Career counselors are one of the happiest careers in the United States.
At CareerExplorer, we conduct an ongoing survey with millions of people and ask them how satisfied they are with their careers. As it turns out, career counselors rate their career happiness 3.8 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 14% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy career counselors are to similar careers in the industry. Take a look at the results below:
Salaries and satisfaction ratings in similar careers
| Career | Satisfaction | Avg Salary |
|---|---|---|
| Life coach | 4.1 | $47k |
| Career counselor | 3.8 | $48k |
| Counseling psychologist | 3.6 | $80k |
| Clergy member | 3.6 | $36k |
| School principal | 3.5 | $96k |
| Counselor | 3.5 | $20k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are career counselors happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do career counselors find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as career counselors?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are career counselor’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are career counselors making the best use of their abilities?
Are career counselors happy with their salary?
Career counselors rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.2/5. Few are explicitly unhappy with their salaries, with most career counselors having generally positive views of their salary.
We asked career counselors how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
3.2 out of 5 stars
1094 career counselors
15% of career counselors rated their compensation 5 stars
28% of career counselors rated their compensation 4 stars
28% of career counselors rated their compensation 3 stars
19% of career counselors rated their compensation 2 stars
10% of career counselors rated their compensation 1 stars
Do career counselors find their jobs meaningful?
On average, career counselors rate the meaningfulness of their work a 4.0/5. Unlike many careers, career counselors have little difficulty finding meaning in their work, and it likely constitutes one of the main reasons people become career counselors.
We asked career counselors how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
4.0 out of 5 stars
1102 career counselors
39% of career counselors rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
36% of career counselors rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
15% of career counselors rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
8% of career counselors rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
3% of career counselors rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as career counselors?
Career counselors rated their personality fit with their work an average of 4.4/5. The majority of career counselors find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked career counselors how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
4.4 out of 5 stars
1222 career counselors
52% of career counselors rated their career fit 5 stars
37% of career counselors rated their career fit 4 stars
8% of career counselors rated their career fit 3 stars
2% of career counselors rated their career fit 2 stars
1% of career counselors rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a career counselor’s work environment?
As a whole, career counselors rated their enjoyment of their work environment 4.1/5. A solid majority of career counselors enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a career counselor.
We asked career counselors how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
4.1 out of 5 stars
1212 career counselors
41% of career counselors rated their work environment 5 stars
39% of career counselors rated their work environment 4 stars
13% of career counselors rated their work environment 3 stars
6% of career counselors rated their work environment 2 stars
1% of career counselors rated their work environment 1 stars
Are career counselors making the best use of their abilities?
Former career counselors on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.8/5. Most career counselors surveyed find that they manage to use their abilities to their fullest as a career counselor, which helps contribute to higher career satisfaction in the long term.
We asked career counselors how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.8 out of 5 stars
1220 career counselors
32% of career counselors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
33% of career counselors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
19% of career counselors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
12% of career counselors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
3% of career counselors rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars