6 high-income skills you need to succeed

Breaking past the $100,000 salary ceiling isn’t easy; you’re going to need the relevant skills, years of experience, and the right attitude. But that doesn’t mean you have to go back to school for another degree.

Whether by enrolling in online courses, taking on leadership boot camps, finding a sympathetic mentor, or simply improving on your own, you can transform yourself into six-figure-salary material — but you’re going to have to know which skills to focus on.

These are the six things you should master to reach the top of the ladder.

Become a leader

People who manage other people make more money. It might seem obvious (and the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics confirms that CEOs and managers only trail doctors in average earnings), but looking into the future of work and skills that will be in high demand just confirms that leaders will continue to be at the top of the list of people who make more.

Possibly even more important, someone who possesses leadership skills will steer the ship and decide who else will come along for the journey.

Yes, automation and other technology will change how we do things, but leading a team of humans is still a very human job. It will always take a human being to understand the nuances of teamwork, personalities, and conflict resolution.

Be a better communicator

You’re not going to get a promotion unless you know how to ask for a promotion. Communication is another high-demand skill, and companies are having a hard time finding good communicators right now.  

“Communication is one of the so-called ‘soft skills’ that employers tell us are essential for career advancement. During my own corporate career, I often noticed that the individuals who assumed leadership positions in even the most technical functional areas were the most effective communicators.”

– Carl Zangerl, Faculty Director, Communication and Human Resource Management, Northeastern’s College of Professional Studies

Tap into your creative side

You might not think that your job requires you to be creative, or that having the skill will result in a pay increase. But replace the word “creativity” with “resourcefulness” or “innovation.” Now you might be able to see why creativity should be a skill you nurture. (And don’t fall for the stereotype about creative jobs: Many high-paying jobs require a high degree of creativity.)

The fields of computer engineering and data security, for example, require creativity. People who can attack a problem from different angles — and in ways not many people would — are better at finding new ways to protect software and systems from equally creative hackers. You’ll find that companies in other fields often rely on their creative thinkers to set themselves apart. 

Learn to handle complexity and ambiguity

Recruiters have a hard time hiring professionals who can thrive in constantly changing workplaces, according to a McKinsey report. So companies are always on the lookout for the kinds of people who can successfully and productively transition to new work circumstances — say, like the personal and professional upheavals the whole world has had to deal with over the last year or so.  

If you’re one of the people who’s thrived amid the complexities of suddenly working remotely in the middle of a pandemic, then you already have a leg up. Add to that skills like navigating through tech changes, collaborating with your team despite the increasing challenges of working from home, and staying sanguine while not knowing how things would pan out in the future, and you’re one of the gems that recruiters are looking for in high-paying positions.

Learn to code and analyze data 

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that learning to code and perform detailed data analysis are sought-after high-paying skills. Many companies collect data on their customers, industry trends, and internal processes. But not everyone knows how to put this data to good use.

Even if your background is far from technical, you can easily learn a few coding skills, instead of waiting for your IT department to help. Consider taking an online course in SQL or beginner-level data analysis to learn how to mine your company’s data for the insights that fuel your performance and demand a higher wage. 

Exercise your problem-solving skills

All the data in the world is useless if you can’t figure out how to come to conclusions from the information and apply it to the real world. High-income earners are pros at problem-solving. 

Great problem solvers find solutions by harnessing their creativity, mental speed, and accuracy — and, most importantly, by keeping their analytical reasoning sharp. Largely, it comes down to practice and consuming high-quality information. Those that read extensively (both published books and online articles) on their field are often better at making decisions quickly and effectively.