Jobs That Can Change Your Future

How many of you reading this have dreamt of escaping the 9 to 5 world of work in favour of fewer hours spent in the office yet earning more money? Quite a few of you I would imagine……

 For many of us, the idea of leaving the rate race behind is an impossibility especially given the testing economic conditions that are seeing many of us work even longer hours than we already do just to ensure that the mortgage is paid every month. But there are jobs out there that mean you can work fewer hours yet still earn more than the average hourly pay.

According to the Office for National Statistics, the average annual salary at the end of 2008 was £31,969 which equates to between £15-16 per hour when based on a working week of 37-40 hours. So what jobs can you do that pay higher than this whilst demanding less time doing the role?

1.  Supply teachers

A recurring theme running throughout this list is those roles that are on a self-employed basis. And teaching is one of the most in demand. The daily rate of pay is calculated on the basis of annual salary entitlement according to the pay scale, divided by the maximum number of working days for a teacher -- 195 per annum. This means that the average rate is £139 per day for 6.5 hours -- the maximum allowed by law -- of work (£21.50 per hour).

2. Agency nurses

According to BNA, one of the UK's leading nursing employment agencies, a Registered General Nurse (RGN) employed by the NHS will typically earn £24,985 (£12.98 per hour), whereas the same RGN plying their trade through an agency on a self-employed basis is paid an average of £15.66 per hour -- with the option to work as few or as many hours as they choose. So, if the agency nurse works a full 37-hour week, the pay could be equivalent to a full-time salary of £30,129. But that doesn't include bank holiday rates (doubled) or Christmas rates (tripled).

3. IT consultants

With many organisations increasingly migrating much of their operations online and technology changing so fast that as soon as you can say, "Windows Vista is the latest must-have" it is quickly replaced by the next must-have, demand for IT professionals continues to be high despite a slowdown in the latter part of 2008, according to ITJobsWatch. And with many consultants commanding of £45,421 (£23.61 per hour) it comes as no surprise that many people are opting to work for themselves so that they can cherry-pick the world that they want to do.

4. Visiting college lecturers

With colleges and universities open for just 36 weeks of the year, the world of the visiting college lecturer is a happy one. Employed on a freelance basis, these lecturers can be hired by more than one university or college for their expertise in a particular field and can expect to be paid around £25 per hour, taking their annual earning to £33-35,000.

5. Therapists

Whereas therapy was once considered to be a taboo, it is increasingly being seen as an important support mechanism to promote a more meaningful life, according to Harley Therapy. Harley have reported that this sector has seen a 15 per cent increase in demand since the end of 2007 -- a fact that is reflected in the Government's £170 million investment in creating 32 psychological therapy centres across Britain. The threat of redundancies, difficult economic conditions and a depressed housing market which has seen the value of peoples' homes plummet in recent months, all conspire to create anxiety and stress. Which is good news for those working in the field of counselling and therapy with earnings hovering around the £34,647 (ONS) mark.

6. Recruitment consultants

You may think that a spate of redundancies would see the decline of the number of recruitment consultants but not so. The continuous growth in temporary recruitment shows that this is being used to meet peaks and troughs in business workloads. Indeed, turnover in the recruitment consultancy industry is expected to continue rising in the temporary sector throughout 2008, according to the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC). This means that demand for executive recruiters -- or so-called 'head-hunters' -- will no doubt see another year of more consultants spurning the comfort zone and going it alone. And who would blame them with commissions that typically range from 15-20 per cent of a candidate's salary.