Public relations specialists are below average when it comes to happiness.
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, public relations specialists rate their career happiness 3.0 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 31% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy public relations specialists 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Marketing manager | 3.1 | $66k |
| Advertising manager | 3.1 | $88k |
| Digital marketing specialist | 3.1 | $57k |
| Human resources manager | 3.1 | $65k |
| Real estate agent | 3.0 | $29k |
| Public relations specialist | 3.0 | $52k |
| Market research analyst | 2.9 | $48k |
| Publicist | 2.9 | $49k |
| Fundraiser | 2.9 | $61k |
| Office manager | 2.9 | $36k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are public relations specialists happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do public relations specialists find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as public relations specialists?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are public relations specialist’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are public relations specialists making the best use of their abilities?
Are public relations specialists happy with their salary?
Public relations specialists rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.9/5. Public relations specialists tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.
We asked public relations specialists how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
2.9 out of 5 stars
1574 public relations specialists
11% of public relations specialists rated their compensation 5 stars
23% of public relations specialists rated their compensation 4 stars
28% of public relations specialists rated their compensation 3 stars
21% of public relations specialists rated their compensation 2 stars
17% of public relations specialists rated their compensation 1 stars
Do public relations specialists find their jobs meaningful?
On average, public relations specialists rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.7/5. While most public relations specialists aren’t very fulfilled by their work, some people may still manage to find meaning in it.
We asked public relations specialists how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
2.7 out of 5 stars
1595 public relations specialists
11% of public relations specialists rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
15% of public relations specialists rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
26% of public relations specialists rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
27% of public relations specialists rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
22% of public relations specialists rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as public relations specialists?
Public relations specialists rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.7/5. The majority of public relations specialists find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked public relations specialists how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.7 out of 5 stars
1768 public relations specialists
27% of public relations specialists rated their career fit 5 stars
35% of public relations specialists rated their career fit 4 stars
23% of public relations specialists rated their career fit 3 stars
11% of public relations specialists rated their career fit 2 stars
5% of public relations specialists rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a public relations specialist’s work environment?
As a whole, public relations specialists rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.4/5. Most of them tend to enjoy, or at least not be actively bothered by, their work environment.
We asked public relations specialists how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.4 out of 5 stars
1754 public relations specialists
18% of public relations specialists rated their work environment 5 stars
32% of public relations specialists rated their work environment 4 stars
27% of public relations specialists rated their work environment 3 stars
16% of public relations specialists rated their work environment 2 stars
8% of public relations specialists rated their work environment 1 stars
Are public relations specialists making the best use of their abilities?
Former public relations specialists on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.1/5. Most public relations specialists are satisfied with how well their abilities are skills are made of use.
We asked public relations specialists how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.1 out of 5 stars
1766 public relations specialists
13% of public relations specialists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
25% of public relations specialists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
28% of public relations specialists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
24% of public relations specialists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
10% of public relations specialists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars