If your motivation is financial you may be interested in seeking a career with high earning potential. In this blog I look at the career fields that are most likely to lead to financial success and they don’t all need a university level qualification to achieve them.
High earnings with minimal training
Sales will always top the list for high earning potential with minimal training. A good sales person understands people and how to network. They are also the expert on their product or service and know how to instil confidence in others.
Some people are naturally adept at sales work and they take to the field like a fish to water. The rest of us need to learn and hone our skills. But if you’re willing to put in the work you can generate a very good income.
There are different types of sales techniques that would suit different kinds of sales work. For instance one off sales, in some cases, might suit a hard sales approach. Where a relationship needs to be built over time a more gentle approach to sales work is needed. Your personality is likely to suit one kind of sales technique more than the other. Once you’ve determined which kind of sales work you feel most comfortable with there are a wide range of opportunities from recruitment to real estate work and beyond.
When it comes to the pay structure, the better you are at sales the higher you would want the rate of commission and you would look for highly priced goods or services to sell. So for instance a 5% commission rate on the sale of £500,000 yacht is £25,000. You don’t need to be particularly good a maths to work out the earning potential of this kind of work.
If you’re competent but not a high flyer in the field you might sacrifice the size of commission for a higher basic rate of pay. A good consistent performer will attract a good basic salary so this is still a good option. And you won’t have the pressure of having to make sales to earn, which would be the case for a commission only or predominantly commission paid sales job.
The financial services also tops the list for high earning potential. In particular, merchant banking, including stock market trading roles. While training courses may have to be completed this kind of work needs talent more than qualifications. That means, providing you are financial literate, show the aptitude to understand the markets and how to manage risk, this career field could bring huge financial rewards.
The IT sector has evolved over the past few years and offers real opportunities for those with an aptitude for coding. While qualifications are always welcome in this field, if you have an aptitude you may well have learnt how to code before starting a formal course and with the development of AI, those with the right programming skills are in high demand. There are also opportunities for coders to develop their own software and sell via platforms such as Appsumo or Dealify. Countries around the world are keen to develop their own ‘Silicon Valley’ and as technology evolves so will the opportunities and the potential to reap the benefits of a highly paid career.
Training and apprenticeships leading to highly paid careers
Practical, hands on vocational careers are sometimes better served by hands on training. Apprenticeships or other training opportunities can lead to degree level qualifications without the debt of a university education.
Career sectors such as engineering, business and technology would suit this kind of route in and can lead to highly paid career opportunities when your training is completed. The industry and work experience you gather in training with an employer will make you an attractive candidate for future job opportunities and such experience could give you the edge on the competition when looking for higher paid work.
Value of a university education
Without doubt there are some career fields with the potential for high financial reward and for which a university education is imperative. Obvious examples include medicine and academic career areas such as historian.
As a doctor or veterinarian surgeon there are opportunities to become a high earner in public and private practice. As an academic you could maximise your earning potential by making your knowledge available to others through publications and even blogs as an authority in your field. In academic career fields the earning potential is dependent on your entrepreneural skill and the extent to which you choose to exploit your expertise.
And finally…
If a job with the potential for high financial reward is important to you, sales, finance, IT, medicine and engineering stand out as possible options. While a university education is always useful it’s not always necessary and can incur a lot of unwanted debt. An ambitious, competitive person with the willingness to work hard will always find their way to the top of their career field whatever the route they took to enter the industry in the first place. To quote Napoleon boneparte victory belongs to the most persevering. If you focus your energy and ambition in the right kind of career opportunity, financial success will follow.