What do you do for a living?

[Didydani]

Hi all!

So, I was wondering what you all do for living? I'm looking at going back to work this year and haven't completely decided on a career yet. I want to go into something highly paid and something I'll enjoy.

When I say highly paid, Im talking about atleast £1000 - £2000 a month. Do any of you know what kind of career I'll make that sort of money in?

I'm not asking for exact figures either but if you could tell me how much you earn roughly a year, that would also be helpful.

Alot of you are probably wondering why i want something highly paid, and the reason for that is because I want to able to live comfortably and not have to struggle. I rent and want to be able to buy a house, to be able to go on holiday atleast once a year, to have something extra to save or spend and i want to learn how to drive, but a car and so on.

Thanks!

@Didydani

Hi all, thanks for your responses :) to those of you asking what I've done for a living before and what qualifications I have. Well I've been a waitress, had jobs in stores, been a volanteer and worked in a call centre.

I don't have many qualifications but the ones I do have are customer service related. I plan to resit my GCSES online however, since I got really rubbish grades in school and the career I've been looking at requires A to C in maths and English.

The career i mention is a dental nurse position. Usually you'd have to go to college and study it, but there are apprenticeships available. However, the agency who was managing the applications for the apprenticeship discriminated against me because I wasn't a school leaver. Too old to apply basically. They didn't advertise that though in the job description. They were looking for school leavers and could of put that in, which would of been helpful and saved me wasting time applying!

They wouldn't get funding to take you on as an apprentice so it would be silly of them to take you on really, they'd have to pay you fully out of their own pocket, and I assume pay for you education and qualifications. If you're over 19 don't bother applying for most apprenticeships unless you have something really good to offer and even then its probably a waste of time

I work in retail as a department manager in a supermarket. I have little qualifications but worked my way up from the bottom. The money is okay but I always work more hours than I'm contracted for so the work/life balance could be better. Also it's not been much fun with this pandemic going on but at the same time I realise I'm lucky to have a relatively secure job when so many people are being made unemployed. You could earn the wage you are looking for in a supermarket plus they have lots of opportunities to develop your career if you want it enough.

My last apprentice was 21. That's not true. The funding changes but there's no age limit to the scheme.

I'm a dental nurse In a hospital and we have student dental nurses ranging from 16-45 atm. If you want a highly paid job then I'm afraid you're in the wrong place! I'm on 21K with 12 years experience. I did work in London on 30k but that was 12 hour days plus a lot of post qualifications etc. I prefer being on less money for an easier job

@Nohomemadecandles

My last apprentice was 21. That's not true. The funding changes but there's no age limit to the scheme.

Ah okay, I only got this info from my last employer. I don't think I'm wrong in thinking the funding reduces as the employee gets older though

It changes whether you get paid a lump sum to take them. The new covid ones are different again. But the premise of the normal scheme is they are available to any age over 16.

Nurse. 20 years experience £1500 ish/mth part time for a very busy job with a lot of responsibility. GCSEs, A levels, Bsc Hons degree, POst Grad Dip & various Diplomas. Lots of variety, difficult to progress witgout constantly studying which is hard with 4 kids & a job. But I do like what I do.

Web developer, full time would be £45k (~£2850 a month) but I'm part time so only £28k. I did an apprenticeship 5 years ago which was mostly a foot in the door, the qualifications mean F all.

Im a teacher. 27k a year, works out as £1650 a month after deductions.

Have you considered going back to college? I teach on an access to HE course (for adults) it is essentially gets them the quals they need to get to uni within 9 months.

Hi all, thanks again for all of your responses. :) my apologies for not replying sooner! I'd almost forgotten about this thread. To those of you asking if I've considered going back to college, yes I have.

I did apply for a HE access course about a year a go or so, but didn't manage to pass the test/assessment for maths. English was fine, but maths I clearly need to brush up on, hence why resitting my GCSES will help!

Although, now that ive given it some thought, i could study maths online in the meantime whilst I decide on what course I'd like to do, then I'll be more prepared and knowledgeable for the maths assessment.

I'm definitely still considering apprenticeships and will look into college as another alternative. I'll look up as much information as I can about apprenticeships, and in the meantime also keep an eye out for employers who offer training on the job for people with very little to no experience, as this is of course helpful and valuable.

I'm a senior academic and earn about 59k.justbover 3k per month after deductions. But it's bloody hard, competitive, thankless work.

Physically easy, pleasant jobs that pay well require university qualifications (or a very slow climb of the ladder)

Otherwise you can pick from unpleasant (eg prison security guards and garbage collectors pay well) or hard work (builder, bricklayer etc).

Physically easy, pleasant jobs that don't need qualifications (or long history of experience) are going to pay poorly.

You haven't said how old you are but I think if you're 23 or older you've missed the boat on an apprenticeship unless you get really lucky.

If you have a field you are really passionate about already and have experience in, then you can form a plan for the next couple of years to get into a good job there. Rather than looking for a job that will pay well but you have no passion for, as that will just lead to disappointment

I work in sales - no qualifications and little experiance in sales (career change 4.5 years ago but at 36 I have plenty of life experience) and earn just over 50k- if I was London based I could easily double that.

I'm in a job that I love when it goes well but god it's stressful. There's a self life on this role and couldn't be getting this stressed when in my 50s.

How old are you OP? Do you have dependants or large financial responsibilities? Take time to look at what you enjoy doing and what you need to do that role?

@AuntyJack I have a physically easy job, my education goes up to college/sixth form level but that's not that helpful I think, I could be earning over £60k (I don't because I want to work part time and part time isn't common). I've been doing my job for a bit over 5 years and have gone from £12.5k as apprentice to £45k (3 different companies to get increases). Lots of my colleagues went to uni but I earn the same I think and I'm younger. Oh and I had a baby in that time too.

It's not all uno or low pay/unpleasant