These are the UK’s highest paying jobs, according to Glassdoor

Proud parents, gowns and mortarboards can mean only one thing – it’s graduation season in the UK.

There’s no doubt that it’s a time for celebration; time to step back and reflect on three years (or more!) of hard work and officially close this exciting chapter of your life. You’ve demonstrated passion, drive and determination, and now, the world awaits…

So where do you go from here?

Some might finish university with a clear idea of what they’re doing next, others might feel lost, overwhelmed and unsure. While there’s no right way to feel – heck, the job search process is a mission in itself! – the key is to stay focused and not lose sight of why you chose to pursue a degree in the first place.

Whether you want to carry on in your specialist field or explore something new, the employment market is rife with opportunity. As an international student in the UK, you’ll want to make sure you’ve done your research before committing to your next move.

To coincide with the end of the current university semester and ahead of A-Level results, Glassdoor, one of the largest job and recruiting sites on the globe, has released a list of the UK’s 10 highest paying entry level roles.

Glassdoor’s new report identifies the jobs with the highest median annual base salaries, as reported by UK-based employees aged 25 or younger over the time period of January 1-December 31 2018. Intern level jobs were excluded from the report.

Here are the 10 Highest Paying Entry Level Jobs in the UK for 2019:

1. Investment Banking Analyst

Source: Hunters Race/Unsplash

Median base salary: £50,752

Pros: “Good pay, meritocracy, strong culture.”

Cons: “Work can get repetitive. Long working hours, but in line with industry. Learning curve flattens after a year at analyst level. Limits future work opportunities to finance only.”

Morgan Stanley Investment Banking Analyst in London

2. Software Engineer

Median base salary: £34,106

Pros: “Very structured and organized. Great for teamwork in software development. Very high standards.”

Cons: “Often too much structure and a tendency to micro-manage; overly hierarchical. Too much fuss about Agile and sprints. Not exactly supportive for creative ideas for the majority.”

Apple Software Engineer in Cambridge

3. Business Analyst

Source: Nik MacMillan/Unsplash

Median salary: £32,142

Pros: “Company takes care of their people. Reasonable working hours, opportunity to work from home.

Cons: “To (sic) big and main actions happen in United States.”

Microsoft Business Analyst in London

4. Data Scientist

Median salary: £30,791

Pros: “At Google, you learn. You can’t help but learn. The culture breeds collaboration and helpfulness.”

Cons: “Unambitious middle managers on comfortable salaries block career progression for potential people managers.”

Google Data Scientist in London

5. Financial Analyst

Source: Charles 🇵🇭/Unsplash

Median base salary: £28,717

Pros: “Complex projects. Great exposure to senior management. Focus on business partnering Flexible working.”

Cons: “Stretching targets. Limited resource for reporting.”

Sky Senior Finance Analyst in London

6. Software Developer

Median base salary: £28,609

Pros: “You will learn a lot. Amazon employees are some of the world’s experts in distributed systems, building reliable services and programming best practices.”

Cons: “There is lots of turnover (sic). People come here to improve their CV and learn, then go somewhere else.”

Amazon Software Development Engineer in Cambridge 

7. Civil Engineer

Source: Ascel Kadhem/Unsplash

Median base salary: £28,475

Pros: “Supportive in achieving professional qualification.”

Cons: “Slow progression typical for large companies.”

Atkins Graduate Civil Engineer in London

8. Audit Assistant

Median base salary: £28,288

Pros: “Interesting clients, growing team, intelligent people, travelling, fast growth.”

Cons: “Challenging, work – life balance, salary.”

KPMG Audit Assistant in London

9. Design Engineer

Source: Josefa nDiaz/Unsplash

Median base salary: £28,288

Pros: “Competitive salary, nice flexible shifts and people oriented company.”

Cons: “Sometimes hard to claim for promotion and rise of slaries (sic).”

Airbus Design Engineer in Filton

10. Mechanical Engineer

Median base salary: £28,273

Pros: “Great place to learn from the some of the cleverest Engineers in the world and to work on cutting edge technology. Lots of scope to pursue the work you enjoy.”

Cons: “Generally work isn’t as fast moving as smaller company’s (sic).”

Rolls-Royce Mechanical Engineer in Derby

“While salary is by no means the only factor that young job seekers consider when deciding where to work, it is still a significant one,” said Glassdoor Economic Research Analyst, Amanda Stansell.

“Investment banks have traditionally been the most generous with salaries to attract entry level talent, putting candidates through their paces in often gruelling interview processes. However, while an analyst at an investment bank still attracts the largest salary, four of the 10 highest paying entry level roles are technology roles. This shows that employers are willing to pay handsomely  to find technology talent.” 

According to Glassdoor data, those with specialist skills in the STEM fields are best placed to launch their careers in one of these high paying roles. But those businesses looking to attract – and retain – strong entry level talent must think about more than just salary. A recent Glassdoor survey found that two-thirds (66 percent) of millennials (those aged between 18-34 years old) in the UK place culture above salary when it comes to job satisfaction.

Liked this? Then you’ll love…

Should universities help graduates find jobs?

New study shows the top 10 tech jobs for new US graduates