Another jobs one

[Croesus101]

DH has had a windy career path - over 15 years experience in a public facing role of some type including working as a teacher, police officer, environmental officer and, more recently, politics. He has a degree in International Relations and Politics and a masters in International Relations. His current role is working as a parliamentary aid to an MP. Salary wise he has not been able to earn more than circa £35k, partly because of changing roles a lot and partly because his areas of interest don’t pay a lot. He would like to earn more (£50k/£60k) but doesn’t think he has the type of experience that commands a high salary. I disagree because I think there must be a way to leverage his wealth of public service and parliamentary experience into a private sector job that pays more. I initially thought of a lobbyist/public affairs officer type role but that pays around the same salary as his current job and I can’t think of anything else. Any ideas??

I suspect his main problem is not sticking at a job long enough to hit the higher salary levels. All those fields will have higher paid roles but they require years of experience. Every time you significantly change career you basically go back to the bottom of the pay scales again.

MP looks the obvious choice.

Yes but over my dead body!

@Coronationstation this is probably at least partly true but then again you hear about how jumping around gets you a higher salary. It’s taken him a while to find something he is really interested in and tbh he’s not quite there but is now focussed on increasing his salary.

He should apply and apply and then apply more, even if it means he gets feedback from each interview he'll soon get to know what recruiters are looking for and be able to tailor his applications/interview answers.

what job does he want to do?
Mira all well and good you having ideas but he needs to do the job so he might as well be happy

Jumping around works if you're jumping round proves that you're building experience in a specific field. If you're mindlessly jumping round and there's no clear career path it will be detrimental.

For example I left a nice job I loved but was bored, used the experience from that and did a diagonal move, same field different role. That job meant I got the skills to go for a more senior version of that role which I did then sidestepped out into the sector I wanted to be in.

Went from 20k to 60k salary in a few years. You need to be savvy about it.

@MollysBrolly he says he can’t actually see any of these well paid jobs advertised. Ive looked too and also can’t see them. But I reckon they are just not advertised well and half the battle in getting a good job is finding out about the vacancy in the first place!

@Bringonthepitchforks i agree, he’s really keen to make some strategic moves now as following his interests hasn’t really helped to date in terms of career progression.

It’s not partly true, it’s very true - looking at teaching pay scales and what he could have been earning with 15yrs experience and additional responsibilities. Jumping around only helps if you move within the same industry and take your experience and skills with you.

@Coronationstation I think he has been brave so far in trying something out and then leaving it when he realised it wasn’t for him. But obviously that has had an impact on his salary.

Grateful for any other suggestions MN’ers may have!

I’m not saying he’s not brave or shouldn’t have made the moves but you need to appreciate that earning £50-60k with only 4-5 years relevant experience, or even no experience if he changes field again is a big ask!

What about the charity sector - lots of policy/influencing type roles like this one

https://www.charityjob.co.uk/jobs/the-difference/education-policy-lead/915406?tsId=2

@Whatsinyourbag thank you for your suggestion and the link. I have had a look at policy lead and public affairs roles and my DH absolutely has the experience for them! Salaries are around £50k which is an increase on what he is currently on.

He has a lot of parliamentary experience related to UK trade and I wonder if there are any public affairs roles in that sector. Thanks again for the idea as it has sparked another one!