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Even in office jobs, you can progress as an individual contributor without taking on management or supervisory responsibilities, and go beyond "entry level" which means just the vary basic tasks with someone watching over you to make sure you are doing things correctly. I guess some people might want to stick with those very basic tasks, but the reality is that companies want employees who can handle more than that - that's why jobs are called ENTRY level, meaning they are designed to get into a company but they aren't seen as permanent positions.
I think there are better options in terms of finding something where the job itself is designed to be at a lower level without the expectation that there has to be progression. Something like a receptionist or data entry - in a lot of cases, a person who has more ambition will treat those as entry level and try to get assigned tasks with increasing responsibility so they can move up, but some of the time, a company is happy to have someone stable who is happy with the status quo and just wants to stay in that one position indefinitely.
Of course, you also have to accept that raises will be minimal at best and you'll probably end up falling behind in terms of your income vs. the cost of living.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Originally Posted by tassity22
You mentioned paralegals. Some paralegals do quite well and earn decent money. They may not want to go into debt 100K and lose three years of a salary in order to attend law school. Also, many legal secretaries do well also. I know a legal secretary who earned 70K at her job. She was comfortable with that. She did not feel some pressing, urgent need to do something else.
Admin assistants can be a lifelong career for some if they are paid well and have full benefits at their job.
I'm not sure what pharmacy techs earn.
What a person does for a career is their own business.
I know one, a friend's daughter. She was making $25/hour in the San Francisco Bay Area, moved here for a bit less, $22.
I already answered. To give you an example.....you're comfortable now, but say the company closes or you get laid off and you need to look for another job. A recruiter or hiring manager is going to ask you why you were in the same position for X number of years. If you say you liked it they might accept that answer and move on, if you say you were comfortable and had no desire to advance then they may not hire you. Why? Because most companies want someone who is going to learn, grow and advance in a company. This is not true of allcompanies and positions of course, but most.
There has been talk about how low level employees are looked down upon
If you stay there for a very long time we are talking for many years
Im talking about Entry level jobs like help desk, paralegal, electrician trainee
Financial analyst assistant , pharmacy, bank teller desktop support etc
What if some of us all we care about is the money aka paying the bills?
I recall someone here did a thing about "Isn't good enough, GOOD ENOUGH?" That not wanting to go higher as they were making enough (I think it was $54K a year) and were happy doing it.
I'm not too sure about me, just got word that below a certain level, the workers just lost vac pay, sick pay and paid holidays off. The management said "We're raising your pay" but I'm betting they're tying it in with the state min wage raise, so they're just using this as a tactic to deny benefits...
Because society tells you that you must advance your career and make more money.
The reality is that some people do not have the mental ability to handle more responsibility and they DON'T WANT more responsibility. They are happy in their job that they do well, maybe they've done it for years. They are happy that if they have a problem, they can turn it over to management so they won't have to deal with it.
It's like asking why a teacher stays a teacher for 30 years. Why not move up to education administration? Because they like/are used to being a teacher? Same for people in AP/AR. They like the simplicity of it and don't want heavy duty CPA-level accounting? Or those who stay admin assistants for 30+ years. Because they enjoy supporting someone?
I hate it when society expects you to be this and that. When you aren't, you feel bad. Part of life, I suppose!
Because society tells you that you must advance your career and make more money.
The reality is that some people do not have the mental ability to handle more responsibility and they DON'T WANT more responsibility. They are happy in their job that they do well, maybe they've done it for years. They are happy that if they have a problem, they can turn it over to management so they won't have to deal with it.
It's like asking why a teacher stays a teacher for 30 years. Why not move up to education administration? Because they like/are used to being a teacher? Same for people in AP/AR. They like the simplicity of it and don't want heavy duty CPA-level accounting? Or those who stay admin assistants for 30+ years. Because they enjoy supporting someone?
I hate it when society expects you to be this and that. When you aren't, you feel bad. Part of life, I suppose!
I think the difference is that while someone obviously starts off as a first year teacher, teaching isn't an "entry level" job the way those are generally defined. You have to have specialized education including experience as a student teacher, where you don't have the same degree of ultimate responsibility even though you are performing many of the functions of a teacher.
I guess the correct equivalent would be someone saying they wanted to be a student teacher forever and why does everyone say they need to advance their career to become a licensed teacher. There just isn't a role for someone to stay in if they don't want to progress to the level of teacher. And that's the case in other fields too - you learn the ropes in an entry level job but in many cases, they are not created as positions for someone to work indefinitely while never assuming additional responsibilities.
Lack of ambition/motivation. If you're happy doing it then awesome, do it, but know that to a future employer or recruiter they will see it as lack of ambition or motivation to grow, learn and do more. And that's totally fine because that is really what it is at the heart. You're happy with where you are and what you've learned and you don't want to go any further.
Also beware if you earn considerably more than others in your role you may be on the hit list if layoffs happen.
The way I see it is there are people that want to get ahead and they have theories on how they will be happier/richer and those who enjoy life and get a job they like which is not so valued by many status seekers.
Often the latter ends up in a low paying job and staying there. Maybe the people accepting of low pay are more balanced, less greedy, less influenced by others. That's my story. the ones who must go and strive end up burned out or on a hectic pace and they end up on drugs trying to keep up or doing some lousy accidental irreversible thing because of their pace they try and attain although it is physically impossible.
Now there are a few people that actually like to do hectic, 60 hour+ weeks and they enjoy the extra money they make for doing that-good for them.
Artists often just do some job so they can do their art and not be too tired to do it. That's me and I love my working career.
There has been talk about how low level employees are looked down upon
If you stay there for a very long time we are talking for many years
Im talking about Entry level jobs like help desk, paralegal, electrician trainee
Financial analyst assistant , pharmacy, bank teller desktop support etc
What if some of us all we care about is the money aka paying the bills?
Honest answer? To a person who has a strong desire to succeed and advance it looks like you have no drive or desire to do anything more than the bare minimum to get by.
From a management perspective those types of jobs are better left for the less skilled to gain experience in. Since you are in a pay scale that has a ceiling, the only option at some point is to promote you in order to justify continuing your pay increase as you no longer fit into the pay scale for the position.
If you are doing the bare minimum it's difficult to justify why you should be paid more when you make no effort to learn and excel. If there ever comes a time to lay off, an overpaid person who has been performing the same job for 10 years and hasn't tried to advance is one of the first on the list to go.
This is just some things that I have seen through the years.
It shows you have no drive or desire to move on up and take on more challenging tasks.
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