The highest paying entry level jobs you don’t need a degree for revealed – and you could earn over £38,000
IT’S not just university graduates who can earn a decent first salary – even without a degree, you can still make more than £38,000 a year.
From apprenticeships to turning your hobby into a profitable career, there are plenty of accessible first jobs that pay well above the average beginner salary.
Many employers have dropped the requirement for a degree and are instead focused on skills and experience
The higher education path isn’t for everyone, so if you don’t think university is for you, you could save yourself time and money by heading into the jobs market sooner.
If you started a uni course in 2022/23, the average student debt upon graduation would be £45,600, according to the Student Loans Company (SLC).
Meanwhile, the average graduate’s annual salary is £40,000 a year, according to the Department for Education.
This means it could be a while before you’ve paid off your loan.
So it could be a huge advantage if you want to pursue a career that doesn’t require saddling yourself with this huge debt.
Need some inspiration? Our exclusive data provided by jobs site Adzuna has revealed the top 15 entry-level roles that don’t require a university diploma.
And some are offering a staggering £38,000 a year from the outset.
James Neave, head of data science at Adzuna, told The Sun: “University is no longer the default path that leads to a well-paid first job.
“Many employers have dropped the requirement for a degree and are focused on skills and experience.
“The shift has unlocked a myriad of entry-level jobs paying as much as £38,000 for students without a degree.”
Web of wealth
At the top of Adzuna’s list of best-paid entry-level jobs is a web designer.
This kind of role can earn you as much as £38,306, even when you’re just starting out.
Or, you could turn your love for the gym into a full-time position and become a personal trainer, which could earn you £37,902 a year.
Jobs you might never have even thought of can also have a starting salary of over £37,000 – like being a crane operator.
Meanwhile, painter and paralegal jobs offer between £37,100 and £37,744.
A cut above the rest
For jobseekers with creative flair and dexterity, knitwear designer, hair stylist or clothing cutter can be rewarding – earning an annual salary of between £36,750 and £35,572 on average.
For those who love animals, a career as an animal welfare inspector could be both fulfilling and lucrative, with average salaries exceeding £37,000.
If you are analytical and detail-oriented, roles such as financial assistant and bookkeeper offer stable and lucrative career growth, with starting salaries of £36,479 and £33,574 respectively.
But if the thought of sitting at a desk all day isn’t for you, consider physical roles such as dangerous goods driver or hod carrier which can both pay above £36,000.
Bottom of Adzuna’s list is being a personal assistant – but land this job and you could still earn up to £33,372 without heading to uni.
Bear in mind, this data is based on salaries advertised for those job roles in February, so these can go up or down in future.
DOES IT PAY TO GO TO UNI?
YOU don’t need to go to university to be successful, writes The Sun’s Head of Consumer Tara Evans.
The list of successful people without a degree includes Richard Branson and Mark Zuckerberg.
But it really depends on what you want to do when it comes to weighing up whether university is worth it for you.
So many students take on a degree because they think it’s essential to getting a job – but it’s not.
And with the average student debt for someone starting a degree is 2022/23 hitting £45,600, it could leave you financially worse off in the long run.
Whatever you want to do, read our Sunemployment page for tips on how to get started.
You may still need to qualify
While an academic degree isn’t needed for many careers, there may be other requirements or qualifications.
Becoming a personal trainer for example requires qualifications, such as a level two in fitness instruction and then completing a level three personal training course.
Paralegals, crane operators and accountants all need in-depth training before working independently on their own.
I earn over £60k doing a job I learned for free online – you don’t need a degree
OF course these jobs aren't the only ones that can earn you the big bucks without a degree...
Savvy Rhea Freeman was “done with school and education” when she quit the classroom at the age of 16 to go straight into the world of work.
The mum-of-two previously told The Sun she remembers being sure she didn’t want to sit at a desk, even if she was being paid.
She took a job grooming horses at her local stables and after two years qualified as a riding instructor.
“Horses have always been a passion of mine,” Rhea, who lives in Worcestershire, said.
“But I look back and what I’m doing now is so different.”
Her career took its first unexpected turn when, at 19, she was asked to write an article for an equestrian magazine.
It set off a chain reaction that ultimately lead to Rhea deciding to quit the stables to concentrate on what was fast becoming a hotchpotch of freelance writing.
It coincided with the explosion of social media, with Facebook launching in the UK in 2005 and Twitter in 2008.
“As social media grew, I invested a huge amount of time and energy learning about the whole area,” Rhea said.
While it’s now possible to study social media at universities such as York, West London and Chester – taking a degree will set you back around £45,000 over three years.
Rhea did it all without spending a penny on courses – teaching herself using free resources she found online.
Since then, digital business and marketing training has ramped up significantly as technology and the web evolved.
“There’s a huge amount of learning online now from places like Meta,” she said.
“I did the Blueprint programme which is superb and the training is free.
“You just pay for the certification if you want that.”
Over the next 10 years, Rhea built her experience, training and knowledge.
“By 2015 I became more of a coach and mentor helping other people to do what I’d done,” she said.
“That was a big jump in how things worked for me.”
In 2018 she started a podcast called Small & Supercharged, helping businesses to grow.
And since then she’s given Ted Talks, written a book and now mentors businesses through Help to Grow, Small Business Britain and the NatWest Accelerator.
“It’s taken me years but now I’m earning over £60,000 a year doing something I love,” she said.
How to land your dream job
It’s one thing knowing what the best-paying jobs are which don’t need a degree, but it’s another knowing how to apply and successfully landing a role.
Do your research so you know exactly what a job entails and the pathway to getting an interview.
Some roles, while not requiring you to have gone to uni, may still need you to have some form of training or apprenticeship, like a carpentry or chef role.
Others will start off as apprenticeships, where you’ll gradually build up your salary until you’re fully qualified.
Once you’ve landed an interview, make sure you brush up on your CV and research how to prepare for an interview.
To help get your CV up to scratch, we also spoke to recruitment expert Natasha Kearslake, director of HR consultancy Organic P&O Solutions.
She shared the six CV tips that seriously boost your chances of getting a call back. These were:
Keyword tags for AI systems
Keeping the design clean and simple
Tailoring the summary to the job
Mentioning the company’s mission statement
Saying what you have actually achieved in each job
Adding a volunteering section, if you’ve done any
Tools to use to help you write your CV
HERE are some tools and apps that can help you put together your CV:
Resume app: If you struggle formatting your CV, you can choose from 21 templates in the Resume app to help you. And once you’ve put it together, you can export it as a PDF directly to your email. Resume is free to download and use, but has additonal premimum options that you can pay for.
Grammarly: It’s important to get your spelling and grammar accurate, so run your CV through a tool such as Grammarly to check for any errors. It’s free to download straight to your desktop.
Vizualize.me: If you’ve got an exisiting LinkedIn account, Vizualize.me takes the data and turns it into a timeline of your employment history and a breakdown of your skills. The free tool has six different themes so it’s a good option to make your CV look visually appealing as well.
VisualCV: As well as making your CV look eye catching, VisualCV also makes sure it can be read by electronic systems that some recruiters use to filter CVs. It’s also free to sign up for.
The sky’s the limit
There are other roles not on Adzuna’s list that you don’t need a degree for which could see you earn even more than £50,000.
The Sun spoke to Kirsty Holden, who revealed she earns over £50,000 a year after setting up her own virtual assistance business, all without a degree.
We previously spoke to a train driver who earns £54,000 a year.
And a 27-year-old revealed how he earns over £50,000 in recruitment, after dropping out of college at 17.
Plus, a Sheffield-based woman decided to pursue money rather than studying and now has a salary that tops £60,000 a year working as a lettings agent.
Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing [email protected].
Plus, you can join our Sun Money Chats and Tips Facebook group to share your tips and stories
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