How to Get a High-Paying Job, Part 1

You know there’s several high-paying jobs out there, but you might not know how to get one. Maybe you’ve been applying for ages and haven’t gotten offers. Or maybe all you know is that you want to get a high-paying job, but don’t know where to begin. Maybe you want to up your job game and do more than just apply to the job postings you find.

If any of those top three apply to you, I got you. There’s a second way to get a high-paying job that isn’t you going to the companies. That second way is by optimizing your online profile so companies will come to you instead. That’s how I got my last two jobs out of college, which landed me with a 125% raise from my first big-girl role.

If you already know what type of high-paying job you’re gunning for, you can go straight to Part 2. If, on the other hand, you’re still struggling to choose? Here’s the blog post for you.

If you’re totally lost, this is how you choose what job you should aim for and how you then get hired to do it. Research, prep, and practice so you’ll get to working a job that pays you much more than you make now.

Part 1 here was the hardest step for me: putting in the research to pinpoint the best high-paying job for my ambitions and skill set.

Research High-Pay Jobs for the Best Fit

The first step is always the hardest; in this case, it requires you to think first before acting.

You’ll want a job that you know you can do; it should also be a role you either enjoy doing or wouldn’t mind the work (both the work of doing the job and doing the jobs needed to climb there, which we’ll get to in a second). We’ll use my own research in my college days as an example: I knew from working different jobs that I would like to do something that involved creativity and business management. I also wouldn’t mind administrative work, as long as the hours were consistent and my coworkers were pleasant people.

Process of elimination also works well in honing your focus. I would NOT like jobs with crazy hours, a dangerous work environment, or advanced math; needing several more years of schooling to qualify for work was also not for me. This criteria meant I shouldn’t set my sights on the medical field, engineering, law, or underwater welding. These are all high-pay, but not where I’d be most happy.

First the Work, Then the Money

Once you can identify what you’d like to do, you should identify your ideal salary. To have a high-paying job, after all, you need a job that pays you highly. Decide what that means for you. Back in my hometown Fearsville a $70k salary is quite high for the area, while in Boston it barely means you can afford to live on your own. If there’s not a job in your area that pays high enough, or that has your desired job available, expand your search to other towns and cities you can commute – or even move – to. Shoot for the moon here!! If getting a $75,000 salary seems right, cool. If you want to rake in six figures, let’s go.

Next, pinpoint your minimum salary, i.e. how much money you’d have to make to even consider working somewhere else. How far off it is from your ideal salary? To be more relevant: how far off is it from your current salary? If your current salary is waaaay below your minimum, you’ll have to put in time to bridge that gap. Once you do you can go full steam ahead on reaching your ideal salary.

Job Title Matchmaking

Next, get familiar with the job titles that will both pay you that minimum for work you can live with. Use the average and median salaries for these roles to pinpoint what you’re likely to get, which you can get through Payscale, Glassdoor, or by googling “[job title] salary”. If anything can remotely relate to your criteria, include it on your list of potential roles.

With my desire for creative management I had a list of two dozen job titles; these included becoming an executive assistant, marketing manager, PR manager, advertising manager, product manager, and directorships. Make sure you write this down to get it out of your head and into the real world; I used small note cards to do mine, which you can see at the top of this post.

You might’ve noticed some overlap on my list, but most titles are all very different from each other. That’s fine if it’s the same for you; this is just a brainstorming session to help you see what avenues are open to you. My criteria has also changed since then, as you may tell with some of the job titles, but that’s also fine. It still helped me go in the right direction.

Employ Your Three “E”s

What do you need to get into most fields? Normally it comes down to the three “E”s: education, experience, and an entrance. An entrance is, usually, a connection within the company. At my last two jobs this entrance came via recruiters; in many, many places this entrance comes via word-of-mouth recommendations. These are possible to get if you meet the right people through career-specific events, group outings, or by contacting people who do the work you want to. Otherwise, I’d recommend the recruiter route from personal experience.

Some jobs require more education than others, mainly very specialized and life-altering jobs like medical or legal careers. The “others” that don’t require formal education (but definitely some sort of training) include computer science, marketing/advertising, sales, sometimes finance, and management.

If you can use your expensive degree for it, so much the better; I can use my Communications degree for nearly anything, which worked in my favor. Yours might work against you if it’s a very specialized field and you want a different track. Getting into finance with an Environmental Science degree or into software with a Fine Arts degree is going to be a little harder to do.

It’s still possible, however, if you’re focused hard on achieving it.

Get an Idea of Good Companies

Once you know what job titles are up your alley, start looking at companies you’d like to work for. The easiest way to decide is by deciding what perks are important to you, then screening companies that offer them. My priorities can give you a starting point, though yours may be different from mine.

Once you know what you prioritize (more vacation time, higher salary, great insurance, etc) you can start looking for companies that fit this criteria. Normally you can find out what these perks are for companies on their online Careers page. A link to it is normally in their site footer, or accessible by adding “/careers” to the end of the URL. Big enough companies might have them listed on their website; if they don’t, Glassdoor normally has your back.

Pro tip: If you’re around Boston and you’re looking at startups, company pages on Built in Boston will detail all the perks they offer.

Finally, DO NOT look for perfection in a particular company. This will only slow you down, especially because you never fully know what to expect until you’re actually hired. If something sounds even remotely interesting AND will get you closer to your goals, DO IT. My last company didn’t sound perfect, but I still took it and it was the greatest thing I could’ve done at that time. Why? Because it became a stepping stone to my current excellent job and where I’m paid more than double my first full-time role.

With all this done you can check out Part 2, which outlines how you leverage your research and career history to get those recruiters filling your inbox.

What else did you research to get that high-paying job?