Careers with the Largest Salary Growth Potential by Nick Selbe, CareerTrends
As the old adage goes, “It’s not how you start, but how you finish.” For anyone not fully satisfied with their current salary, this saying can inspire hope.
Many young job-seekers are eager to earn money, but the promise of a high starting salary shouldn’t be prioritized over future earning potential. Many occupations have uninspiring entry level salaries, but the more important factor is the ability for employees to increase their wages.
With this in mind, CareerTrends looked at 21 different career fields and found the occupation with the highest difference between entry level and well experienced salaries in each field. To do this, we used the most recent employment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (May 2014) and salary data from the Foreign Labor Certification Data Center (June 2015) to find each occupation’s average starting salary. We then took the job’s average well experienced salary and subtracted the average starting salary to get the salary difference.
All of the 21 jobs we selected had salary differences of at least $20,000. We ranked them from lowest to highest, including two occupations with six-figure differences between entry level and well experienced salaries.
Largest salary growth careers – #21. Chefs and Head Cooks
Career field: Food
Employment: 118,130
Entry level salary: $28,407
Well experienced salary: $49,315
Salary difference: $20,908
Largest salary growth careers – #20. Massage Therapists
Career field: Healthcare Support
Employment: 87,670
Entry level salary: $24,095
Well experienced salary: $46,186
Salary difference: $22,091
Largest salary growth careers – #19. Animal Care Supervisors
Career field: Farming, Fishing & Forestry
Employment: 18,530
Entry level salary: $33,283
Well experienced salary: $56,343
Salary difference: $23,060
Largest salary growth careers – #18. Morticians
Career field: Personal Care & Service
Employment: 25,160
Entry level salary: $33,311
Well experienced salary: $58,602
Salary difference: $25,291
Largest salary growth careers – #17. Office Supervisors
Career field: Office & Administrative Support
Employment: 1,404,070
Entry level salary: $31,583
Well experienced salary: $56,983
Salary difference: $25,400
Largest salary growth careers – #16. Religious Education Directors
Career field: Social Service
Employment: 18,850
Entry level salary: $28,470
Well experienced salary: $58,124
Salary difference: $29,654
Largest salary growth careers – #15. Mechanics Supervisors
Career field: Installation, Maintenance & Repair
Employment: 434,810
Entry level salary: $40,982
Well experienced salary: $71,285
Salary difference: $30,303
Largest salary growth careers – #14. Production Supervisors
Career field: Production
Employment: 592,830
Entry level salary: $37,033
Well experienced salary: $67,509
Salary difference: $30,476
Largest salary growth careers – #13. Customs Inspectors
Career field: Protective Services
Employment: 108,720
Entry level salary: $48,020
Well experienced salary: $78,811
Salary difference: $30,791
Largest salary growth careers – #12. Elevator Installers
Career field: Construction
Employment: 20,590
Entry level salary: $52,276
Well experienced salary: $85,308
Salary difference: $33,032
Largest salary growth careers – #11. Art Directors
Career field: Arts & Entertainment
Employment: 33,140
Entry level salary: $46,637
Well experienced salary: $91,589
Salary difference: $44,951
Largest salary growth careers – #10. Airline Pilots
Career field: Transportation
Employment: 75,760
Entry level salary: $68,679
Well experienced salary: $128,786
Salary difference: $60,107
Largest salary growth careers – #9. Actuaries
Career field: Computers & Mathematics
Employment: 21,490
Entry level salary: $61,401
Well experienced salary: $122,397
Salary difference: $60,996
Largest salary growth careers – #8. Commodities Traders
Career field: Sales
Employment: 316,340
Entry level salary: $35,112
Well experienced salary: $103,184
Salary difference: $68,072
Largest salary growth careers – #7. Lawyers
Career field: Law
Employment: 603,310
Entry level salary: $55,505
Well experienced salary: $125,103
Salary difference: $69,598
Largest salary growth careers – #6. Physicists
Career field: Life, Physical & Social Sciences
Employment: 16,790
Entry level salary: $71,046
Well experienced salary: $145,918
Salary difference: $74,872
Largest salary growth careers – #5. Personal Financial Advisors
Career field: Business & Finance
Employment: 196,490
Entry level salary: $41,222
Well experienced salary: $119,349
Salary difference: $78,127
#4. Petroleum Engineers
Career field: Architecture & Engineering
Employment: 33,740
Entry level salary: $78,605
Well experienced salary: $157,520
Salary difference: $78,915
#3. Law Professors
Career field: Education
Employment: 15,990
Entry level salary: $54,262
Well experienced salary: $154,079
Salary difference: $99,817
#2. Chief Executives
Career field: Management
Employment: 246,240
Entry level salary: $75,917
Well experienced salary: $193,496
Salary difference: $117,579
#1. Dermatologists
Career field: Medicine & Healthcare Technology
Employment: 349,000
Entry level salary: $98,544
Well experienced salary: $224,916
Salary difference: $126,372
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