To ask what your high-paying jobs are?

[patienceandprudence]

My DD is in uni doing History. We’re working class through and through, and while she we were chatting about jobs she said that more than anything she’d like to earn a good amount. I’ve no idea what to suggest and DD only came up with a role in the Civil Service.

I always see people on here with high-paying jobs. What could she do with a History degree?

@TheProvincialLady

I have a degree that is similar to history. I would recommend that she steers clear of any obviously history related jobs eg museums, heritage as they are woefully paid and insecure. I currently work in NHS project management and earn £65k+ with lots of prospect for promotion. If she’s very well organised and a good communicator it’s worth pursuing.

If you don’t mind me asking, how did you get into that field, and how long did it take to be at a senior level earning £65k?

Media buying
Chartered accountant

History and academia is on the skids due to the sheer number of history Phd's chasing every job. Unless she's really niche like cold war I'd walk away and even then it's likely to be a struggle.

If she was keen on education how about thinking laterally and looking at Learning & Development (niche areas like EDI/Unconscious bias training) possibly moving into career coaching.

Moving into a consultancy / big four environment could be a well paid option that is more likely to take on generalist candidates. Worth exploring but very competitive. Also the NHS management trainee scheme is worth looking at.

I did English Lit as my main degree and I now work in programme management as a Director. My full time package is over £150k including benefits and I can work flexibly too. I really enjoy my job. Younger members of my team with only a few years work experience are already on £65-70k plus benefits.

I’m on £60k in local government finance with a history degree. Many history graduates end up in finance, obviously with the big 4 firms there is scope to earn a lot more than I do.

@patienceandprudence

My DD is in uni doing History. We’re working class through and through, and while she we were chatting about jobs she said that more than anything she’d like to earn a good amount. I’ve no idea what to suggest and DD only came up with a role in the Civil Service.

I always see people on here with high-paying jobs. What could she do with a History degree?

She can go into law after graduating.

Alternatively, she could try for roles in bank (ie. sales) which doesn't have an emphasis on math.

Politics is another idea with a history degree.

Teaching at higher level and academia is better paid than standard teaching jobs

The people I know earning 6 figures or close to it work in:

Banking Tech
Actuary (?) or similar for a big 4 in london.
One friend has a phd and works for Big Pharma, but in ops now, not as a scientist.
Investment banker
Surgeon

To make big money, you generally have to work with money, not with people. There is sadly very little money in doing good for the world.

With a history degree, she could look at studying governance in the future - company secretaries can make 6 figures in london and very decent money elsewhere.

I work with people and do good in the world, DH sells his soul. We balance each other out

Just as an aside but the unhappiest I have ever been was in jobs I went for the specific reason they were high paying.

If I earnt bonuses, promotions etc that was different, but just going for a high salary really didn't equate with happiness / interest / feeling like I was doing something worthwhile.

Possibly they were the wrong jobs but even so...

This is probably a silly question, but what is the big four?

Judging by the number of things I don’t understand in this thread it’s no wonder I’ve never got far

Maths is no issue for DD, she hasn’t done it for years (didn’t like it much) but did well and grasped the concepts quickly

@patienceandprudence

This is probably a silly question, but what is the big four?

Judging by the number of things I don’t understand in this thread it’s no wonder I’ve never got far

Not a silly question, it’s the four largest accountancy firms - PwC, Deloitte, EY and KPMG.

The Big 4 are Deloitte, Ernst & Young, PWC and the other one which I can never remember.

They are giant accounting firms who provide accounting, auditing, actuarial services etc for large companies.

Fairly sure they do graduate programmes

KPMG is the other one of the big 4

OP you still haven’t what said what ‘high paying’ means? How high? You have to be careful with humanities degrees, they are unlikely to make you mega bucks nowadays, since going to university became so utilitarian. Too many people with too many irrelevant degrees. STEM is what is in demand and what is likely to get you into high paying jobs. If she is not necessarily interested in a career for which she needs a History degree, she should re consider her choice of degree.

DH - engineering, about 86k
Me - workforce planning, about 65k FTE.

Both outside of London.

DH took a significant paycut (nearly half) to move to the UK.

I know decent grad starting salaries in management consultancy (lowest I’ve heard is 29k). Accountancy doesn’t pay the most at first but really shoots up when they are qualified (easily on 40k+ 3 years after graduating). Health & safety also earns a decent amount and is sought after.

All the history students who wanted to be wealthy that I know went into law

Meant to say most of the Big 4 now look for people who haven’t just done an accountancy degree, but have strong interpersonal skills & are able to explain difficult concepts in simplified terms.

I’m a chartered accountant / project manager and DH is a civil engineer / project manager. Whilst we both had relevant degrees, plenty of people we trained with had history, geography, science etc degrees.

In the north here, earn six figures part time. Accountancy is your friends, lots of different areas to specialise into (I'm in transactions tax, one of the more well-paid). Any degree considered but you need very very good A level results and it's years of extra study and training. And that salary is probably only achievable in the bigger firms. I've always worked for the big 4 (Deloitte, KPMG, EY, PwC) but the mid-tier salaries are competitive (GT, RSM, BDO, PKF) and even some of the smaller ones like Mazars.

@RosesAndHellebores

Law/HR However I would caveat that with also being very numerate. DH was a high earner because his specialism was finance related. I climbed the greasy HR pole because it's increasingly about data and metrics.

What does she want to do? What does she love? She'll never make a fortune without passion for the role.

This is a really good video on having passion for what you do. It's something I completely agree with. And I say that as a tax lawyer. 😂

twitter.com/goodtaxtakes/status/1441912980703092737?s=21

This is a really good video on having passion for what you do. It's something I completely agree with. And I say that as a tax lawyer. 😂

twitter.com/goodtaxtakes/status/1441912980703092737?s=21

Hard agree with this!

Accountancy. Potential once a chartered accountant to stay in it or to become a Finance Director in business or other big organisation. Structured training which as she's bright and numerate she should cope with fine.

I am a history graduate turned Civil Servant - my starting salary was £27k, £53k at 23 and I am now on £75k at 31

City lawyer