to ask if you think this salary is reasonable or am I being greedy?

[bkyegres]

I qualified as a solicitor in 2016, so I’m around 7 years pqe. I’m paid 62k in Bham, commercial rather than private client work. I’ve only just paid off my student loan last year and honestly I feel like the firm are taking the piss… all the studying and expense feels ridiculous to be seven years on and barely over 50k. Obviously I know what some other firms pay and I can look into it further with recruiters but I am starting to wonder if you have to join a new company for any decent pay these days?! I could have skipped uni and worked my way up to this salary by now so it all seems a bit pointless.

I think you're well paid. I'm a graduate from a really excellent uni and I make less than a third of what you do! In fairness, I didn't do all the extra training and just did my BA, but even still

You are not being unreasonable (when considering the industry standard). I am a qualified solicitor in London only 2 yr PQE on 75% more than you. I would change roles if I was you & even consider doing a London role remotely. I have a colleague earning 6 figures in my London firm/team but works fully remotely from the midlands….. only travels down for client meetings/internal events (one or twice per month max). My team average hours are 9.30-7pm - so it is possible without American firm culture. Good luck

Are you a solicitor working in the same
market as OP? If so what are your salary expectations in seven years.

OP has foolishly come in to an open forum and people are giving opinions on her salary which are in no way relevant.

No, I'm not a solicitor but one of her complaints was that she may as well have "skipped her degree and worked her way up in the same time"....to £62k...without a degree. I was merely pointing out that while that's possible, it certainly isn't a given that you'll get a salary like that without any degree at all and that in fact, even with a good degree you can still end up on very little. Hth

Actually I disagree, I have increased my salary by $20000 in 5 years by moving.

But one persons experience is absolutely not universal. You are earning Farouk’s d minus wage - which is below average for a university graduate. You also have no idea what you will be eating in seven years.

seven years after graduating I was probably earning the equivalent of OP’s salary - as where my fellow graduates - some a lot more. We’ve twenty years ago non of us started out on a salary as low as yours.

unless you are in an industry which pays low at the starts then accelerates quickly you need to be goalie or rethink if salary is your main objective (if not and if you are happy crack on)

Just because they do the grunt work, doesn't mean they're not highly qualified?

I didn't say they should be paid the same?
But given they are the backbone, and with the hours they put in, I think they deserve more than they're paid.

And no, I'm not a nurse.

Earning About minimum wage that should say!

I think there may be a few little typos in your post, so I'm not 100% sure what it is you're saying.... However, I'm perfectly happy thanks 😊

But the op isn't, despite earning a lot more than I do. She was asking our opinions about this - I categorically didn't ask for yours or for your advice. Hope that clarifies.

Good Lord, get a new job! I work for a city law firm…I’m admin and I earn more than you.

Look at a salary benchmarking survey. That will tell you if you're paid in line with others for the job you do.

I earn 28k and I can barely afford to survive. I appreciate your experience but please bear in mind that 62k is a dream income.

Sorry yes on my phone. What I was saying was you earn close to minimum wage. You aren’t typical for a graduate - certainly not
one from I assume Oxford or Cambridge.

your personal experience is therefore unlikely to be relevant to OP as he/she is clearly driven by money (like many of us) and you are not.

yes there will be a lot of people who earn a lot less than OP who have degrees - but there will also be people who earn significantly more. You have chosen one path in thousands and therefore your experience doesn’t not mean OP couldn’t have earned more i a different profession - which she clealry could have.

Can anyone else smell something? I think I might have caught a whiff of a humble brag

Yes, terrible salary. Move companies.

So that's c£3620 take home? It's only reasonable if it's in the benchmark for your job and experience. Obviously, many other professions pay less to people with better qualifications than you and some pay more to people with no quals but talent in their field eg IT sales.

So go benchmark don't come here asking questions cos you'll get roasted!!!

I qualified in science 7 years ago and started off on a rubbish €28k (as I got the job before my exams finished!) and now after 2 promotions I am earning 67k as a senior Engineer . Have you had any promotions in that time? It's hard to work up on yearly increases alone of say 2% you will never get anywhere different as inflation will always out pace the increase. You need to move roles or companies to negotiate. I've also once rejected a 4% pay increase before with the tag line 4% of nothing is nothing and I wanted to be brought up to the rest of the team, so rejection went in and I got a 15% increase up to the benchmark. You can do it!!!!

Also for all the teachers, I don't think it's fair to compare like for like. Look at the hourly rate of the hours worked and you will get a good comparison of rates.
I work 44hours a week 45.6 weeks of the year so 2006 hours a year so that works out at €33 per actual hour worked. Her in ROI primary teachers only work about 900 hours (thats including plenty of extra time) a year and earn about €49k after 7 years which works out at €54 per hour worked. So 40% more than me per hour worked. It's really not like for like.

I'm not denying that they do valuable work and should be fairly paid for it. Like many other people working in the public sector.

But where is the money going to come from?

People like the OP are already taxed to the hilt.

I’ve always found that you need to leave to get a decent pay rise - employers will give you inflation rises but not one that keeps up with the job market

Amen!

No it cannot. 12000 would be less than minimum wage if full time.

Why didn’t you train as a lawyer then?

or how about this, when you’re striking if the cleaner turned up and said you can’t earn more because I don’t would that be ok?

I know.
There is no money.
I'd rather they didn't put taxes up either.

So do you think that people like the OP should be happy to be paid less than other people doing the same job as her because there is no money to increase your salary?

No, I did not say that.
Can you see anywhere where I've said that?
Given I'm self employed, I can only ask myself for a pay increase 😅
I said if I wasn't happy with my salary, I would move to another company.
Which I did, I decided to work for myself.
However, I do not believe that taxes or NI should be increased either.
As I'm self employed, as is my husband, we are crippled by these as it is, and I'd be deeply unhappy if they were increased.
OP is in a position where she can and most probably will be able to find much better pay, whereas emergency services cannot if they want higher pay.
But from another angle, they do know wages before they decide to enter their chosen field, so it is hard to justify all the strikes.
When there is no money in the pot so to speak, where do they think the extra is coming from.
Without raising taxes / NI, there is no money for these pay increases being demanded without raising the cost of living even further, making any pay increase minimal.
I do think we should stop spending so much abroad, and concentrate on the cost of living crisis here.
We need to look after our own first and foremost, and that isn't happening.
Unless you're extremely high up in Govt, don't even get me started on their wages and perks!