Which ££££ career for my daughter?!

[HBGKC]

Hi all,

Off the back of all the recent high-salary threads on MN, I thought I'd ask for some suggestions for a job/career for my DD.

She's about to graduate from a Russell Group Uni with (probably) a 2:1 in Biomedical Sciences.

Her top priority is earning potential, particularly in the short-term (ie next 10 years) as she'd also like marriage and kids one day.

She's likely on the 'lighter' end of the autistic spectrum; she's very black-and-white, not what I'd call a people-person! She's professional, but not particularly emotionally aware, IYSWIM.

She did 3 sciences for A-level (not Maths).

She doesn't really mind what she does, so long as it pays well. She is extremely disciplined, self-motivated, organised, reliable, hard-working... in many ways the ideal employee. If she doesn't know how to do something, she'll work it out; in fact, she's independent to a fault!

She wouldn't mind travelling for work if necessary.

Any ideas (or further questions), throw them my way! TIA

Chartered accountancy in a
Big 4 or equivalent.

"She doesn't really mind what she does, so long as it pays well."

It sounds like she has a lot of great traits! But, to be honest, this sentence is a bit problematic and is going to put employers off her. Does she not have any passion for anything in particular?

When you go for a job, employers can smell it a mile off if you're not actually bothered about it. They will give the job to someone who wants to do that job, not to someone who isn't bothered but wants the money.

She needs to find something she cares about for more than just the money or she'll never be able to 'sell' herself at interview.

Data Analysis in a tech firm. Its a growth career and pays well with the right companies.

Get her to talk to the uni careers service. They’ll have access to psychometric tests etc and be able to offer advice.

Shame she didn’t do maths a level as I would have said actuarial work would suit her and it pays better than accountancy generallly

Medical regulatory affairs? Well paid in-house at pharma companies, even more so doing it in consultancy.

If she's not familiar with the idea - it's basically checking that new medicines coming to the market meet the regulatory outlines and helping create dossiers to get them approved. Lots of looking at the data and the guidelines, compiling reports, etc but also travel to factories/sites (or to clients, if in consultancy).

It's adjacent to the science but not doing it (as those jobs tend to be quite poorly paid by comparison) and requires an organised self-starter with a half-decent understanding of science.

Can work your way up quickly, too.

Law is a good option after conversion.

See https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=stemfuturelawyers.co.uk/&ved=2ahUKEwjf7vKn08f-AhV6WqQEHff4CiUQFnoECCEQAQ&usg=AOvVaw0zTxDwkomnHMQXjzT8F2xP

I did chartered accountant in big 5 now 4.

I would say choosing a job based on salary is a bad idea. You need to enjoy what you do. I did it and it made me miserable for most of my 20s. Lots of people like me who got stuck in finance (or law) for the good money. I'm trying to teach my own kids to go a different way.

If you have no natural talent for people skills then accountancy is not a good choice. You can't easily climb the ladder to the higher paid roles if you aren't good with people and client service is all about communication.

Maybe a data role would be better but generally the communication skills is really important to get to senior level .

I love accountancy as a career and would recommend it for NT women as its good for working part time on good wage later in life. I've not worked with many ND people to be honest.

Sales and trading in Big American banks

I agree that choosing a career based solely on earning potential might be ok short term but may leave your dd unhappy longer term if she doesn't grow to love the career (which she might).
Also, when considering earning potential later on in life think about a second skill or trade and the freedom that might bring to fit around family life. I know people who've done very well by having additional skills unrelated to their main career that allow flexibility and overtime / unsocial hours in a way some careers don't.

Wow, thanks all! Sorry I can't respond individually.

I agree with all the cautionary comments, but obvs she doesn't agree with her aged mother, lol...

I am passing on the suggestions, keep 'em coming!

Great idea.

I agree with others who said data science etc if she's not a people person - ideally within pharma

@beeskipa any idea on starting salary and career progression? This sounds like a good shout.

Is this possible without any official tech in her background (no A-level or degree in Computer Science)..?

Has she looked into Regulatory Science? Well paid and prepares her for a move into pharma. Could lead to global working opportunities. Also very, very important - she’ll be assessing medicines and devices for safety and making benefit risk assessments. Assuring vaccines. Working with manufacturers to make sure their products are developed with safety and efficacy in mind. Creating the first international standards for cutting edge treatments and processes. Could end up designing novel clinical trials or working at the UK STEM cell bank on the next generation of cell and gene therapeutics etc. So many opportunities and different doors opened, civil service pension and terms (very nice, believe me), and will be working with similarly brilliant, talented and dedicated people. But no-one knows really knows about it!

Also, very much suits ND (Weirdly, I’m also ‘lightly’ ND with a 2:1 in Biomedical Sciences from a Russel Group uni!). Structured, policy and protocol-led, clear lines of responsibility - rule makers and rule takers.

Tell her to check out the MHRA. I think our grad scheme just closed last week (gah!) but there’s jobs going that don’t rely on the grad scheme itself and she could transfer onto it when it opens up again in the New Year if she wants to give lots of different areas in the agency a go.

Thanks, @LaughingCat, I will definitely pass that on - I agree, it sounds like a great fit.

I'd ask DH (he's the one who works in this field) but he's buggered off out! Entry would be junior regulatory affairs associate roles or going in via quality assurance roles which tend to be a way in (which is what DH did - less well paid, but an entry into the reg team). DH started on £22k and 3.5 years later was on £38k with 1 company move and 1 promotion, he then went into consultancy a couple of years later.

https://www.prospects.ac.uk/job-profiles/regulatory-affairs-officer This is the link I found in lieu of asking DH haha - useful in terms of salary/progression and a better idea of the role!

I would caution against accountancy if she doesn’t have a level maths. Not because it is technically needed, but because you will need to do lots of maths to pass the exams. If she didn’t do it at a level, chances are it wasn’t really her thing.

Oh, but I disagree about her struggling to become more senior with light nd tendencies. It can be very useful to have a professional approach and not take things too personally. I don’t know many truly nice empathetic people at the top.

Pharmaceutical communications- doesn’t need to be a people person if she can write.

Patent attorney - may need some extra qualifications or go into a graduate scheme if it is the sort of thing she'd be good at

I wouldn’t recommend law. It’s a long slog and not guaranteed to be highly paid. You do also need good interpersonal skills if you are a client finder or minder. Not so much if you are a back room grinder.

No suggestions sorry but I do think she needs to consider a more holistic view on life and that enjoying your job to some extent is important. Money isn't everything and it can quickly be taken away.

Well the 'default' job with a large number of opportunities is technology. The big companies (big banks for example) have tech graduate schemes. And as she's a woman there are also diversity schemes, which a STEM degree will give her a leg up for. Barclays for example ahs the 'Aspiring Developer 'graduate scheme. There are also grad schemes for non-technical roles like project manager, product manager etc but you said she's not emotionally aware.

'Tech' is a vast field data science, cybersecurity, service management there are a lot of different jobs roles.

Other than that accountancy, with the Big4 firms. They all take hundreds of graduates every year.

However you can find all of this out by Googling 'technology graduate schemes', there are various sites such as MilkRound, TargetJobs, etc.

The time to have started thinking about this was before she graduates. At an RG university she should have had opportunities coming out of her ears. Career fairs, panel talks. The career centre would have been very helpful.

She should still be able to access career support post-university but might be a bit limited for in-person networking with employers / former graduates. See if she can access any insight days. Contact the career centre.

Unfortunately in this day and age it's not enough to just 'do your job' if you're targeting a high income. I'm a software/infrastructure engineer from a non-technical background. ADHD and autistic. While people love recommending my job for a 'non-people person' it's actually the opposite. Yes I write code for most of my time but I'm also dealing with a lot of differing technical opinions, managing stakeholders, etc. Especially when I have to stand my ground against grumpy men who have been 20 years in the industry it's not easy!

Furthermore there aren't any 'industry recognised qualifications' in technology which means that you need to put in a lot of work to shape your career. And with AI, automation etc a lot of jobs are going to obsolete while new ones will be created.

If she needs a lot of direct instruction and is uncomfortable with networking etc to chart her own path I'd suggest accountancy. Once you become chartered you're pretty much set - because you need a job to become chartered and a lot of jobs have the qualification as a regulatory requirement.