Do you just kind of go with the flow on your career taking opportunities that come up or have you seeked out advances especially if it means altering a career path.
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With my most recent position, I made career adjustments specifically for salary & for better work-life balance.
I've been in 3 different jobs since LO was born:
1st: 6 years, no raises since 2008, no room for growth. Left because I had a mom-life crisis and wanted to be doing something I felt passionate & good about.
2nd: non-profit, slightly different career trajectory, it was more of a demotion & took slight pay cut. LOVED the organization, but worked long hours and brought work home. lasted almost a year and a half.
3rd & current: big jump in pay (hooray!), much better benefits, more flexible schedule, don't bring work home, and lots of room for growth. In my first job I had a higher title than I currently do, but I don't care because I make more money! Also, this job is the first non-PR job I've had since college.
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My policy is work to live, not live to work. Work-life balance is more important to me than salary, although more money never hurts.
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@mrsjazz: nice! Did you seek out the changes? Or just casually look around?
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@T.H.O.U.: I sought the changes! Had been wanting to get out of PR for a while and learn knew things, wanted to focus more on writing. I went from being an assistant director of comm. to a grant & communications coordinator to a writer. Left my 1st job by taking a payout to leave & looked specifically for jobs where I could "save the world" but a saving the world job was not financially sustainable for my family so I started looking for something else that didn't rely on grant funding and paid more. Took 6 months to get to my current job and I'm never leaving
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I switched jobs to make more money (also because I was NEVER going to get a promotion). I actually make way more teaching than at my previous place of employment. Can't say I love it but I definitely like making more money and having the summer off.
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I'm a therapist. I left agency work for private practice in order to make more money and have more flexibility with my schedule. I love what I do no matter where I do it, but i do miss what I did before (working in a jail). My heart was more in that kind of work, but while my family is so young I don't have the emotional strength for it, and need more flexibility/earning potential.
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My last three jobs have come to me. It's basically doing the same thing but each time I made more money. The 1st time was with a previous employer who asked me to come back. The next two were referrals from an old co worker. Most recently the position I took will eventually lead to more of a management role. I've never really looked for advancement totally out of my field. I like what I do and don't really want to change it now with kids.
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A little of both? I do always seek opportunities to advance myself. But I also have a number in my head that is my happy value-low enough to be financially sound but gives good work life balance. I won't take a management job, for example. I push hard for my own promotions
All that to say, I'm applying to PA school this summer, though. I want to love what I do AND make good money
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Before LO I sort of just went with the flow. I was not very career driven and I liked my job well enough (I only had one between law school and LO) and finding a new one was way too much effort.
At this point I've revamped my search to change specialities into something that has better long term prospects for both work/life balance and also higher income. It's really the first time I've proactively tried to shape my future career.
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Shortly after I got married, I left the arts to go into application development because I wanted (a lot) more money, better benefits, and better work-life balance. It was a great choice!
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@ms.line: that's a big career change!
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Not yet but I've heard about a different job at my work that might open up soon that could pay more and I'm considering going for it. I love what I do now but I get paid peanuts for it.
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Not applicable to me, but I do wish I had focused on a degree in school that would be more likely to lead me to a higher income career.
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@T.H.O.U.: Yeah, I was doing a lot of tech strategy and digital marketing in the arts, plus I have a master's degree in management, so I was thankfully able to make the switch without additional coursework. I was largely inspired by my husband - he's a user experience designer, and I thought a lot of his projects were interesting and saw how my skills could be utilized in software development. I kinda wish I had gone into it earlier!
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The opposite! I made adjustments to have more flexibility... but am reversing those adjustments now that the kids have gotten a bit older.
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I adjusted my career specifically to have an easier job....salary is similar.
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The only reason I got my masters is because it is the only way to increase my teacher's salary. For the past 6 years, I have only gotten a raise once, which was accompanied by a rise in insurance premiums that MORE than negated the raise. I don't know how much longer I can stay in this job I mostly love. So, soon I might have to leave to support our growing family. My husband is in the same job field, and has a worse salary and worse benefits.
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I made adjustments for flexibility and a part time status. Once we got to a certain point in terms of financial security, we realized time was more important than money!
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Made adjustments partially for salary, but also other reasons. I was a TV news journalist, but the pay was bad, the hours were bad, I worked on pretty much all holidays... I still mostly write for a living, but in a more PR capacity.
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I've made adjustments specifically for salary and work life balance, but generally make moves in service to making it to a high level in my field. I'm extremely passionate about my career and have worked very hard to get where I am today. I've actually met my major professional goal recently, so I've been thinking lot about where I want to take my career from here. I love my current job, though, so I'm not planning to go anywhere for a long time!
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I changed careers because politics was completely consuming and didn't really allow for a family life. So I went to law school annd I sought out a government job that would be predictable hours, flexible, with great, cheap benefits, but with very little pay, because I wanted to have children. My husband also went to law school but always looked primarily for lucrative high-paying work that could provide for our family's needs financially. However, I was really against a big firm job where he would never be home, so we've figured out a pretty cool combination of work for him where he runs own practice and is also a college professor. The practice makes the bulk of the money and the teaching gig gives DH steady retirement benefits, 3 months off a year, and a flexible during-the-week schedule. There are also perks for our kids' college tuition if he sticks around.
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i directed a career path to follow my passion along with allowing my a flexible schedule to mirror my DH's alternative rigid yet open schedule. i often wonder what would have happened if i would have gone the route of my college peers into accounting/consulting with way more $$, but i know with certainty i wouldn't have the DH/kid(s) i have now and that makes me sure of my path.
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I have taken advantage of opportunities within my organization, which has paid off. All of the extras I do outside of the scope of my job is fulfilling and appreciated, but that hasn't brought in the riches. Right now things are fine, but my career aspirations may take elsewhere since my organization is so flat. We'll see.
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@mrbee: Exactly this!
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I've gone with the flow and taken opportunities as and when they arise, choosing things for the experience rather than the money. For example, I took a £20k pay cut in 2011 to branch out into a slightly different area. I always keep an eye out for interesting opportunities but I don't go looking specifically to get more money. My DH is always pushing me to though!
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I chose a potentially lucrative career when I was in college, by studying business and specifically finance. I had really wanted to be an educator, but once I got to college, I had decided I wanted to explore other things. The thing with this career is that it is really difficult to give up the money once you realize you might want to do something else, because it's almost always a pay cut.
My salary has grown steadily over the years, but one move that I made that was particularly good for my bottom line was moving to a sales role that was part commission. Because of the bonus I earned those years, I had to have my base adjusted up to keep my overall comp the same, which turned out to be that magic increase.
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My husband and I both work but my industry is more lucrative. My career choices are financially focused but I got lucky in that I have flexibility too. If I didn't, I might have to make a change.
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Prior to marriage and children I made a career change in order to have more work life balance. I took a pay cut to do so. Now though I have surpassed my prior salary PLUS I get the work life balance and flexibility. I am happy I made that switch way back when.
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It went a few ways. When I was younger, I worked in a field where you essentially had to move to a different place to make more money. I did that 5 times. Then I made a slight career change and that propelled me to a 75% increase in salary over the course of 10 years. During that 10 years, I worked at the same company but moved positions a few times.
I do not have flexibility, though. I'm kind of okay with that right now with my current career position.
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This is hard, I feel like I'm at a huge crossroads in my career mainly because I feel stuck. I have a very specialized set of skills that to my employer is important and vital to our organization, but it does not have a very wide spread need as similar companies no longer do what we do, here in the states, Most of the work is outsourced or requires tons of travel or would require us to move out of the area. While I've always gotten a yearly raise, I'm at the point now where its never going to be more than just an increase in cost of living. I've been here over 10 years and I've maxed out the vacation accrual (3 weeks/year). The next step would be to either change fields or position ourselves so that I stay home once we add to our brood. The one positive is that work/life balance is not bad, I work my 40hrs/week, I commute an hour each way, but I never take work home and I only have to travel 2-3 times/year if that. They're a family owned business and have watched me "grow up" over the last 10 years, so they are pretty flexible and care about me/my family a lot.
Luckily, after a rocky start when my husband came out of college he's now on a fantastic career trajectory with lots of growth and opportunity to advance his education through certifications and he's doing a job he loves for a great company that has excellent benefits.
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I went to grad school about 7 years ago so that I could change careers (the o something I was really interested in) and make more money. Since then I have been recruited for opportunities in the same field with new companies and higher salaries. Sometimes I feel like I should be more proactive with my career moves but the moves have been good. I feel pretty lucky.
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I went into a more lucrative professional career than what my undergrad is in, but I didn't make that decision for the money. When I had my first, I took an enormous pay cut to work 4 days a week and have a lot of flexibility. I plan on doing that until they're all in school, and then I will get back into a heavier schedule.
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I'm in grad school right now for a career change. The main reason is because I think the new career will be a better fit for me, but an added bonus is that the pay is better than my old career (teaching, not hard to top!) and the new career offers much more flexibility and opportunities for PT work. I can't wait to finish my degree!
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Not more money really but I have changes jobs for better schedule flexibility and paid time off. As an added bonus, it's a much more pleasant work environment too! We moved 80 miles so I could take this job and we are so much happier here!
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A little of both of “I made adjustments for salary” and “adjustments with better salary came to me”.
I spent a good part of my life wanting to, and working in, the nonprofit and public sector. Private sector and corporate work just pays so much better that I doubt I’ll leave. There are plenty of other factors at play too, but just speaking to the question of salary, I definitely made adjustments for high salaries.
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When I was in my 20s I had really crappy jobs. The dot com bubble had burst and I worked as a customer service rep, and then I got more into my field working marketing communications. It paid terribly though, so I decided to go back to grad school and do something different. I got a degree that got me working in the high tech field.
I now make several times over what I was making before my master's. And I still have the flexibility needed for a family. Going forward as I make career choices I will need to keep many factors in mind. New opportunities will need to both increase my income, as well as keep the current flexibility. I also work in a relatively new field (only existed the past ~10 years) so I have to be careful about the choices I make that can alter my career path so I don't go down a dead end. Or get so specialized that I can never leave and find another job.
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I never changed my line of work but once I realized I wanted family and work/life balance I took jobs that allowed for that. If I would have stayed in big 4, I would be making a LOT more money but I would never see my kids. So, to me the most important thing is flexibility.
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@yoursilverlining: See I worry about taking the leap from public sector to the private/corporate world while still maintaining my work/life balance. I am pretty set at exactly 40 hours with lots of flex time right now.
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Currently going with the flow and hoping salary will follow... But I am def always on the look-out for a better job that pays more, has more benefits and is more flexible!
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