Top of My Class
Dear Dori - I'm at the top of my job class series, and at the end of my pay scale. It feels like the end of the line in state service unless I transition into a management role. I'm barely mid-way through my career! What is the state doing to increase advancement pathways to retain and build experience and expertise among independent contributors? I like the work I'm doing, but fear wage stagnation and also don't know how to keep growing since the system doesn't seem built to support someone like me. -- Top of My Class
Dear Top of My Class -
First, congratulations to you. It sounds like you have worked hard to find yourself in the highest-level classification within your selected field of expertise. We are lucky to have you.
I have good news and bad news for you. The good news is that you know yourself well enough to recognize that management or supervision might not be for you. And that’s ok! It isn’t for everyone, and what we generally know is the further up you go in management, the further away you get from the nuts-and-bolts, detailed expertise of an individual contributor. For some, that’s not a sacrifice worth making.
You are not alone in this experience. I want to point out a couple free, virtual sessions my team is hosting as part of Employee Career Exploration Week 2026 (Aug. 3-7) that may be of interest to you. In “Influencing and Leading as an Individual Contributor,” hear from a panel of current state employees about how they navigate their career growth without moving into a supervisory role. Individual contributors who have reached the top of their job class series may also find value in attending “Is Leadership Right for Me?” This may affirm your decision that management isn’t right for you, or it may nudge you in a different direction than you’d expected. These sessions will be recorded and available to view after the event.
Now for the bad news: every individual contributor job – at the State, and elsewhere – has a maximum pay associated with it. A social worker, even one with 40 years of experience, is never going to have the same salary maximum as a surgeon. It can sound heartless and dehumanizing, but at some point, folks reach the maximum of what they can earn in their role.
To your specific question of what the State is doing for folks like you, let me provide some background and context, then offer a few suggestions.
When my division establishes career families, we typically establish three to four levels of individual contributors – an entry level, two to three mid-career levels, and an “expert” level that should be set aside for those few who are truly the most advanced within their field, and whose work is qualitatively different and of a higher level of skill than those entry to mid-level classifications. From time to time, we take a look at series to see whether they continue to meet agency needs. We may add an additional level within the series if there are broad distinctions in the levels of work being done within a classification, or merge classes if there is no longer a sufficient distinction in the level of work being performed to justify maintaining two different classifications.
If you are in a situation where you and a couple of others in your job classification are doing work that is of a qualitatively different and higher level than most others, talk to your HR office. They might propose to MMB that we look at creating an additional classification level.
Alternatively (or in addition to the above) there are multiple ways for you to find energy and engagement within your current role. Enterprise Talent Development offers multiple programs for individual contributors who want to expand their scope of influence, including courses and assessments. Closer to home, many agencies post “work out of class” opportunities for employees who want to try on new duties or responsibilities for a limited period of time, and they often come with a (temporary) pay increase. In a similar vein, most collectively bargained agreements contain “special project” language that permits an agency to offer additional compensation for employees who perform certain types of work that is not part of their typical workload.
Other paths to expand your engagement and influence (albeit without a compensation component) include joining or starting a Community of Practice or Employee Resource Group and participating in the enterprise mentorship program.
-- Workforce Development Director Dori
About Dear Dori
Dear Dori is a career advice column in our bimonthly enterprise career development email. State employees can ask anything about career development at the State of Minnesota using the Ask Your Career Development Questions form. These questions are anonymous, so employees should not share private details or anything that identifies them.