Although most high-paying career requires college but getting a high-paying job without a degree or experience may not be as hard as you think.
In today’s economy, a degree does not guarantee high-paying jobs. Some people may even wonder if paying $26,000 for a college degree is still worth it.
How to Get High-Paying Jobs Without a Degree or Experience?
With the cost of college tuition skyrocketing and the job market becoming more and more competitive, it is essential to have a skill set that will make you stand out from the crowd. There are many ways to get high-paying jobs without a degree or experience.
Although better pay doesn’t always make you happier. Most people like to have a bigger paycheck and get the perfect salary, than just earning an average salary.
You may need to do a bit of extra work, but it is definitely worth it in the end. Here are some of the best ways to get a high-paying job without a degree or experience.
1. UpSkill Your Way to Higher Pay
Upskilling keeps you relevant and employable in the ever-changing environment. We’re currently moving to digitalization and automation in many of our day-to-day tasks.
If you want to stand out on the job market, you need to make your resume amazing with a perfectly crafted cover letter.
You may not need a college degree, but most high-paying jobs will require you to have a certain set of skills that can be learned from some of the best online learning platforms.
Warren Buffett once said,
“The best investment is to invest in yourself.”
Simply.
You are your best investment.
When you invest in learning new skills. You increase your chances of getting hired and you are open to much more options than before.
According to a survey conducted with 1,253 professionals,
- 5% said upskilling leads to a salary increase immediately.
- 54% percent believe it helps increase their pay in the long term.
- 35% percent said upskilling keep their skills relevant.
- 6% were not sure.
Why is this important to me?
There are many high-paying entry-level jobs that don’t need you to have a degree or experience.
But you need to have the skills to perform the job, thus learning that new skill gives you the opportunity to get that job.
So, how should you begin?
We’ve interviewed our recruiting professionals about the best skills to learn that making a difference, and here are the few that they mentioned;
Learning in-demanded freelancing skills, getting a professional certification, or learning a second language can help you increase your worth in the job market, thus continuous education is always the best solution.
2. Build Your Personal Brand
Having a good personal brand can help you in getting a higher-paying job.
Every employee represents the company’s image. Thus, employers want to have someone who is passionate about the industry in their team, someone with a good public image.
“An employee with good personal branding will represent the company in a positive light.”
According to a 2018 survey,
- 70% of employers use social media to screen candidates before considering calling them for an interview.
- 43% of employers use social media to check on current employees.
How to build your personal brand?
- Keep your image consistent.
- Focus on outlining your expertise.
- Quantify your accomplishments.
- Use a professional photo.
- Open a LinkedIn Profile
3. Become an Expert in Your Field
High-paying careers don’t always need a degree, but you’ll need to be an expert in your field. Recruiting professionals and HR are always on the lookout for the best person to fill their job openings.
If you are able to prove that you not only have the relevant knowledge, but you are an expert in your field. Getting that high-paying job won’t be hard.
Experts know that they have to keep learning.
A true expert, is open-minded and are willing to adapt and be humble to learn.
By positioning yourself as an expert in the field, you’ll have access to more high-paying job opportunities.
How to become an expert in any field?
If you want to be an expert, you’ll need to constantly challenge yourself to do better, learn more, and acquire new knowledge and skills.
Anyone can become an expert in any field when you practice their craft for 10,000 hours (or approximately 5 to 10 years).
Practice your skills
Practice makes perfect. Quote from Bruce Lee,
“I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.”
Teach what you know
Through teaching others, you will get to become more proficient in your skillset.
When we learn with the intention to teach, we break the idea down into simple, understandable chunks for ourselves.
It forces us to examine the topic more critically which further enables us to understand it better.
Take Course
Take courses or go to seminars on the topic you want to improve on the most.
By embracing the topic, you will start to know how much you actually don’t know.
This allows you to get opportunities to improve your skillset and pathing your way to become an expert in your field.
Get a mentor
Mentors are people who have achieved what you dream of achieving.
Some who are lucky will be able to interact with their mentor and receive guidance from their mentor in person.
But often you can find guidance from books. Warren Buffett teaches young investors on how to invest in his books.
And Simon Sinek teaches about leadership in his series of books as well.
4. Develop Your Leadership Skills
Most high-paying jobs require you to know how to manage and lead a team. Leadership skills are some of the most in-demand soft skills that don’t need a degree.
Great leaders help to run projects and make good business decisions that have a direct impact on the business’s bottom line.
Those with good leadership skills are highly paid because good leaders are hard to find.
79% of employees interviewed want to quit their jobs because of a lack of appreciation from leaders.
A Leader says, “Let’s Go!”
A Boss says, “Go!”
Most important leadership skills:
- Active listening – Probably the most important skill that every leader should have. Because only through active listening, you will know what are the needs of your employees.
- Communication – The ability to communicate messages properly will allow higher efficiency at work.
- Time Management – A good leader manages time properly, as time is the only resource that money can’t buy. In business, time can be more valuable than money.
- Project Planning – Good proper project management skills will allow the smooth execution of projects which can be invaluable to any company.
- Building Trust – Probably the foundation of a leader is to allow their employees to trust and rely on them.
- Positivity – Staying positive allows you to keep moving forward even in the face of massive challenges. If the leader starts complaining, the team will eventually lose motivation and the task will never be completed.
- Persuasion Skills – Persuasion is a learnable skill that is priceless. It is the ability to sell an idea or a product, this helps you to build your team of followers.
- Recruiting skills – The job of the leader include creating a perfect team to help overcome any challenges.
5. Switch Jobs
63% of employees said compensation was “very important” to job satisfaction. There is nothing wrong with wanting a bigger paycheck.
Unfortunately, the average pay raise in America is just 3% or less. So how can you get a higher pay fast?
The solution.
Switching Jobs
According to the latest salary survey, on average, moving between jobs get a 10% to 20% increase in your salary from your previous job.
We won’t encourage job-hopping, but not all companies are willing to increase your pay to match the industrial average.
If that’s the case, the only option is to switch jobs.
“It’s easier to get your compensation in line with market levels if you move jobs often. It’s essentially the only way to do it.”
Janice, Recruiting Professional
Surprised?
Does any of these help you in your journey of getting a higher-paying job?
Let us know in the comments below!
PS. It is possible to make a full-time income even if you are a stay home mom, or just want to make money online. Growing your income can be easy.
Up Next… How to write a cover letter for resume + examples.
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