Several readers have asked me how one gets a high-paying job or trades into a higher paying job. It’s a fantastic question and there are many ways to accomplish it. What follows are the techniques that worked for me on my personal journey. By following these tenets, I was consistently given what I was told were the highest raise and bonus grants of anyone in the company. And I think they will work for almost everyone, no matter how many years you have gotten into your career.
Invest In Strengths, Not Weaknesses
On my list of Professional Things I Wish I Were Better At, networking was probably #1. Every leadership, entrepreneurship, and sales book I have ever read includes an ode to networking. This especially mattered to me because for many years I thought I wanted to start an internet start-up.
Entrepreneurs would come to campus and talk about how important it was to hustle, to cold pitch investors and potential customers, to always be looking for an opportunity to convince someone of the mission of the business. A fellow wannabe entrepreneur recommended Never Eat Alone to me, and it was memorably one of the most anxiety-inducing books I’ve read to date. The central premise is that you use every meal as an opportunity to reach out and network. Fakjfdklafja
This sounded like some special kind of torture to me. I’m somewhere on the introvert scale, which means I like hanging out with people but find it draining. This obsession with networking gave me a serious case of self-doubt.
I have many things to say about networking now that I’m retired. First of all, it mattered a lot less than those made it out to be in my own career. As the world’s foremost Networker-Fail, I can attest that you can have a healthy, happy career even if you are terrible at networking. Secondly, I realize that I gave myself a lot of anguish focusing on this supposed weakness of mine because I thought I might have to use it for 30+ years, and it turns out I would only have had to use it for 7. That’s a lot of pain and unhappiness for such a relatively short window of potential gain.
What served me better in my brief career focusing on my strengths rather than on my weaknesses. The things I was good at (crafting an investment thesis, market research, etc.) turned out to be very important to my employer. With a 7 year career, focusing on things I was good at rather was much better at netting me raises and promotions than shoring up my weaknesses.
If I could give advice to someone starting their career or trying to pull out of a rut, it would be: Find some aspect you can be known for, and get extremely good at it.
Choose A Rocket Ship
Imagine you are a total badass at your job. You walk in and everything you touch turns to gold. But you work at a struggling small company that is burning money and whose product is not well received. Do you think you’ll be paid top dollar compared to the rest of the market?
By contrast, imagine you are only okay at your role. But you work at an insanely fast-growing start-up who has way more to accomplish than it has people to get the work done. You are mediocre, but you are a known quantity and are otherwise reliable.
Which position would you rather be in?
I have seen this difference cause 50-100% compensation differences between equally qualified people. As an investor in various companies, I would see an excellent salesperson making double what a counterpart made at another company simply because the sales velocity and ticket size of the first product was more better than the second. I have seen programmers with 40% salary differentials in companies in the same city.
I think job searching skills are a completely different set of skills than what your day to day job will require, and many people don’t expend enough effort and educate themselves enough about this all-important step.
This is related to the next step.
Look For A New Job Every Two to Three Years
I know several managers and directors, particularly in the engineering function. They have observed to me that employees who have stayed internal for many years are often underpaid to those who lateral in with similar experience.
This makes sense when you think about it. A lateral hire is someone who the company has had to go out and compete against other companies to win. Their demands are heard with more urgency given the competition, whether that be role title or pay.
While I ultimately stayed at the same firm for my entire career, I looked for a job every two to three years. I got close to taking one and shared that with my superiors. That year, I was given what I was told was the highest bonus of everyone in my year. And I went on to be rewarded among the most handsomely at the firm thereafter.
By going to the market every few years, in the best case you will walk away with tens of thousands of dollars more by switching companies or getting your company to match, and in the worst case you confirm that you are being paid handsomely compared to the rest of the market.
I have a friend who was working in a different, less well paid function at his firm. He wanted to swap over to the investing side but was told he was not qualified. He lateraled to another firm who would take a chance on him. Two years later, his original firm that turned him down has now offered him his desired position because he has the work experience, and he’s being paid almost twice what he was paid three years ago.
Yes, it does require work. Yes, it’s not the most fun thing you could think of to do with a Saturday afternoon. But what other opportunities are you looking at that could net you $15k-$80k+ more per year, every year for the rest of your career?
Pick A High Demand Area In Your Field
Say you’re a software engineer. You could work on web, back-end, all sorts of aspects. Retooling is a pain but doable in your field. It is completely worth your time to focus on the areas that are most in-demand. Mobile engineers at one firm I’m close to were on average $30k higher for new hires than web or back-end engineers.
For those who are just starting out, know that some roles are just frankly more valuable to a company than others. Revenue-generating roles such as sales tend to be some of the most well-compensated employees in the firm. I had a CEO of a multi-million dollar company tell me that in all of his companies, the top-performing salesperson earned more than he did each year in base and bonus, and that was as it should be. Roles where you can show huge impact on the company that can be directly attributed to you vs a team get paid the best. That’s why portfolio managers at hedge funds are also compensated so handsomely. They directly generate profits and the results can be tied specifically to that one person.
Think About Ramp Time and Opportunity Cost
For those who are just starting out or those who are going back to school to re-tool for a new career, consider not just average starting salary but also ramp and opportunity cost.
For example, being a doctor seems very appealing. The median salary in 2015 was $187k! But becoming a doctor requires 8 years of education and likely over $200k of debt. There are certainly many doctors who have retired early. But it is not a cake walk, and you won’t really see 28 year old retired doctors if you are gunning for an extremely short time frame.
By contrast, if I were counselling someone on the most economically promising careers , I would suggest sales (primarily software or other high margin products), software engineering, and finance. You start earning money right out of undergrad, often high five figures or even six figures to start. The compensation growth in these roles well outpaces others.
More Resources
Career management is one of the most underrated skills in your financial arsenal. Several hours of work per year can net you $15k-$80k+ more every year for the rest of your career.
If you’re looking for more books on managing your career, a few of my favorites are below.
Sheryl Sandberg, the COO of Facebook talks through how she made several career decisions along the way to maximize her career and also talks about how to get recognized by your bosses as extraordinary. I really dragged my feet on reading this because the feminist angle had been played up hugely in the first responses to the book, but it’s probably one of the best career books for both men and women I’ve ever read. I highly recommend. If you want to know what successful career management looks like, Sheryl Sandberg is where the buck stops.
The First 90 Days: Proven Strategies For Getting Up To Speed Faster and Smarter
For those who are starting a position at a new firm, this book covers the major elements you need to get right to ensure a fantastic 3 month ramp into your new role. First impressions count, and I have seen three friends use this successfully to look like all-stars when they lateraled to other companies.
The title was honestly a bit of a turn-off to me, but don’t let it fool you – the content’s good. Covers how to prep for an interview (I have no idea why people go through hours of effort to secure a job interview and fail to do real prep work to ensure the interview’s success), when to bring up salary, and how to negotiate for better pay.
Andrew says
February 22, 2017 at 1:15 amDo you have any specific advice for retooling a career into one of these industries (finance, software or sales) for someone who is currently in a completely different career?
JP Livingston says
February 23, 2017 at 4:47 pmHey Andrew. Sales is a bit more trial by fire and you are likely to be able to lateral into an inside sales (that’s sales mostly by telephone rather than in person) position pretty quickly. If you do, I’d go with something high margin like software.
For software, even the most competitive companies like Google are hiring students out of code schools/bootcamps. These are typically programs that last about a year or less. Notably, they are not provided by accredited universities but are rather run by private, for-profit organizations. You will want to do good diligence on where they place alumni and what percentage of the class gets jobs paying $X or more after graduating. General Assembly does a well-reputed program here in NYC with pretty solid results for its alumni.
Finance is more difficult to lateral into without the right background. If you have the opportunity to go to a top 10 business school, you can often move from fields like marketing, business development, etc. into an internship and ultimately a full time position in finance. All of these paths require significant time investment so obviously there are more considerations that can be covered here but hopefully that gives you a place to start your research.
Lars-Christian says
February 22, 2017 at 3:53 pmThese are great and actionable tips! I especially agree with focusing on your strengths, and honing those.
Christina says
March 11, 2017 at 2:32 amWhat are some sales job in finance that you can tip us to look into? Thanks
JP Livingston says
March 11, 2017 at 2:44 amI wish I had a better answer for sales jobs specifically in finance. When I think of the highly compensated sales folks I’ve worked with, they are in insurance, software (particularly software products that cost $50k-$100k+ so you’re usually talking enterprise sales), and consulting. The problem with sales roles in finance is I usually find they’re masked with another title. For example, a wealth manager’s primary role in my opinion is sales. Additionally, many of the most highly compensated sales roles in finance also mix with quantitative skills and are called something besides just “Sales Rep.” By the time you’re a rainmaker partner at an investment bank pulling in millions in comp a year, you are solely a salesperson and a deal maker. You are winning contracts to represent a hot company like Snapchat in an IPO or selling a business to companies like Amazon and Microsoft. But to get there you have to be a number whiz and build models and spreadsheets.
I suppose I’d say the best balance of near-pure sales and customer-facing skills in finance with the best compensation would be wealth advisors for ultra high net worth clients and folks who are on the fundraising and IR side of buy-side groups (hedge funds, private equity, funds of funds, etc.). Any readers who have a more in depth view on this, feel free to chime in!
Kevin says
March 13, 2017 at 7:30 pmYour idea of focusing on your strengths is very important. I think everyone is used to thinking of the most recent hiring experience or the annual performance review where there seemingly is always a question of ‘what are your weaknesses’ or ‘what did you learn from a failed project’ …
However, that is not how my last company was focused and across several 100+ person subdivisions used the StrengthsFinder 2.0 Book by Tom Rath. This has both individual contributor and management testing sites. Especially when a smaller group (8-16 people) takes testing it shows how much diversity there is in skillsets – and you are responsible for contributing your strengths.
JP Livingston says
March 13, 2017 at 7:42 pmThat’s great. We need more companies like your former employer who are willing to emphasize this. It would be a win for the companies and a win for the employees.
Dominic @ Gen Y Finance Guy says
March 13, 2017 at 11:02 pmI have experienced the Rocket Ship first hand. Based on feedback from many people that I have worked with, I would put myself in the top 20% when it comes to performance. During my first couple jobs this served me well getting 10%+ pay raises. But to be honest I wasn’t able to move up in pay and position as fast as I wanted to.
My first job was with a 3rd generation family owned company where sales were never going to grow more than 5-10% a year. I started there as an intern making $13/hour and then got hired on 18-months later when I graduated college as a financial analyst at $58,500 in 2008. I left in 2012 earning $82,000. I then moved on to Quiksilver (a public company) and got my comp up marginally to $88,000.
After 18-months with Quiksilver, I realized that it was a business destined for bankruptcy, and that it was time for me to jump ship after surviving the 6th major layoff in less than two years and watching revenue shrink from $2B to about $1.5B.
I finally realized that I needed to find a company that was growing well into the double digits if I ever wanted to hit my goal of making the C-Suite by 30 years old.
I found my rocket ship, when I joined a consulting firm in the construction management space, that had and continues to grow at a compounded rate of 25% a year with robust profitability. I came in as a Senior financial analyst making $97K in early 2014 and today I am a part of the C-Suit earning $270K/year (and growing).
Looking forward to reading more of your posts.
Cheers,
Dom
JP Livingston says
March 14, 2017 at 11:31 pmThat’s awesome. I think most people would have just sat around at Quiksilver telling themselves they had a pretty decent gig. Any other tips you’d share on how to maximize your chances at raises and promotions? 2.7x income growth in just over 3 years is pretty phenomenal.
Dominic @ Gen Y Finance Guy says
March 15, 2017 at 12:27 amAlways have a side hustle. I got paid to learn a lot of different skills while being formally employed that eventually came full circle and made me more valuable.
Say “Yes” a lot. Volunteer for the challenging projects everyone else is dreading. I really do believe in the “fake it til you make it” philosophy. I always tell people that it’s all about resourcefulness. Nine times out of 10 you are going to find a way to deliver what you promised.
In sales they say to under-promise and over-deliver. I say you should over-promise and over-deliver.
Help others get what they want, and you will eventually get what you want. It is also important that you are helping the right people, the ones that can have influence on your career.
Don’t be afraid to ignore the chain of command.
Be Contrarian.
Be so good that they can’t ignore you. I know we are all pretty much replaceable, but the key is to get people so reliant on you that you seem irreplaceable. It’s all about perception.
The politics game sucks, but you have to not only play it, you have to get damn good at it. Just remember it is a means to an end.
Never stop learning. Our primary goal on this earth is all about expansion, going to bed every night a little better/smarter than you woke up.
Ask for more money. This is something 95% of people out their fail to do. But the reality is people are not going to just give you 30%+ raises you have to earn it, and then you have to ask for it. People who ask for more money, make more money!
Those are a few things that come to the top of my mind.
Now I just need to figure out how you were able to accumulate $2M by the age of 28. I thought I was doing well, but I seriously feel like I am behind the 8-ball now.
Looking forward to digging into your comment a bit more.
Cheers,
Dom
JP Livingston says
March 16, 2017 at 3:02 amThese are awesome, Dom. Really appreciate you sharing. Asking for more money is absolutely a true one. My boss used to joke that I was demanding, all while giving me best-in-class raises. I think there’s a way to do this without ticking people off, but you have to bite the bullet and do it.
There are definitely folks who have done better than us both! The way I see it, no two people’s starting points and lucky breaks are identical. But the absolute truth is that the version of a dude that is implementing money tools and skills constantly is going to easily accumulate 5x the wealth of the version of that same dude who isn’t. What you’re doing seems to be working pretty darn well, man. Kudos.
Julie @ Millennial Boss says
March 25, 2017 at 2:41 amYes!! Finally some practical career advice! So many people complain about their pay when they work for a small company with limited growth potential and poor earnings. If you want more money, go to the money! This approach has certainly helped me in my career. I was sick of earning 30k a year at non-profits, so I switched to huge companies that could pay six-figures, and offer big raises, bonuses, and stock.
JP Livingston says
March 29, 2017 at 9:47 pmGlad to hear from another person who has made it work! There really is a lot in your control, it just takes some walking off the beaten path.
Average Dude says
August 14, 2017 at 4:30 pmThank you for this amazing post, JP!
I really needed to learn this in my current stage of life.
1) What would you recommend if my current strengths are not a 100% match with the job and company I’m working at (e.g. I’m under-qualified compared to everyone else and was hired on referral)?
2) Which websites or companies did you use to look for a new job every two to three years and get interviews?
3) For re-tooling a new career in sales, software engineering, or finance: would you recommend going back to college, trade school, self-educate, or restart as an intern for work experience?
4) What would you recommend if someone has had a long gap in their resume (5+ years since I worked in a past industry)?
Thank you!
Ashley says
August 23, 2017 at 2:01 pmHello,
I am new to your blog and have enjoyed the few posts I’ve read so far. I’d like to know what you mean by this statement: “I really dragged my feet on reading this because the feminist angle had been played up hugely in the first responses to the book.”
You make it sound as if the “feminist angle” (which I take issue with, just because a woman wrote it doesn’t make it a feminist book, it just makes it a book with an author who happens to be female) is a bad thing. Is that what you meant by your comment or did I misjudge your intent?
Thanks for all the info.
-Ashley
JP Livingston says
August 24, 2017 at 12:42 amHey Ashley. I don’t mean that the book played up a feminist angle. I mean that the first responses to the book – reviews from pre-readers and early readers, at least the ones I heard about – did. Those reviews seemed to spend an inordinate amount of time highlighting what they were calling the feminist message and how it was about making women equal to men, all the problems women face in the workplace compared to men and how unfair that was, etc. The initial reviews I read gave me what I felt was an incomplete and warped view of what the book was really about; it was a book with practical advice and thoughtful questions that I quite enjoyed and it wasn’t focused on a feminist message, though doubtless there were issues of gender inequality acknowledged in the workplace. I agree that just because a woman writes a book doesn’t make it a feminist book (and by the way, that’s totally a fine topic to write about, just maybe not at the top of my personal reading list). It was the reviews I read that seemed to present the book as a clarion call for feminism, so I didn’t initially see how it would fit what I was interested in reading about. I mention it in case others also got a warped perspective on what the book would be about in the hopes that it will get more people to give it a chance. Hope that clarifies it.
Jim says
August 30, 2017 at 8:42 amJP, what are your thoughts on full-time (or part-time?) MBAs for someone already working in finance, but looking to get ahead? Thanks!
Ang says
October 5, 2017 at 7:33 amThis is all very good advice – I think the main focus should be as Dom says – figure out how to make yourself indispensable, which means acquiring the skills you might not just learn on the job. Once college is over, the real learning starts
Another book I would recommend is Millionaire in the Mirror. Another tacky title just like 60 Seconds and You’re Hired, but I really enjoyed the way the author laid out his career advice, and it shares a lot in common with what you and Dom have listed here
Nice site btw, congrats on the new baby and becoming financially independent at such an early age!
JP Livingston says
October 5, 2017 at 2:45 pmThanks Ang. Will have to check out that title. It’s funny – there’s a lot of good content hiding behind all those tacky titles. Makes me wonder why they take all the effort to write good stuff, and then drop the ball when it comes to the cover.
Brandon says
November 18, 2017 at 2:06 amGreat article – I do have one comment in regards to getting your company to match (a “counteroffer”, I presume). There seems to be a mostly negative response to counteroffers in online forums, mostly citing reasons like: the company didn’t pay you enough to begin with, threatening to leave demonstrates disloyalty, the company will only retain you long enough to find a cheaper replacement, etc.
When do you think it’s good to take a counteroffer, and when is it bad?