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.

Another freelance IT contractor working for investment banks in London. I earn over £700 per day on long-term contracts. A perm person in the same role could earn over £75k-£100k.

I’m a SL in HE. I don’t blame you for wanting to leave. I want to jump ship too but am not sure if what to do.
Despite having lots of skills, I wonder if our previous career will go against us. I think there is a lot of inverted snobbery with people thinking that academics have no common sense, practical skills etc.

@JinglingHellsBells

I think you are coming at this the wrong way *@CareerInspirationRequired*

Surely you need to talk to someone (career advisor/ career coach) on what you want to do and will be fulfilling rather than pluck a career off a forum because it pays over £50K?

You can also find salaries on websites like Indeed where there are jobs advertised, if you just want to explore what's out there.

I don't see how you will find the info you want here, because salaries depend on

location
experience
qualifications
individual companies

I've never known anyone choose a career based on the minimum salary they want to earn.

I do have an appointment booked with a career coach. I certainly don't think I can just pluck a career off a list on MN and there will be many (most) that I'm simply not qualified for. After 20 years in the same field I guess I'm a bit clueless about what other careers are out there and what their earning potential is. I posted to widen my eyes really.

Associate Professor at a University. Involved getting a PhD. It's an odd mix of intensive and stressful but flexible.

I was speaking to a bricklayer the other day who told me he can easily earn £50k such is the demand for experienced bricklayers.

Forensic collision investigator. Very specialised and maths and physics heavy. Best job in the world for me. I feel like I'm stealing my wage

Civil servants above Grade 7 (depending on department) will earn 50k and plenty of non-London locations.

@PoppityPop

I’m a SL in HE. I don’t blame you for wanting to leave. I want to jump ship too but am not sure if what to do. Despite having lots of skills, I wonder if our previous career will go against us. I think there is a lot of inverted snobbery with people thinking that academics have no common sense, practical skills etc.

I wonder this too. I also think HE is very good at keeping people in their silos and making them think their skills are useless in other fields (or that other fields are ethically dubious).

Head of Risk, public sector.

I don't have a degree or qualification related to risk management but I have worked in the field for almost 20 years.

Civil servant in a relatively specialised area. I started on 30k in London, have 11 years experience, been promoted twice, 75k now.

It's all relative though as most of the people i went to uni with went into law or banking and earn deep into six figures!

@Throwntothewolves

OP most people who earn above 50k have had to train for a long time andor have a lot of experience and responsibility in their job. So if you do find inspiration be prepared to graft to get where you want to be and be realistic that it wont happen overnight. It's harder to retrain as you get older, and if you have family and financial responsibilities meaning you are less flexible than you would otherwise be. Why not build on the skills and experience you have, or use them to change direction rather than starting over, which will likely mean a drop in salary?

That is what I'm thinking of doing. Just curious about what is out there. I've been in my field so long that I need to start thinking about what else my skills would apply to.

I’m not there quite yet but my grade goes up to and beyond £50k so in time I will be. I work in a legal role at a university.

I don’t have a degree though, it’s not necessarily a barrier to a good salary!

Accountant. The newly qualified trainees coming into my team are upwards of £50k.

Teacher

I lie. The qualified trainees are on more like £40k Managers are 50k.

@CareerInspirationRequired

I'm currently in HE (social sciences) and I'm in another big UK city (not London). Thanks everyone for the ideas. Please keep them coming.

I work in HE on the salary you're looking for, but as a senior administrator.

If you've done academic admin work as part of your academic role, eg quality assurance, working groups, committee member, writing research bids or business cases, you probably have the transferable skills to do senior university admin roles. Possibilities might be director/deputy of quality assurance, deputy registrar, international, student services.

If you want to build those skills up, then look for where you can gain experience - sit on or chair course approval panels, student disciplinary panels, Regulations committee. See if you can train to chair exam boards. Many academics don't want to take on admin responsibilities because they take time away from research and teaching, but if you're looking for a change and the chance to progress to a higher salary they can be very desirable for gaining experience.

@IntermittentParps

I'm surprised, OP, that many people would think you earn about twice 30k in HE. But then again I used to work in HE (in admin) so know what the pay is like! People I know on more than 50K (in London)… very few. A friend who's in communications, with big corporate clients. One person on quite a bit more, in investment banking. That's it really. I earn OK on paper (35–40K) but I'm freelance, so it varies; and any holiday/pension/sick pay etc I want has to come out of what I make, and there's no security.

I have friends who are solicitors/doctors who assume I earn the same as them. I think there is a myth that academics are earning comparable - and some are. I basically just teach and that isn't where the money is.

Wish when people said teacher they would specify whether primary or secondary. Very difficult in a lot of areas to even move above the main payscale (£36k) in primary now and even harder to maintain your pay level if you change schools.

HI OP, HNRTT but if you are an academic then have you looked at the Civil Service. There used to be a drive in DfE to recruit those with domain experience (much like DHSC try and recruit some HCPs) and a G7 would be c£50k and have progression in some circumstances.

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!

@Alannawhorideslikeaman it’s very much stakeholder negotiation and problem solving focused. My clients & internal stakeholders need solutions (aka people) and I’m there to provide the information or solution for them to decide on.

I’ve mainly worked in areas where there are skills shortages (accounting, engineering) and I’m there to optimise the workforce so that people with the right skills are working on the right clients at the right time in the project lifecycle.

I have an element of L&D in my role in terms of upskilling people so that we have a more flexible, more skilled and happier workforce that I can deploy more easily. Also heavily involved in strategic side of forecasting/budgeting and turning that into headcount & hiring strategy cycles.

Forgot to add - look at www.jobs.ac.uk in the managerial and admin roles, will give you an idea of what's out there.

Academics have good transferable skills.

How about HE regulation like the Office for Students?

I run own business with dh and we probably earn about that with dividends, off set electricity as home office etc. We do work hard though and it’s tough to take annual leave or time off as always need to answer the phone and emails.

Getting into any of the trades would be a good earner at the moment as all are really busy. We are so much busier than in the last 20 years and the demand is growing all the time.