To ask what your job is if you earn £50k plus

[CareerInspirationRequired]

Just that really!

I'm in a job that I fell into many years ago. Its OK but I'm bored. It's a professional job that many people would think earns about twice what it does. I'm on approx 30k (people are always shocked to learn this) and will be forever in this job (no real promotion open to me). Its a sector a LOT of people want to work in and in which some people will work for free. The result is we are actually paid very little - and people outside the sector are always shocked by this.

I'm considering a career change, but have no ideas what to. So if you're earning 50k plus sell me hour career. I have a degree, an MA and I'm sure lots of transferable skills.

Head of Comms for a charity. £60k. Took a massive pay cut from from PR agency role (£100k) but wth. No commuting costs or childcare so didn't lose as much as it sounds and am a lot happier.

Strategy management consulting for a top 3 firm. I earn £140k, 5 years after joining, plus ~25% bonus. I had 4 years industry experience prior to this. It's London based.

I have a first class degree from Oxbridge, and it's incredibly competitive to get into. The hours are pretty long but not unmanageable (I work on average 830-1930) and the performance management is intense - you are constantly reviewed and pushed, and it's an 'up or out' model so if you're not performing well (or even just average) you can't stay in your current role, you have to either be good enough to get promoted every 2 years, or else you are managed out and have to leave, which is stressful.

My husband earns almost exactly the same and is senior management (executive team/C-suite) in a small company in the financial sector.

@Unsoliciteddeckpic I read that as interrogations

Looks like the charity sector will waste 50K+ on staff as well

jobs.oxfam.org.uk/vacancy/senior-advisor-gender-diversity--inclusion-0698/14305/description

I have a 2:1 degree from a good redbrick uni and then a MA, and other post-grad work, and 50K seems a huge salary to me, and some of the other salaries quoted for paper pushing - my word! I am in a very specific employment area (can't say as will likely identify me) and have been able to be self employed which I like very much though no sick pay or pension. I love my job and am never bored, but goodness no wonder goods and services cost so much if this is what people earn in the management sector. Doctors, dentists, vets I can understand. But the rest????

My other half in different sector, similarly qualified to me also has never earned anywhere near 50K.

Lawyer

@TakeMeToKernow

Those who are doctors…. Would you recommend it as a second profession? If someone 30s or 40s wanted a career change, would it be worth it?

A friend is doing that now at 39 and just had a baby partway though her rotations. It's hard but she loves it! Just choose specialism wisely as you might not want to do ER/ A&E as you get older.

Clinical Psychologist. Just on £50k when in NHS. A lot more now I’m in private practice.

I have similar qualifications @ChristinaXYZ and it all comes down to how much you can contribute to the company’s bottom line.

My team saves our company on average £1.2 million per year in various costs. Last year, we saved the business £2.8 million and not only kept everyone’s jobs but employed a further 400 people.

That’s why I earn what I earn because of the value and impact the role has.

Equally my DH has a 2.1 from a good uni & an MSc. He earns double what I do because he is the only person in his company that can do what he does & has the experience. So they pay him a fortune to do it & also train others how to do it, who are cheaper.

Senior account manager in aviation $125k

Scientist, northern England. I have a PhD though and that took 3.5 years to get on top of a 4 year science degree. I wouldn’t earn as much without the PhD.

Hi @Zilla1
In my experience, it’s mostly luck and being in the right place at the right time. For example, I am currently looking for business writers, and I’m only reaching out to friends in the business to see if anyone knows of anyone available. I prefer not to work with agencies because they tend to be more expensive and don’t pass on all of the fees to the writers. LinkedIn would be my second port of call. If your relative is just starting out, working for an agency would be a good way in.

My husband is an Air Traffic Control Officer in the Air Force, his salary is 110000, plus bonuses and subsidised rent. There are pay rises every year until his next promotion, when he moves to a higher pay grade. Within the next 5 years, he expects to be on around 150000. Air Traffic Controllers can make a lot more in the civilian world though.

Practice Clinical Pharmacist in a GP surgery in Wales. Been qualified over fifteen years and earning around £60k pro rata. Like medicine, pharmacy takes a while to get in to though. For my job, or a hospital pharmacist role which would pay around £50k pa, you would need the following:
Four year MPharm undergrad degree
One year pre-registration training and exams
Two year post-grad diploma in clinical pharmacy
One year independent prescribing course

Cybersecurity- 150-180k

Software engineer here. Entry level pay is £45k+.

www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/figures-reveal-50000-gulf-in-law-graduate-pay-/5109018.article

Interesting read about law graduates. It really does depend where you end up.

Data Protection Manager £70k plus bonus

I should add I don’t have a degree

HOD large Secondary (Manchester) Not boring, demanding, v. hard work. Inflexible. Need resilience / confidence.

Regional Manager Insurance Company + car + mortgage subsidy etc. Graduate but several not. Started as rep. trained on the job - commission only, 5 years before. (North) Enjoyable if you like people. Good pay if good at job. Lot of flexibility for people with children. Could choose own hours.

Independent Financial Adviser ( S/E) own company. ( North) Great job. Flexible. A 'people' job. V. Interesting. Varied. Flexible hours.

Barrister (London ) c £200k Oxbridge GDL BPTC 10 years call Commercial/ Public etc. Hard work, pressured, lot of freedom, v. interesting. Not for the faint hearted. Need bags of self belief / confidence / intelligence.

Programme Manager for a multi National conglomerate eating >GBP50k plus bonuses on a part time contract.

Crouch yes re law. I picked commercial law options during my law degree and I only applied to large City firms. I always tell people the legal profession is divided - not really between barristers and solicitors but more between the high paid bits and low paid bits. Not all teenagers make an informed choice so the more they can research which parts pay better than others the better (if pay matters to them).

A lot of the high paid careers above like law require 6 or 7 years before you even qualify so it is not that people walk into these jobs. For me it started with getting the best A levels in the school rather than going out to parties. It has been a very long haul to get to where I am now.

@FizzyPink

Sales. £50k + basic and then probably another £20-30k a year in commission/bonuses. Obviously it massively depends on the industry you work in though. I do new business for an advertising agency and someone in my team with 2 years experience post uni is on £40k already.

This.

Not everyone is successful in sales but you can start in junior positions quite easily on 30k+. It's a soft skill rather than a certified vocation. If you're good (and it's hard to be good unless you've naturally got a knack) you can be on 100k very very easily.

Software / hardware / advertising / even recruitment if you want to lump that in

I am a “ stylist “
I earn anything from 150,000 - 300,000 a year.

I'm currently in HE (social sciences) and I'm in another big UK city (not London)

Ha ha ha! I wondered if you were in HE. I'm a senior professor, but didn't hit £50k until I was around 50, had been a professor for about 5 years, and won a series of competitive research grants. I now earn almost double £50k, but that has taken me 30 years of really hard graft, and a huge (and expensive) move. And I still tend to work 6 days a week during term time.

I'm not surprised that your solicitor & medico friends think you earn the same as them. It used to be that a Senior Lecturer (assumed to be the eventual "career grade" in universities) earned around the same as a backbench MP. Oh were that still the case! We're paid less than high-ranking civil servants with similar qualifications.

In terms of qualifications, ability & experience in relation to salary, academics are woefully underpaid.

@Xenia

Crouch yes re law. I picked commercial law options during my law degree and I only applied to large City firms. I always tell people the legal profession is divided - not really between barristers and solicitors but more between the high paid bits and low paid bits. Not all teenagers make an informed choice so the more they can research which parts pay better than others the better (if pay matters to them).

A lot of the high paid careers above like law require 6 or 7 years before you even qualify so it is not that people walk into these jobs. For me it started with getting the best A levels in the school rather than going out to parties. It has been a very long haul to get to where I am now.

And you think that I and my colleagues didn't have to work so hard to end up in non commercial jobs?

You think we just had a jolly and didn't have to work as hard as you at school or in the work place.

There is a divide in law between solicitors as evidenced by your post. The arrogance still astounds me with corporate lawyers