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?

How about Brand Management in a company she respects or for a product she genuinely likes? A friend of mine earned a small fortune rising to the top of an international company doing this with a humanities degree. She loved her job and is filthy rich. Also from a working class background. If you pick your company carefully, they look after their graduate trainees.

I did history and do marketing. It's very high paid

[quote patienceandprudence]@RosesAndHellebores History is her passion, wirh education being a close second, unfortunately neither of those interests will ever lead to a highly paid job. The plan was primary teaching until we met her favourite primary school teacher last summer, who told her she had left teaching and to never ever go into it.[/quote]
Academia and university lecturing? She’d make 50k as a senior lecturer…no idea how competitive history jobs are and she’d need to do further study after her degree.

Law (solicitor) is the obvious choice. Lots of history graduates - I'd you go into city, they will pay for your GDL and LPC course. Starting salary c.55k, then after 2 years (when you qualify) c.90-100k. It goes up from there.

The big consumer companies / retailers will have grad programmes where you get to try out various functions of the head office business. The likes of Unilever, P&G, RB. That would be a great starting point for someone who isn’t sure what they want.

My brother got a history degree, spent quite a bit of time afterwards serving meatballs in IKEA, then did a masters and then got on the civil service grad scheme.

Following as I have a history degree and have always been in shit jobs.

@patienceandprudence

Do six-figure jobs exist outside of London without starting your own business?

Yes if you're an experienced lawyer or partner in a regional office of a top 50 firm you will be earning six figures.

Ditto as a senior government lawyer (just about)

Academia and university lecturing? She’d make 50k as a senior lecturer…no idea how competitive history jobs are and she’d need to do further study after her degree.

Holy crap please don’t. Academia in the humanities is total dumpster fire territory these days. There are no jobs. It’s soul destroying.

DS is a junior Business Analyst on 30k with no degree and two years work behind him. Senior BAs on consultancy average around 65-80k.

A lot rides on which uni shes at and what degree she gets.

She could be very highly paid if she goes into one of the top flight law, accountancy, management consulting firms.

But it's competitive- she'd need a 2.1 from a really good uni.

My DSis did a history degree and is passionate about the subject. She's trained as an archivist and is now Head of Special Collections at a large university. Very decent salary. If history is her passion there are well paid careers to find. Maybe not 6 figure careers but decent nonetheless.

I agree with @TheKeatingFive. I only wish ds agreed. However, 75/80 as a Prof and well over £100k as a Provost.

There are other routes in HE such as Registrar, University Secretary, Comms etc, which provide a reasonable work/life balance. The only tricky element is dealing with the academics.

@XelaM

Politics is another idea with a history degree.

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

I have a Politics PhD and work currently as a lecturer at a RG uni. Yes, I currently earn above national average - however, I also have 9 years of university degree under my belt, when I did not earn anything (and had to pay fees). What I now earn 'more' has not made up for those years of lost income during training.

Employment in academia is also incredibly insecure, with lots of 1-2 year temporary contracts. Some don't even pay you at all over the summer, just hiring folks for 9 months of term time. It often requires moving city. The working hours are absolutely ridiculous, allowing for no work-life balance. Pensions are not great, too, and are likely to deteriorate further.

I would not recommend it, to be honest.

She could do lots of things with a history degree.

Journalism, publishing, even law spring to mind.

@BumpsadaisieYou would be earning more than 6 figs as a senior associate in a law firm in a Top 100 regional

An example of the junior career options available at Deloitte. PwC, EY - etc will all have equivalent schemes

www2.deloitte.com/uk/en/careers/programmes.html

Location also matters a great deal. In law & accountancy, the city jobs pay a lot more than regional ones. And some cities pay more than others, i.e. London jobs are usually better paid than, say, in Bristol or Newcastle. A middle aged, experienced, Chartered accountant in a London firm could easily earn 6 figures, but may not even earn enough to be a higher rate taxpayer in, say, Preston, where there are jobs usually around the £40-£45k mark for experienced accountants/tax specialists.

You don't really get that kind of variation in the public sector due to national pay bargaining. Yes, there is the London (and other) weightings, but the weightings don't double or treble the pay compared with the regions.

As for engineering, again, location matters a lot, not necessarily for pay, but you're far more likely to have to move into regions or even abroad for the top jobs, and most aren't "jobs for life" as they're often project based.

My dh has a 6 figure job outside of London. He's an accountant. It takes time to get to that level though.

I did a history degree and after graduating got accepted onto a bank graduate training scheme. Since then, I’ve always worked in financial services and earn a multiple 6 figure salary.

Property investment

However, 75/80 as a Prof and well over £100k as a Provost.

But you don't get to such roles until aged 40-50+ (in humanities - progression to professor can be faster in other disciplines). The chance of a PhD student in history getting a permanent lecturer post is pretty small, as other posters have written.

There are other routes in HE such as Registrar, University Secretary, Comms etc, which provide a reasonable work/life balance. The only tricky element is dealing with the academics.

You don't get to senior roles like registrar until you have a lot of experience in more junior roles. I think it is a little native to think that the tricky element is dealing with academics cf continually changing government goalposts.

Another vote for law. I got a good law degree but I’m not a lawyer (didn’t do the post graduate bit, I was worried about incurring any additional debt and my parents couldn’t afford to support me through uni, let alone any more study. Also I had to live at home throughout uni because of money and I realllly wanted to start work and move out haha) - I work in ethics/compliance and despite being at a company that pays lower than average for my particular role, I still earn over 80k. I could earn more if I did the same job at a pharmaceutical or tech company, it just doesn’t appeal.

I did history and became a lawyer - pay is great.

I am the head of internal reporting for an engineering firm. I don't have a degree but spent 20 years working in Buisness and management information.

My wage is decent. But I was given shares in the company as part of my package, that pay out an equal amount to my wage. This year they paid out a lot more due to an investment in the company. This year my earnings (including shares) are approx 177k. Usually around 100k.

We are preparing to sell the company in 5 years, which is when the shares will produce the biggest amount and the whole reason I took the job.