Higher earner, late starter

[Turefu]

There’s thread about how to become higher earner in finance. Lots of answers says join graduate program. My situation is different. I’m in my mid-forties , I’ve done degree in economics in my home country twenty years ago, but never used it. I moved to UK soon after and had few low paid jobs, stayed there for many reasons. I join large bank five years ago, branch, call
centre and now treasury. But wage is very low, just above minimum wage. I’m frustrated with it. I’m studying for AAT level 3 now. How I get into better paid jobs? I’m applying , I’m getting interviews, but not further. Recently I saw job advert as assistant accountant , minimum AAT4 , three years experience , salary 20-25k. Am I being unrealistic it’s low? I want to develop my career, graduate programs are not an option for me.

What about something like the Financial Ombudsman? They are often hiring Investigators and Ombudsman/Managers. Or getting into compliance?

So I had to work my way up like this after a 2.2 excluded me from grad roles.

in my bank the age of your degree would exclude you from the scheme.

i did:
1st year: contractor in Retail Bank in basic data entry role, just over min wage
2nd year: contractor, switched to bigger brand bank + Investment, basic level data entry role.
3rd year: onboarded as perm employee due to track record
4th year: first internal promotion.
5th year: internal transfer to project management, trained on the job as internal candidate.
6th year: developed specialism in AI- not an actual coder but from a project/ops manager perspective. The niche field put my skills in demand.
7th year: start managing team, promotion to a major rank, serious pay rise (had been incremental year on year until this point).

The reason I moved from Retail Bank was because I noticed that 90% of the people in the office in my town were entry level roles and low paying with very minimal manager jobs. Most of the projects/growth jobs for that bank were in London and I didn’t want to move,

Bank 2 based all of the projects/managements roles with the higher salary in the office in my town, therefore this is my long term career plan and that’s why I moved. I am constantly pushing my managers for more opportunities/more skills development/proving I have delivered and am ready to step up.

The graduate route is a great way into accountancy. If you can get into a big 4 firm as well it will really open doors for you. It’s not an easy route - during busy season it can be very long hours and trips away but can be very rewarding; whilst the pay might not start out great it can escalate quickly.

However, as others have mentioned, I would seriously suggest focusing on standards of writing and communication first. This isn’t to be cruel, but graduate schemes and in fact any higher level jobs can be highly competitive and strong standards of English in applications are an absolute must, otherwise your application could be quickly ruled out unfortunately.

With econ & treasury background, you could try a project coordinator role in banking/fintech and work your way up to project manager roles

Would you consider the public sector? Finance graduate schemes at councils, government departments, NHS are often open to people who graduated longer ago or have come through alternative routes. I studied CIPFA when I was 22 and was in the minority as a fresh grad, most were older and many had studied AAT first. It’s an ageing sector where there ought to be opportunities in years to come.

If you’re in a retail bank, try swapping to an investment bank. Salaries are higher but so are the hours and stress.

Most of the investment banks are cutting back on jobs right now. And the competition is intense. No disrespect to the OP but she hasn't mentioned anything in her experience which demonstrates she might be IB material. I think she'd be better off staying in retail banking which is much less brutal and working her way up there. I know several people who have started in call centres, become supervisors then managers and are now earning excellent money and are very well regarded. A people management role is more likely to appreciate/utilise the OP's life experience whereas roles where the OP has to learn Python etc put her at a disadvantage as she'll be competing with young bright grads who are willing to work crazy hours and don't have 20 years work history to explain. Rightly or wrongly, it matters. OP needs to try and play to her strengths/advantages.

Hi!
I’ve been sending CV recently , internally and externally, and had some interviews. I’ve just been accepted for role on the higher grade! I’ll receive a pay rise, though very small one. It’s a promotion for me, I’m very happy. I’ll sit my next AAT exam soon, I want to complete at least level 3, I’ve started , so I want to finish.