How to Land a 6-Figure Salary even Without a College Degree

Gone are those days where you need a college degree to get a high-paying six figure income job. While it may be more challenging to attain a 6-figure salary without a college degree, it is attainable if you take the right steps.

To succeed financially without a university degree requires a lot of determination, risk and networking, but the possibilities are undeniable. 

In this competitive job market, how can you compete for high-paying job opportunities, even if you don’t have a college degree? Here’s a few tips:

1. Follow Your Passion: Connect with your passion. Pursue a career path that you are passionate about and be great at it. When you are passionate about something it shows through and that passion can make the difference in making a great impression on an employer and landing you a 6-figure job.
   
   
2. Pursue Relevant Certifications and Educational Opportunities: So you may not have a college degree, but demonstrate to the employer that that is not a limitation and that you are in fact a go-getter and committed to continuous improvement. If your job offers paid training opportunities take advantage of them and get certifications and training certificates in leadership or relevant industry certifications. If they don’t offer that look for free online or local opportunities.Tip: Check with the local library as a great source of information on local events, trainings and free training resources.

• Learn How to Sell Yourself and Your Successes: When you don’t have a college degree to back up your skills, this is critically important. Learn how to sell your skills, your abilities and your knowledge and articulate to any employer why you are just a good of a candidate, if not better, than another person with a degree.
  
  
• Become a Specialist. Find out what you are good at and use that as your own personal niche. For instance, if you work in the field of accounting, don’t strive to be a generalist, become a specialist in a specific high value field such as forensic accounting to help position yourself as a subject matter expert. 
  
  
• Develop a Power Resume. Use a more skills-based resume format to highlight your qualifications, strengthens and job history upfront. Include awards, training and leadership opportunities and put technical skills up front so that the employer is forced to see your value and ample accomplishments so that they won’t think about the fact that you may be lacking in education. Before they can think of what you don’t have in education, ensure you resume showcases what you can do for them in terms of your accomplishments, education, technical skills and leadership.

• Build Your Personal Brand. Brand yourself with competitive distinction. What makes you different from other candidates?  Create a branding statement that defines who you are and what you bring to the table. Memorize it. Display it on your resume.
  
  
• Take Full Advantage of Your Network. In any career search networking is always a key component, but when you are coming to table with a potential disadvantage of not having a college degree it can be an even more integral component. Network within your current organization, in local groups, in industry groups, at church and even among your peers and colleagues to learn about new opportunities. Discuss your qualifications with those in your circle and make positive impressions on those influential players in your network. Creating a positive impression with someone can go a long way in providing a recommendation, opportunity or even passing your resume along.

Conclusion: While it can be a daunting task for all job seekers pursuing high paying jobs with six figure salaries, without a degree it can feel impossible. Take heed to the steps we’ve provided and make yourself more marketable, skilled and create an amazing 6-figure resume to land the job of your dreams.