High Earners on MN?

[BitOfFun]

How? The actual leader of my county council doesn't earn more than £100K- where and what are all these super-maxed out occupations? I genuinely don't understand how mumsnetters (often relatively young) access these magic jobs I've never heard of.

YABU- they are there for the taking, you just made poor choices

YANBU- people here are very creative and there's an outside chance they may be lying exaggerating.

[quote VinylDetective]It’s disingenuous and dishonest to peddle the myth that anyone can command a six figure salary. Statistically it’s impossible for the entire population to be able to achieve a salary level in the top 2%. The message we should be giving our kids is that job satisfaction is the most important thing and no amount of money is adequate compensation for decades of being miserable at work.

Realistically only a tiny proportion of women are in the top salary bracket and to pretend otherwise is just setting them up for disappointment and a sense of failure.

www.theguardian.com/society/2016/sep/27/women-poorly-represented-in-top-1-per-cent-uk-earners-study-finds[/quote]
That seems to imply that it’s pointless to try, so don’t bother.

Of course not everyone can be in the top 1% of anything, but it is possible for individuals to be.

Women, more than men, are told not to bother, but to go for job satisfaction instead. Actually, you can have both.

“ Women, more than men, are told not to bother, but to go for job satisfaction instead. Actually, you can have both.”

I couldn’t agree more. One of the (many!) reasons that the gender pay gap exists is women being discouraged from trying to achieve more. With every passing year, I am more grateful to my parents telling me that anything I wanted to achieve I could do. With the benefit of youth I was fearless in having a “go for it” attitude which prevails to this day rather than thinking I couldn’t achieve stuff because it was out of my reach or the preserve of men.

@Xenia do you know if that's a graduate scheme? I'm tempted by this route but dont know how I'd fit 12 hours work plus studying and a toddler. I'm working full time plus studying independently in the evenings for a career change in to accountancy from an unrelated field.

MN is one of the worst places for discouraging women from being too ambitious.
Being successful and wealthy are always portrayed as negative. Not for nice people.

@HelloMissus

MN is one of the worst places for discouraging women from being too ambitious. Being successful and wealthy are always portrayed as negative. Not for nice people.

A generous salary and a successful career? So nouveau. So gauche.

/sarcasm

Rap, it will be a graduate scheme for potential accountants. I know how he managed to it - I suppose he just applied at university which makes it all a bit easier. I am sure he will not always have 12 hour days - it was probably just during the exams.

I live in the north east. I’m a student. My husband works 60+ hours a week. He earns around £19K a year. Even when I was a full time NHS nurse I only earned £28K a year. I’ve no idea where these jobs that pay so much come from. What do people actually do in them?

@lizizdd

I live in the north east. I’m a student. My husband works 60+ hours a week. He earns around £19K a year. Even when I was a full time NHS nurse I only earned £28K a year. I’ve no idea where these jobs that pay so much come from. What do people actually do in them?

I save my company millions of pounds a year.

There are much worthier jobs out there, but most highly paid jobs bringing a financial benefit to their employer.

It’s disingenuous and dishonest to peddle the myth that anyone can command a six figure salary

Everyone has a chance to try, IF that is their goal.

The main point is that so many women are knocked back so soon.

I was told at school (Grammar school - but a long time ago) "be a secretary - it can lead to other things" which is true, but still... "Be a teacher, such a good job for a woman, you get the school holidays".

I was outraged by the sexism of this, even at 14.

Then, so many women drop their careers for p/t jobs when they have kids, and only look at the take-home pay: their v the childcare costs. They don't look at the value of the pension contributions, the long term value of them maintaining training and promotion prospects, so they fall further and further behind their DH/DPs salary until it is a foregone conclusion that she will have the job that she can drop every time a child is sick.

We co-parented equally. Both dropped a day for the first 3 years, considered childcare a shared costs that applied to both our incomes, agreed reciprocal support for being away at conferences etc.

I am NOT a high earner, because of my sector(but I do earn significantly above the national average) But I was ambitious and I am 'notable' and a high achiever in my very badly paid sector. I do my job because I love it, and it has enabled us to buy a house, live debt free , have the amount of holidays that we were quite happy with and have a pension we can live modestly but adequately on.

Why does a thread about high earners always illicit loads of "oh, they are lying" posts, as if women really cannot earn good money? It drives me nuts!

Nurses here at ward level( you know actually working with the sick and needy ) 12.5 hrs night shift and been doing it for 50+ yrs and still there .
Get a life peeps on MN . I wasn’t clever enough back in the 60s to better my position but NOW !!!!!! way TOO clever to get involved in all that paperwork when my patients need care. If I’d wanted to be a secretary I never would’ve sought a job in hospitals. Sorry ! just a rant at braggers... canny go them.

@mammy28

Nurses here at ward level( you know actually working with the sick and needy ) 12.5 hrs night shift and been doing it for 50+ yrs and still there . Get a life peeps on MN . I wasn’t clever enough back in the 60s to better my position but NOW !!!!!! way TOO clever to get involved in all that paperwork when my patients need care. If I’d wanted to be a secretary I never would’ve sought a job in hospitals. Sorry ! just a rant at braggers... canny go them.

Sorry, what?

I am an ex HCP. My (and your) choice of career don’t make us saints or better than those who took a different path. In fact, this bloody ‘saint complex’ is a real barrier to nurses and other HCPs being respected and paid as the trained, experienced professionals they are.

The majority of posters here talking about their high- salary jobs aren’t bragging. They are just discussing it.

I think it's quite clear that jobs where you save or make money for an organisation/company tend to be better paid. There shouldn't be too much outrage at that- the individuals more than pay for themselves with the money they save/make the company/organisation. What we should be outraged at is that people in the crucial services i.e teaching, nursing etc aren't better paid. This isn't at the expense of people who chose to pursue more lucrative professions (who also pay higher taxes- as it should be) . People always seem to get angry at the wrong people on MN.

Jon you’re a wee trouper. Absolutely no saints here in fact all nurses are not heroes far far from it.

@mammy28

Nurses here at ward level( you know actually working with the sick and needy ) 12.5 hrs night shift and been doing it for 50+ yrs and still there . Get a life peeps on MN . I wasn’t clever enough back in the 60s to better my position but NOW !!!!!! way TOO clever to get involved in all that paperwork when my patients need care. If I’d wanted to be a secretary I never would’ve sought a job in hospitals. Sorry ! just a rant at braggers... canny go them.

Your colleagues must love you.

@mammy28

Nurses here at ward level( you know actually working with the sick and needy ) 12.5 hrs night shift and been doing it for 50+ yrs and still there . Get a life peeps on MN . I wasn’t clever enough back in the 60s to better my position but NOW !!!!!! way TOO clever to get involved in all that paperwork when my patients need care. If I’d wanted to be a secretary I never would’ve sought a job in hospitals. Sorry ! just a rant at braggers... canny go them.

And plenty of caring, hands on nurses earning good salaries. Even some who trained in the 70s. Saintliness and salary aren’t mutually exclusive, but selling the myth of nursing as a vocation rather than a profession isn’t doing anyone any favours. What do you think band 8’s earn? Is a consultant Midwife, a clinical nurse specialist working with cancer patients, and advanced nurse practitioner or a consultant paramedic covering out of hours might feel a tiny bit aggrieved for being described as a secretary. Band 8s must be from around £55k to £80k ish. Not huge wages but not comparable to low income and achievable by most qualified healthcare professionals. Because you chose not to, don’t dismiss those who worked hard to improve their knowledge and skills.

@mammy28

Nurses here at ward level( you know actually working with the sick and needy ) 12.5 hrs night shift and been doing it for 50+ yrs and still there . Get a life peeps on MN . I wasn’t clever enough back in the 60s to better my position but NOW !!!!!! way TOO clever to get involved in all that paperwork when my patients need care. If I’d wanted to be a secretary I never would’ve sought a job in hospitals. Sorry ! just a rant at braggers... canny go them.

Wow! Paperwork is pretty essential - even in a healthcare setting - I'm sure someone needs to document medication, that penicillin allergy, that special diet for celiacs, organise shifts to ensure there is enough staff on duty, order supplies, run payroll, pension provision, organise consultant's schedules aka secretaries etc- really weird attitude - direct care is not the only important task in a hospital...surely everyone's job should be valued.

achievable by most qualified healthcare professionals

Just think about that for a moment. How many Band 8 jobs are available? Their rarity means that they’re not achievable by most qualified healthcare professionals. The assertion that anyone can command a high salary is based on the obviously false premise that there’s an infinite number of these highly paid jobs.

@VinylDetective

achievable by most qualified healthcare professionals

Just think about that for a moment. How many Band 8 jobs are available? Their rarity means that they’re not achievable by most qualified healthcare professionals. The assertion that anyone can command a high salary is based on the obviously false premise that there’s an infinite number of these highly paid jobs.

Achievable but not inevitable. Yes the number of higher paid posts are finite but if you don’t take the first steps, you really stand no chance. The people who go the extra mile, who are determined, who focus on achievement and are willing to make some sacrifices are far, far more likely to see success. Shouting I’m a ward.nurse and have been for decades and anyone else is just a pen pusher is hardly inspiring others to at least try, try and try again.

Anyone not able to see a clear pathway needs to ask themselves why.

I’m thinking of a friend who was a healthcare assistant in elderly care, but is now Director of nursing at a large NHS trust in the north of England. It really is possible.

@CherryPavlova

I’m thinking of a friend who was a healthcare assistant in elderly care, but is now Director of nursing at a large NHS trust in the north of England. It really is possible.

There’s always an outlier who proves it’s possible. Possibility and probability are entirely different things. It also assumes that a healthcare assistant who’s motivated by hands on patient care would want a role, however highly paid, that meant virtually no patient contact.

I've always been interested by healthcare in France, because I have spent a long time there, and they have a highly rated healthcare system. One of the differences I have noted there, is that nurses often work for themselves, outwith the system. So if you need a dressing changed or an injection, you book into your local PRIVATE nursing office at a time that suits you. So they don't open just 9-5 or 10-4 or school hours. They are closed all afternoon, and reopen when people want to pop in on their way home from work. Typically, they are set up as self-employed, and they are usually quite senior nurses, who form a small business and rent offices close to a pharmacy, but they are not employed by a general practice and don't take orders. The charges are modest, and the patient recovers most of the cost from the cotisation element of their social taxes. I actually think it works way better than free at the point of delivery, as it responds to customer/patient demand one on one.

VinylDetective Indeed, but if you choose not to aim high you can hardly complain about a lower salary. She has plenty of direct patient contact, but only works on the wards once a month. Patient contact and direct care aren’t necessarily the same thing either.

If you want to earn more, there is often a way. It’s not an exclusive club forbidden to many. Not everyone will get the highest salaries but few people need to stay on zero hours, minimum wage, unless they choose to do so.

If you want to earn more, there is often a way. It’s not an exclusive club forbidden to many. Not everyone will get the highest salaries but few people need to stay on zero hours, minimum wage, unless they choose to do so

I completely agree but that’s not what this thread’s about. Or what you’ve been arguing.

@lizizdd

I live in the north east. I’m a student. My husband works 60+ hours a week. He earns around £19K a year. Even when I was a full time NHS nurse I only earned £28K a year. I’ve no idea where these jobs that pay so much come from. What do people actually do in them?

I do marketing for technology companies. An average deal is over £100,000 and each quarter the targets are £2-3 million. So if they pay me £10k a month but I generate 7 deals a month at £700,000- that's not a huge investment for them.

I work in a cash rich industry. That's the only reason I earn a lot. I'm from the north east too 👍

@doadeer and @Liziddd, one of you is clever and playing the game; the other is struggling to understand how the game works. Therefore, one is sharper than the other. Hire the clever one. (Rule one)