First job with a salary of even $ 110,000 a year – What specialties do they achieve?

As much as it may seem like a summer nightmare to some of us, there are some very lucky young people in the US who start their careers from the very first moment they work after college. six-figure salaries!

In fact, in areas such as legalthe consultingthe financial and the science of computers, graduates earn pay packages that most people will never see in their lifetime. Is it, however, a unique life opportunity or a trap that no one would want to fall into?

Jobs for the Few Favored Graduates in the US Starting Their Careers with Six-Person Salaries

Davis Nguyen specializes in helping college seniors begin careers in management consulting. It’s an industry that historically pays well, he said BBCas well as even before the pandemic, some of the largest companies offered undergraduate students salaries which often approached six-digit numbers.

However, in the current market, Nguyen’s customers are doing particularly well. “They come back and say, ‘I have two great offers,'” explains the founder of My Consulting Offer, based in Georgia, USA. “One is for $ 120,000, the other for $ 140,000. “Today’s climate means that graduates can earn a lot more money than they did a few years ago.”

Consulting management is one of the areas in which graduates increasingly go straight from the lecture hall to jobs with six-figure salaries Earning pay packages that most people will never see in their lifetime. At Big Tech, for example, novice software engineers often start with such salaries. In the largest banking companiesthe fees for first-year analysts have increased almost by 30% in some cases the basic salary is $ 110,000. In his largest law firms London, some new lawyers start their careers with a salary of 107,500 pounds. Nguyen says that “20-year-olds who earn $ 100,000 from their first job have become increasingly the norm after the pandemic.”

Often, these new employees join companies where their colleagues started with lower wages and they had to work hard for years to earn a six-figure number on their paycheck. These organizations would argue that this is a response to market needs: The recruitment crisis means that competition for talent remains fierce -If an employer wants the best candidates who are willing to work long hours, they have to pay a high price for them.

Incentives and unforeseen consequences

However, in addition to matching the market price, offering huge pay packages to graduates does bring benefits, such as providing incentives for more working hours or the enhancement of work ethic; Or maybe it can create unforeseen consequencesboth for young high-wage earners and the wider workforce?

Graduates’ salaries have been steadily rising for years, the BBC reports. According to data from 2021 by the non-profit American National Association of Colleges and Employers, the starting salary for some employees in certain sectors has increased dramatically: for example, the The average salary for an IT graduate has risen to $ 72,173 – an increase of 7% in just one year.

Nicholas Bloom, a professor of economics at Stanford University, says labor demand is rapidly outstripping supply in some sectors, particularly in sector of technology. THE financial sector -with jobs that often require weekly work of more than 70 hours– has also raised the initial salaries to hire the best candidates. Thus, in most cases, graduates receive six-figure salaries simply as a “blunt tool of attraction” in the current labor market conditions, adds Rue Dooley, Human Reimgs Management (SHRM)’s human reimgs consultant in the USA.

“Employees want to be considered a valuable asset to their employer,” says Dooley. “Younger employees say that high wages are an expectation, not because they necessarily require them, but because they are aware of the lack of talent and know their value.”

This means that some employees at the beginning of their careers can secure huge salary packages before they even leave the college dormitory. “We regularly see companies doubling in size every 18 months, so graduate salaries follow the market closely,” Bloom added.

In the field of technology, smaller start-ups also now have to pay higher wages to entry-level employees to match the more established companies. Josh Brenner, CEO of Hired Recruitment Market, based in New Yorksays that U.S. employers pay tech freshmen $ 110,027 average starting salary.

Nguyen’s undergraduate clients often find salaried jobs that overshadow the rewards of his first role as a management consultant. He thinks this is a good thing. “Today’s six-figure starting wages are an upward trend that goes back decades,” he says. “High wages open up opportunities for people who simply would not otherwise have them, and do not deduct money from those who started with lower wages.”

The phenomenon of “golden handcuffs” and other problems

But while there are many positives to raising six-figure wages, these high packages can have insidious consequences. In some cases, these employees can be found trapped in business where they hateespecially if employees have built their way of life around high wages – a phenomenon often referred to as “golden handcuffs».

Nguyen says such salaries can also distort young workers’ perceptions of pay, preventing them from pursuing more meaningful career paths. “Some may eventually want to get involved in teaching or working for a non-profit company. Previously, the drop in salary was about $ 50,000. Now it’s close to $ 100,000 – that may be enough to prevent someone from changing careers. “

The effects on the work environment

The huge salaries may also be burden their new employees with psychological weight. Nguyen says some of his undergraduate clients may feel intimidated starting their professional life in a job that pays a fortune. “There are some who come from low income and think, ‘What did I do to earn so much more than my parents ever made?’ “This can cause fraudulent syndrome.”

Others in the same organisms can also feel it negative effects when first-time employees receive six-figure salaries without hesitation. For example, the experienced colleagues may annoyed from exorbitant amounts received by inexperienced partners especially when they receive less money from a recent graduate, despite their many years in the company. “This can create wage inequality issues,” says Dooley.

In addition, the same companies may not necessarily get what they pay for. While skyrocketing salaries can effectively “buy” a candidate’s willingness to work overtime on a regular basis, they do not necessarily guarantee a better work ethic.

“The risk is that employers, in some cases, assume that staff will be super motivated because of their high pay, but in reality they take it for granted,” said Tomas Chamorro, a professor of business psychology at University College London. “High wages may seem ideal when one finds a job, but once one starts, one usually wants a lot more: the results of a good salary will be ‘spent’ psychologically.”

Wage inequalities to a greater depth

With the labor market As it stands, six-digit starting wages are likely to continue to be the norm in some high-paying industries. But it is unlikely to have much of an impact on entry-level workers in less elite sectors.

Instead of pushing everyone’s wages upwards, six-figure wages for an extremely privileged subset of workers may instead lead to wage inequalities to a greater extent. “What we are seeing is clearly growing inequality and the gap continues to widen,” says Bloom. “If you have a degree in computer science you can earn $ 250,000 up to the age of 25, while if you drop out of school at the age of 16 you can earn $ 25,000 – a tenfold difference.”

The gap is likely to continue to widen even if the labor market recovers in terms of supply and demand. Bloom explains that while wages often rise, they almost never fall. For example, Nguyen says that salaries in management consulting have long withstood the hardships of the recession. “We have seen wages withstand so many economic cycles: companies plan and restructure wages, but they will never get rid of the six-figure wage.”

Thus, given their resistance to low tide and market flow, graduates’ six-figure salaries are not only likely to become more and more entrenched, but may rise further. And if jobs are reduced due to the normalization of the labor market, these wages will become more and more inaccessible for more.

“The six-figure starting wages have come to stay, and if growth freezes, it means it will be even harder to find them,” says Bloom. “These are jobs for the privileged few that you should grab as much as you can – if you can.”