so you can stop being trapped worrying about paying the bills.
It is one of the most common concerns voiced by teachers considering an alternative career – how will I get another job that matches my salary and enable me to pay the bills?
Read on to get 3 essential tips…. and a practical piece of advice that is priceless.
Tip 1
Track your spending in real terms for at least 1-month. Every single penny you spend on food, utilities, mortgage/rent, water, car bills, clothes, take-aways, entertainment, tv subscriptions, mobile phones, internet/downloads, medical, self-care, gifts/charity, work expenses, etc… If you track your spending for 1-month, is this a typical month? If you track your spending for more than a month, work out the average spend per category.
You will now have REAL DATA about your spending habits. This is usually different from what we think we spend because when we consider food for example, we think about the money we spend on the weekly / monthly shop, we don’t factor in cups of coffee or a quick bite out or that take-away when we were too shattered to cook. With REAL DATA, you will be able to determine the following:
- ESSENTIAL expenses (basic need to survive)
- LEAN expenses (basics plus a few important things in your priority list)
- WANT expenses (things you do want but can trim back short term)
- COMFORTABLE expenses (things you’d like but are non-essential)
Now put a figure on each of these categories. Be ruthless and do it honestly. The two most important numbers are your lean expenses and your want expenses.
You will now know your REAL STARTING SALARY range.
Tip 2
Remember that the salary you are looking for now is not the salary you are likely to be on for very long. Promotion beyond education tends to be quite rapid and more lucrative. There are plenty of teachers who took an initial pay cut and took home their equivalent salary within a year; more still who now earn more than they did as a teacher in a role that is less demanding on their time.
Tip 3
Get your job search filters set up right. Most sites ask for:
- Role looking for
- Location
- Salary
You can answer location and salary range now. Can you answer what role you are looking for?
If the answer is yes and you are putting in the right key words, you will have a rich array of relevant job opportunities on your screen. Good luck, go for it!
If the answer is no, you will have an overwhelming list of jobs you have no idea what they are and you will be stuck. Time for some help….
5 alternative careers to match a teachers’ salary, so you can stop being trapped worrying about paying the bills.
Museum Curator
Salary: £33,953 UK average
Primary duties: Museum curators oversee exhibits in museums or art galleries and collect pieces they’d like to feature. They plan events and displays that allow the public to view art pieces. Since museums are places of learning, educators can use their teaching skills to provide learning materials that support exhibitions and facilitate understanding. You can specialise in topics that corroborate with your teaching subjects, such as art or history.
Estate Agent
Salary: £34,330 UK average base salary + commission
Primary duties: Estate agents help individuals buy and sell commercial and residential properties. They explore properties and present clients with a list of options that align with their requirements, ensuring that properties are within budget and of a particular size to accommodate family members or meet business requirements. Former educators can use their communication skills to interact with clients and understand their needs. Training is provided and earnings grow with commission from sales and bonus incentives. Progression within this career to specialisms or senior positions provides rich opportunities.
Curriculum Designer
Salary: £39,944 UK average
Primary duties: Teachers understand that an effective curriculum structure allows students to excel and learn the relevant content for their studies. Curriculum designers oversee the creation of school curriculums for certain subjects. Curriculum designers are experts on their subjects and have knowledge of how classroom learning works. They ensure the curriculum adheres to local and national educational standards and that content constantly evolves with the field. This is ideal for teachers who want to leave schools but use their education skills in a parallel field.
Substance Abuse Counsellor
Salary: £41,696 UK average
Primary duties: Substance abuse counsellors provide support for individuals who suffer from alcohol or drug dependency. They help people suffering from addiction by educating family members or friends on how to support a client’s recovery process and offer treatment plans. Substance abuse counsellors can choose to work with inpatient clients or work as part of programmes to aid outpatients with recovery. This role fulfils the contribution to society and helping others aspect of a teaching role, as well as drawing on the need to education – but it is a different career path to take for those seeking an alternative challenge using lots of transferable skills.
Private Tutor
Salary: £46,258 UK average
Primary duties: Private tutoring differs from teaching, as it involves helping students with their academic goals on a one-to-one basis, rather than in a group setting. Teachers looking for a change in environment may seek private tutoring opportunities. You can work from home, in an office or visit students at their homes. Private tutors help students in academic areas that they’re knowledgeable about and prepare them for exams. This involves creating learning resources and monitoring student progress. Of course, this is a direct match for teachers who want to leave “the system” but love to teach.
New career paths available to match your skills and salary expectations
Whether you are a main scale teacher, post-threshold teacher or senior leader in education, there are new career paths available to match your skills and salary expectations. How can I be confident in that statement? Simple. I did it – matching my head teacher’s salary.
With first-hand experience and professional knowledge, I know that finding an alternative career path is not actually about the money. Salary is just one very small but significant piece of the puzzle. The largest of those puzzle pieces is finding an alternative career path that you will love, that will fit your skills and experiences, and most important of all…
To find that dream job that will enable you to live the life that you want, instead of always being weighed down by workload and a culture that merely leaves you existing to teach.
Join my team of successful teachers and school leaders who have found their dream jobs and living a life they love.
Finding happiness is a priceless gift.
Live Daring Dreams
