Postgrad earnings: what you can expect to get paid after college

Job satisfaction matters, but so does salary. So what’s the link between your postgraduate course and your starting salary?

It’s rarely possible to say that a particular postgraduate qualification will lead to a specific job and a clearly defined salary as, outside of a narrow set of jobs in the tech and life science sectors, most courses will open up a variety of career opportunities.

Certain sectors require a postgraduate qualification: most secondary school teacher jobs, certain healthcare roles or becoming a research scientist, for instance. In most roles, however, a postgraduate qualification can give a leg-up but experience is what really counts.

That said, Graduate Outcomes, a recent survey carried out by the Higher Education Authority, did find a clear premium for postgrads, with 43 per cent of taught postgrads earning between €35,000-79,999 compared to just 24 per cent who have an undergraduate degree alone. The HEA data is not broken down by discipline, but the earnings boost of a postgraduate course is clear.

When it comes down to particular roles, we've included a selection of average salaries for some of the jobs that these postgraduate courses might lead to. All salaries are from the website Jobs.ie, which provides a useful breakdown of the various salaries in different roles across a range of industry sectors, and some salary comparisons between different companies. Payscale. com can also be a useful guide for budding postgraduates.

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For more information, see Jobs.ie/job-talk and follow the links to the salary guides:

Supply chain and logistics:

Logistics manager: €55-75,000

Supply chain manager: €65-85,000 (Dublin), €65-75,000 (outside Dublin)

Procurement officer: €40-60,000 (Dublin), €35-58,000 (outside Dublin)

Contract IT:

Linux dev/ops engineer: €450-600 per hour

Project support administrator: €250-350 per hour

Data scientist: €400-600 per hour

Permanent jobs in IT:

Helpdesk support (entry level): €24-29,000, rising to €36-40,000 after five years experience

Business analyst (entry level): €40-50,000, rising to €65-80,000 after five years experience

Data analyst (entry level): €30-50,000, rising to €65-90,000 after five years experience

Permanent science salaries:

Clinical research officer: €30-50,000

R&D scientist: €40-55,000 (Dublin), €35-55,000 (outside Dublin)

Health & safety officer: €45-60,000 (Dublin), €40-55,000 (outside Dublin)

Regulatory affairs officer: €30-60,000 (Dublin), €30-45,000 (outside Dublin), rising to €80-120,000 (Dublin) and €80-110,000 (outside Dublin) for a director of regulatory affairs

Qualified engineer: €44-65,000 (Dublin), €40-60,000 (outside Dublin)

Corporate catering and hotels:

Area manager: €60-75,000

Executive chef: €60-100,000

Revenue manager, hotel: €42-65,000

Sales:

Pharma sales territory manager: €45-55,000 (Dublin), €40-50,000 (outside Dublin)

IT sales account executive: €35-50,000

Sales executive: €30-40,000 (Dublin), €28-35,000 (outside Dublin)

Sales manager: €60-80,000 (Dublin), €55-80,000 (outside Dublin)

Languages:

Telesales agent with language: €25-35,000 (Dublin), €24-33,000 (outside Dublin)

Account manager with language: €30-45,000 (Dublin), €28-36,000 (outside Dublin)

Account manager (no language): €25-35,000 (Dublin), €28-35,000 (outside Dublin)

Construction:

Electrical engineer: €50-65,000 (Dublin), €40-50,000 (outside Dublin)

Quantity surveyor: €50-80,000 (Dublin), €50-60,000 (outside Dublin)

Project manager: €65-85,000 (Dublin)

Marketing:

Social media manager: €45-65,000 (Dublin), €40-60,000 (outside Dublin)

Marketing executive with 1-5 years experience: €28-35,000

Fundraising executive: €25-35,000

Legal:

Legal and compliance officer (in-house): €44-100,000 (Dublin), €40-90,000 (outside Dublin)

Newly qualified solicitor: €64-70,000 (Dublin), €30-55,000 (outside Dublin)

Data protection officer: €65-100,000 (Dublin), €55-95,000 (outside Dublin)

And a selection of average salaries according to Jobs.ie

Engineer: €52,927

Software engineer: €50,835

Senior software engineer: €69,299

Data scientist: €64,048

Project manager: €66,833

Marketing executive: €33,349

Recruitment consultant: €32,870

Solicitor: €69,494

Marketing manager: €48,357

HR generalist: €39,524

Accountant: €49,845

Psychiatric nurse: €39,404

*Salary estimates are based on salary data collected from Jobs.ie advertisements in Ireland during the last 12 months