Executive assistants are one of the least happy 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, executive assistants rate their career happiness 2.8 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 16% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy executive assistants 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Fundraising manager | 2.8 | $69k |
| Energy broker | 2.8 | $55k |
| Risk management specialist | 2.8 | $90k |
| Supply chain manager | 2.8 | $72k |
| Sales manager | 2.8 | $63k |
| Executive assistant | 2.8 | $49k |
| Bank manager | 2.8 | $62k |
| Bookkeeper | 2.7 | $25k |
| Compensation and benefits manager | 2.7 | $73k |
| Recruiter | 2.7 | $55k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are executive assistants happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do executive assistants find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as executive assistants?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are executive assistant’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are executive assistants making the best use of their abilities?
Are executive assistants happy with their salary?
Executive assistants rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.0/5. Few are explicitly unhappy with their salaries, with most executive assistants having generally positive views of their salary.
We asked executive assistants how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
3.0 out of 5 stars
3719 executive assistants
12% of executive assistants rated their compensation 5 stars
25% of executive assistants rated their compensation 4 stars
29% of executive assistants rated their compensation 3 stars
20% of executive assistants rated their compensation 2 stars
14% of executive assistants rated their compensation 1 stars
Do executive assistants find their jobs meaningful?
On average, executive assistants rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.3/5. The majority of executive assistants struggle to find any sort of meaning in their work, likely resulting in less satisfaction with the career overall.
We asked executive assistants how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
2.3 out of 5 stars
3723 executive assistants
8% of executive assistants rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
10% of executive assistants rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
22% of executive assistants rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
29% of executive assistants rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
31% of executive assistants rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as executive assistants?
Executive assistants rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.7/5. The majority of executive assistants find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked executive assistants how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.7 out of 5 stars
4038 executive assistants
29% of executive assistants rated their career fit 5 stars
35% of executive assistants rated their career fit 4 stars
21% of executive assistants rated their career fit 3 stars
10% of executive assistants rated their career fit 2 stars
6% of executive assistants rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is an executive assistant’s work environment?
As a whole, executive assistants rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.3/5. Most of them tend to enjoy, or at least not be actively bothered by, their work environment.
We asked executive assistants how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.3 out of 5 stars
4028 executive assistants
20% of executive assistants rated their work environment 5 stars
30% of executive assistants rated their work environment 4 stars
26% of executive assistants rated their work environment 3 stars
16% of executive assistants rated their work environment 2 stars
9% of executive assistants rated their work environment 1 stars
Are executive assistants making the best use of their abilities?
Former executive assistants on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 2.6/5. Most feel that their skills are being underutilized in the career, probably leading to more general dissatisfaction with being an executive assistant.
We asked executive assistants how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
2.6 out of 5 stars
4036 executive assistants
11% of executive assistants rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
16% of executive assistants rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
23% of executive assistants rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
28% of executive assistants rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
23% of executive assistants rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars