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.

@MaverickDanger what is ‘workforce management’?

Headteacher. Essex

@Cottagepieandpeas it’s a way of optimising the productivity of staff - also known as resource management or strategic workforce planning.

It is managing resources (people in this case) effectively & involves planning, scheduling and budgeting. I basically make sure that there are the right people on projects with the right skills so that the projects start & end on time. Also then redeployment of resources in alignment with their development but making sure there is limited downtime for the business.

A pretty definite career path to retrain in with guaranteed work & good salary is as a P6 Planner. Massive shortages all round.

Solicitor in government. I have an accounting degree as well. I work in a niche commercial area which has a reputation for being difficult and/or dry and run a small team. Fairly long hours but I dont have to worry about making a fees target.

Engineer in a specialist area. Over your target and not in London.

HE project manager, West Mids based

IT Programme Manager

In house Solicitor - 4 days a week on 50k. Love my job and love that it pays well!

I'm glad you asked this! I was thinking about asking a similar thing. I'm in the same situation where I'm earning £37k (I'm top of a band 6 with the NHS) so a change would need to be financially worth it. I've never felt like this was the job for me. My ex talked me out of quitting early on in my career to train as a pilot. I feel like it's too late now and it wouldn't be compatible with my family life. I'm living with so many regrets that I don't want to stay in a job I don't like and regret not doing something about it now. I'm mid 30s so if I start retraining now I could be qualified (or nearly) doing something else by the time I'm 40.

@GrealishHairband

I’m a decision maker. 60k+ for a 4 day week. Really enjoy it but not sure what comes next as am still relatively young in my career.

What does that involve? What type of business do you work for?

This thread has inspired me to go on a bit of a job hunt and push myself beyond my comfort zone when it comes to applying for jobs with higher salaries. If I get one of them, I’ll buy you a drink OP

Mid 30s, chartered accountant. I started my career late but I earn six figures working 4 days per week and don't even have to manage anybody these days. It's bliss.

@FloconDeNeige

I have to say that I don’t think I can come back to UK salaries now I’m established in Switzerland. Most other ex-pats of almost every nationality feel the same.

So you could always consider re-locating, OP!

Yes. Even my friends here in the US who work in teaching and nursing are astonished at how much less they'd earn if they moved to the UK. They quite often float the idea with me to get my feedback, then back off PDQ.

OP - that's probably not much help to you, sorry.

@changingdirection

I'm glad you asked this! I was thinking about asking a similar thing. I'm in the same situation where I'm earning £37k (I'm top of a band 6 with the NHS) so a change would need to be financially worth it. I've never felt like this was the job for me. My ex talked me out of quitting early on in my career to train as a pilot. I feel like it's too late now and it wouldn't be compatible with my family life. I'm living with so many regrets that I don't want to stay in a job I don't like and regret not doing something about it now. I'm mid 30s so if I start retraining now I could be qualified (or nearly) doing something else by the time I'm 40.

Tbh given the current situation you're lucky you didn't become a pilot - many of them are now working in supermarkets instead on minimum wage having paid £100k to train!

You shouldn't stay in a job you hate though. It's never worth it.

@evtheria. - It kind of is, but you have to say no more often than you say yes, and there's always the risk that you back the wrong projects. I used to be in asset management and I was always much more sanguine about my financial investments that disappointed than I am about my social investments now.

Buyer for a retail company. DH is a software engineer and earns twice that but we live abroad and both our professions are much better paid here. I did earn £60-£70k as a buyer in London though.

I think if you want to retrain and walk into a well paying job, being a software developer is a great idea. I know several people who made that transition in a year or so.

Sex worker. Declared 65k last tax year.

Secondary assistant head, £60+k. I do wonder how I will sustain this for the next 20 years.

@TakeMeToKernow definitely don’t do it. Plenty of other careers with less training time a d more money. As I clinical fellow post CCT with 13 training years behind me (surgical specialty) I earned peanuts and dealt with the most obnoxious patients often. Not worth it.

(The only reason I said there is (which there is) a divide in law between high and low pay (which is a bigger divide then solicitor and barrister in my view) is to ensure people make sure their teenagers make informed choices. I was not implying the other poster who does different legal work has not worked extremely hard indeed as do many criminal legal aid barristers etc. It is just a pay point - children who watch criminal TV shows think that is for them and do not always realise that can mean they find it hard to pay bills. My only point was to make informed choices about pay - nothing to do with status. I employ no one and work from home since the 1990s - I have no interest in external showing off things like fancy offices or how many people work under me or anything like that)

I think you are exactly right Xenia. It is about parents ensuring children are able to make informed choices. That means academic qualifications usually as well as exposure to a range of career options.

I do think many of us are brought up with shame around money, "money doesn't buy happiness", find what you enjoy etc etc but no one ever told me to be sensible and look at pay. Even now when I say I changed careers for more money I can feel people recoiling, it's not a said thing. I'm not sure if it's because I'm a woman, or my class, or just the people I know, but I will be talking very frankly to my kids about making good choices and to consider what lifestyle they want and what income is required for that as well as finding something they enjoy.

I agree. I wish someone had pointed out that as much as I loved reading books, an English degree was not going to set me on a path to great riches! Seems obvious now but at 18 it wasn’t talked about. I’ve reached a kind of ceiling level in my career now and the options for moving sideways or up feel limited. But I’m going to try! And in the meantime look at further qualifications that might get me where I want to be without having to take a huge backwards step to work my way up.

I found my career choice interesting, I floated around different admin jobs up to 27 and I always felt I was behind my peers, my school friends who went off to be barristers (one is maybe head of legal at the NMC). I only just now feel worthy and unsurprisingly my pay is part of that

@DIYandEatCake

I have to admit, I’m reading this thread utterly gobsmacked. I honestly had no idea so many people earned so much. It must feel amazing to have so much money coming in. We’re comfortably off (partner and I earning around the figure being discussed between us, no debts, own house, savings), but are careful and haven’t had a foreign holiday for over 10 years etc etc. Starting to think I should seriously think about sorting my (non-existent) career out - mind slightly blown this morning!

@DIYandEatCake the problem is a lot of these types of jobs come with their own stress. There's a reason why most are paid at this level. I've had the opportunity to move upwards within a couple of the careers discussed but I see the people above me and for me, the stress, worse work/life balance having to deal with more difficult people/beaucratic processes further up, and exponential responsibility that comes from moving one step up is simply not worth the substantial increase in money.

Even though you earn less on paper, you'll be around the same standard of living as many of these posters if you're not having to use your salary for mortgage/rent (which eats up a HUGE chunk of salary, alongside increased cost of living , especially in london/South East) or on paying off debts (a lot of high earners are still paying off debt e.g. cars, credit card, holidays etc).

If you already have a comfortable existence, don't leave a job you like/provides good work life balance unless the job itself attracts you.