Fly High

A ready reckoner on five highest paying career options for entry level job-seekers. Dinesh Goel tells you more.

For many students, the joy of graduation is often muted by the uncertainty of the future. Broadly speaking, there are three paths ahead of them — unpaid internships with the vague prospect of a future job, applying for higher studies, or jumping straight into regular, paid employment. For many, even this choice is a luxury — they need to find gainful employment, and do so with haste to support their family, or pay off education loans. However, finding rewarding employment as a fresher isn’t easy, as competing in a marketplace full of experienced professionals can be difficult. To help provide a solution, here are the five highest paying career options for entry-level job seekers that are relatively easily available for the right candidate:

Technical Writers/Communicators: Depending on the nature of their field of study in college, one of the more rewarding jobs for a fresher is that of a Technical Writer. Using their domain-specific knowledge, freshers can become technical communicators to prepare instruction manuals, journal articles, and other supporting documents to draft complex and technical information for their employers. They also develop, gather, and disseminate technical information among customers, designers and manufacturers. The demand for competent and professional technical writers is increasingly growing in the fields of education, technology, science and even in the arts and humanities.

Average salary: Rs 4,66,967 per year.

Search Engine Optimisation Analyst: All companies today are vying for a greater share of attention from the internet, as marketing, commerce, and product discovery and purchasing make a beeline for the information superhighway. An SEO analyst crafts innovative marketing plans and knows how to position a company’s content and web presence to give it an edge over the competition in search results, and is thus in high demand across a variety of different industries. This field is ideal for you if you have great analytical skills, are dynamic, and can learn fast, as it requires you to keep up with the latest trends in the field. A strong passion for research, an ability to think innovatively and execute efficiently will hold you in good stead in this career which is seeing high demand from various companies and segments of the market.

Average salary: Rs 6 lakh a year.

Python Developer:  The digital economy and companies that leverage mobile technology have changed the face of the job market. With many companies, both old and new, using a variety of different softwares to create products and services for their customers, there is a great demand for programmers. The Python programming language has been used by many companies to create a robust back-end to their code and processes, and Python programmers are consequently in high demand. Python developers at companies can be used to develop back-end components, connect application suites with other (often third-party) web services, and support front-end developers in integrating their functionality with the back-end code.

Average salary: Rs 4.8 lakh a year.

Java Developer: While Python is used to construct the processes and the logic that enshrine most applications and softwares, Java is often the programming language to turn to when creating the parts of the software that deal directly with customers. As such, Java is extensively used to create the code that runs before the user and is instrumental in creating the tangible user experience of applications. With many companies looking to improve their customer’s experiences and developing different types of applications, the knowledge of Java comes in handy when looking for work. Java is used to create graphical applets, different looks and themes for websites and applications, and to construct and design attractive graphical interfaces for users.

Average salary: Around Rs 4 lakh a year.

Chartered Accountant: Chartered Accountants are a professional class of auditors, trained to have immense amounts of domain knowledge that make them financial wizards and essential to the running of any large company or organisation, whether as an employee or an independent consultant. Becoming a chartered accountant requires a substantial dedication of time and effort to train and pass the tests and examinations to acquire the certification that are held periodically. However, once you become a CA, you can work as a finance ,manager, financial controller, financial advisor, or a finance director of a company. CAs are expected to give trustworthy financial advice, audit accounts, and provide comprehensive financial records, when required.

Average salary: Rs 7.3 lakh a year.