The number one search term on the internet is, “highest paying jobs”. However, most employers don’t want you to know what they pay because it allows competitors to penny-pinch them. This happens when someone they hired gets poached by a competitor paying slightly more. In this blog, we look at how to match with high-paying jobs in the US.
The ranges of pay for a job you find on the internet only tell you half the story. Every employer has a different pay strategy. So, as a job seeker, what can you do you get the highest paying jobs in your field?
Think about your skills. What do you do better than anyone else? Why do other people come to you and what for? What are people always thanking you for? Are there things that you do with ease that other people can’t? Everyone has different skills at different levels of expertise. Leveraging your skills and interests will help you get the highest paying job in your field.
Pay more attention to growing your skills than experience. Create your own career path. Employers need skills to solve problems, and many skills are transferrable across industries.
There is only one reason an employer will hire you: You can solve their problems while allowing them to maintain a profit. An employer will not pay you more than they think the position is worth, so your job as the CEO of your own life is to always be upgrading your skills and interests in a way that solves those problems. We are far beyond the days where a low-skilled assembly line job will pay the bills.
Spend time thinking about what your interests are. Then, think about what the supporting skills are. After you break down your skills and interests, determine how you can polish the skills to solve problems for people. This is how to get a high-paying job. You can be an artist and still solve problems, it is not one or the other.
Basic skills earn less money because there are so many people who have those skills. There are tons of people that can run a cash register and do basic customer service. It is a far rarer skill to take a customer service attitude and mold it into high-close rate sales. Sometimes it’s the combination of your skills that make you more valuable to an employer. If you are an engineer with a knack for diplomacy, you’ll probably earn a million dollars. Or, how you choose to apply those skills to different industries.
The key takeaway here for how to get a high-paying job is that if you know your skills are not able to support your lifestyle, then it is up to you to increase your value. You can do this through free resources, like library books, YouTube videos, and blogs. If you have someone you look up to, you can ask them to mentor you. And, of course, the formal education system. Regardless of how you choose to uplevel your skills, it will be a life-long pursuit. Even recent college grads will have to continue to read and learn to maintain their employability. Technology just changes too fast to rest on your laurels.
Learning how to earn money, respect money, and how to grow money is important. Knowing how to get a high-paying job and earn the highest wage in your field will come but knowing what to do with it when you get it is just as important. If you spend every dollar you make, you will still feel broke even if you earn six figures. Invest your time in learning how to budget, set priorities, and plan for your future. If you can’t manage $100 dollars, then you can’t manage $10,000. Wealth is a product of money management as much (or more) than it is a feature of income.
The rate you get paid for your time involves how much an employer has to train you, provide benefits, buy the equipment you use to do your job, pay to comply with labor laws, and more. So, don’t be too quick to look at the first dollar you see to make a job decision. It’s the whole package that matters. In addition, viewing your salary as one aspect of a business expense will help you determine if you provide good value to your employer.
The art of negotiation is an art because you have to know why you’re negotiating and how to gain an understanding of your potential employer’s problems and how you can solve them. If you don’t know and you just want more money, chances are, your employer will decline your request. Know what value you bring to the table to get a high-paying job. Learn what the market rate is for your skill and experience level, and how you can put your talents to use to solve your employer’s problems. Knowing your own value is key to negotiating – and please, negotiate!
Extra tip: most people will pay more after they see what you can do. That means, make sure that you have an option to readdress your entry pay after a certain amount of time – perhaps 90 days.
As you can see, income is only one aspect of your work life. Maintaining your earning potential through continuing education, making sure you are smart with your money, and knowing your value are all key to staying employable. Being financially stable is not solely a function of income, wages, and pay. You can look to the many stories of lottery winners who lost it all to reinforce this point. Learning money management is arguably more important than income.
Income is a starting point, not a finish line. Be the CEO of your work life to get the high-paying jobs and treat it with that same level of respect, diligence, and planning.
At pepelwerk, we’ve hired across a vast range of industries and functions for many years. The job matching app we created is to help job seekers get matched with the jobs that are right for them and their skills, attributes and interests. You can set up a Talent Profile and create your work brand, outlining your skills, experience and key interests, and our smart AI-based software gets you matched with suitable employers and job opportunities.
Let us show you how to get a high-paying job in the US. Learn more about pepelwerk and see how we can help you drive your career forward!