onto another office job literally taking any temp job I could get.
Got a job in a call centre which I again hated to stressful spoken to like rubbish.
went to college part time did a professional qualification again working full time along side this. college 9-5 then worked 5:30-1 doing night shift in a bank admin centre.

Got a job at a bigger company when I was 19 I think again doing customer service work, proved myself and stayed there for a few years then applied for an admin secondment in that role. Tried to learn as much as possible and volunteered to help out on any projects and things to do with other teams and departments to expose myself to them and get a good name. - money wasn't any better than the call centre job of about 18K a year

Once I had some experience in project work and purchasing I applied for a job working for another company in a new sector and bringing across transferable skills which I had learnt elsewhere- money wasn't fab about 26k. It was a Fixed term contract I then again started to try and get more exposure and experience learning new things with anyone who would teach me. Sat in on boring meetings I knew nothing about to try and learn.

I then applied for another job elsewhere where I could put everything I learnt into one place I now contract and work for myself pulling in about 47k a year, I do professional study in my spare time so I can put it on my CV. I'm 24 now.

Im not gloating or anything at all but there were times I was literally SKINT but I just kept trying with jobs. Some of the jobs were HORRIBLE and I couldn't be bothered but it just takes work and trying to learn as much as possible in your chosen area. Self study where you can.

My mum was on the dole until I was old enough to do to school she went to college to do an access course.Volunteered in schools and different charities. She then went to Uni and trained as a social worker and has worked her way up.

It is VERY hard I think you need some sort of end goal in mind. A lot of companies have call centres which is a good starting point I think as you learn a lot of transferable skills.

What is your apprenticship in?

Apply for everything you can possibly do. Just keep applying. Think of it as a means to an end otherwise you can be dragged down by the process. Get someone useful to review your cv. As PP say, do voluntary work, that'll show you can turn up and work. Do any free courses to increase your marketability.

Yeah what's your apprenticeship in?

I don't get your generalisation at all. I struggled with ptsd and depression and gad during my exams. On top of adhd and eds. I got less than predicted but still veru reasonable grades (missed allt of education due to truama, poor health and being in and out of care). I went to uni without help from parents. I got a loan and worked around studying and lived cheaply. I didn't choose the best degree but did ok and improoved that when i did my postgrade (bursary,loan and worked) and worked hard since. I also worked on a hobby that lead to extra income.

I wouldn't assume my experience can be applied to everyone so why would you assume yours can? There are lots of ways for people to work their way up and lots of things that get in the way to stop people doing this. One experience doesn't apply to all.

I trained as a TA. didn't enjoy it, lost the certificates as a 17 would do and now I'd have to pay to replace to even try get a job as a TA which I can't afford to do. :/

My parents were immigrants with no money. My mum studied at night to get an accounting degree while she and my dad worked full time and I was in nursery full time. My mum went on to run a successful international business and my dad who was a firefighter retrained to work in a factory making bricks then went on to found a courier business.

It's hard, but it can be done.

You don't need money to go to university - yes you'll accrue debt but not many upfront costs.

KissesAX

It's actually a lot more simpler than you realise. If I were you, I'd join the RAF and get fully trained up. Leave (if you want to) after your initial engagement and go into the private sector.

If you're willing to put the time in the RAF will pay for any relevant education courses you want to do. They won't pay for a cooking course if your a mechanic though, that kind of thing.

I left school at 16 with 2 O'levels from a very working class back ground, I joined the RAF and left after 12 years. Now I earn around £37K a year, which may not be a lot to some people but it's quite a lot for where I live.

You need that first job don't you?

Sometimes the job centre are helpful, with placements and courses.

Volunteering campness be a good way to get something on your CV.

Christmas is coming with many temp opportunities.

Or you could try a temp agency.

My uni kids sometimes get work with a bar agency, doing events and festivals and the like. No experience necessary, but again it's a customer facing thing you can put on your CV.

It's incredibly hard and it must seem like every door is closed, but there are ways out.

What was your apprenticeship in? Was there anything that you were good at in school?

A career path that has huge potential for high earning is accountancy, and it's a very apprenticeship-friendly area.

Google accountancy apprenticeships [your city] and see what comes up. Even if NOTHING comes up, any company can be accepted onto the govt. apprenticeship schemes (I used to be on it when I had a tiny company with just 5 staff years ago) and there is no harm at all in drafting a letter (please PM me as I would be delighted to help you with this) to the HR manager of all the accountancy firms in your town (or a selection if you're in a big city!) enquiring if they would be interested in discussing an accountancy apprenticeship with you.

If you have all your ACCA certificates and a few years of experience under your belt by 26, you have almost limitless career potential.

You could try one of these free taster courses from ACCA to see what it might be like:

www.edx.org/school/acca

OP, have you tried registering with any temp agencies? I started at my current company as a temp in the office, did well enough that they took me on permanently then after 3 years applied for a promotion to the job I'm doing now which is fairly well paid.

This is fairly common at this company and although I and maybe 2 others went to uni, most of the senior staff including the owners left school at 16 and followed a similar path. Most entry level positions are filled with temps and they will bend over backwards to hang onto good people as they value attitude and hard work over paper qualifications.

The trick is to find a company big enough to have opportunities for people other than family members (I speak from bitter experience when I say steer well clear of any company where the MD employs his wife and kids to do stuff they have no experience or knowledge of!) but small enough that they don't have inflexible policies on qualifications.

All of the posts here are valid you can do it its just hard bloody work sometimes but t can be done if YOU WANT it to!.

I grew up in a family that didn't work much. Worked in bars and restaurants mostly from the time I was 16 and when I was about 25 I'd had enough of it and lied about my experience to get a job in an office doing data entry. I was clever enough to be good at it - typed faster and got through twice as many cases (the handwritten sheets we were entering into the computers) than anyone so they made me a team leader then a manager and I went from there. As I moved from company to company I learned to describe my experience in a way that made it sound as good as it possibly could. Made a few phone calls to get quotes for something and then put all the info in a spreadsheet? That's project management experience right there, mate.

15 years on and I don't have to embellish anything anymore, I'm director of operations for a PLC and damn good at it. Usually.

I'm mid 30s, haven't worked for years due to poor health and have had to accept I have to start at the bottom again. I'm doing an apprenticeship now. I know it's below my level, within a weeks of me working, the person who has sometimes trained me has told me it's way below my level, but I have to start somewhere so I'm doing it. Plus I'm training with the NHS so it gives me a foot in the door and is more likely to lead to a job with them when my training has finished.

You neec to accept that you have to go back to basics. Do another apprenticeship and supplement your income with benefits. It won't be forever.

My DH did a lot a factory agency work. Then eventually, one place he was an agency worker kept him on, then they moved him from the factory floor to the lab with a position created just for him (he does have a degree which made that possible even thpught the degree is nothing to do with the job). Now he's been made manager and has been sent on a course that will give him a brilliant qualification that will make him very attractive to employers and puts him up a wage bracket. He isn't a high earner but he's on more than we ever thought he would be when he was earning 10k doing odd factory jobs here and there.

It can be done- I started working in a call centre for £13k when I was your age after dropping out of uni.
I worked hard and put myself forward for everything and was promoted a couple of times. My work then paid for me to take my professional qualifications which was a hard slog but well worth it.
Once fully qualified Ioved firms again in a better role and am now working in a job I love and have tripled my income from when I first started and am now 33. It can be done with hard work and determination. Good luck!

My husband did an apprenticeship at 16 - he's got no real qualifications- but has worked bl**dy hard - now he's self employed and we send our son to a private primary school.

We had no money when we got together - we paid a deposit on a flat to rent with out credit card / overdraft and had no furniture sofa, bed table for months !

Christmas is coming up, so loads of places must be taking on staff, so see if there is an Argos, or Amazon near you, and get applications in. I worked in Argos a few years ago and enjoyed it. It's always difficult to get that first job, I only lasted a day in a sandwich shop, too generous with the fillings and the boss didn't like that.
Good luck