Correspondents are about average in terms of 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, correspondents rate their career happiness 3.2 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 47% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy correspondents 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Television writer | 4.0 | $70k |
| Blogger | 3.8 | $26k |
| News anchor | 3.7 | $67k |
| Journalist | 3.4 | $37k |
| Editor | 3.4 | $63k |
| Content manager | 3.2 | $40k |
| News reporter | 3.2 | $27k |
| Proofreader | 3.1 | $44k |
| Copywriter | 3.1 | $70k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are correspondents happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do correspondents find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as correspondents?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are correspondent’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are correspondents making the best use of their abilities?
Are correspondents happy with their salary?
Correspondents rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.9/5. Correspondents tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.
We asked correspondents how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
2.9 out of 5 stars
37 correspondents
8% of correspondents rated their compensation 5 stars
27% of correspondents rated their compensation 4 stars
22% of correspondents rated their compensation 3 stars
32% of correspondents rated their compensation 2 stars
11% of correspondents rated their compensation 1 stars
Do correspondents find their jobs meaningful?
On average, correspondents rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.2/5. Unlike many careers, correspondents have little difficulty finding meaning in their work, and it likely constitutes one of the main reasons people become correspondents.
We asked correspondents how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
3.2 out of 5 stars
36 correspondents
17% of correspondents rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
36% of correspondents rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
17% of correspondents rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
11% of correspondents rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
19% of correspondents rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as correspondents?
Correspondents rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.8/5. The majority of correspondents find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked correspondents how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.8 out of 5 stars
42 correspondents
38% of correspondents rated their career fit 5 stars
29% of correspondents rated their career fit 4 stars
14% of correspondents rated their career fit 3 stars
12% of correspondents rated their career fit 2 stars
7% of correspondents rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a correspondent’s work environment?
As a whole, correspondents rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.7/5. A solid majority of correspondents enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a correspondent.
We asked correspondents how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.7 out of 5 stars
41 correspondents
29% of correspondents rated their work environment 5 stars
34% of correspondents rated their work environment 4 stars
17% of correspondents rated their work environment 3 stars
12% of correspondents rated their work environment 2 stars
7% of correspondents rated their work environment 1 stars
Are correspondents making the best use of their abilities?
Former correspondents on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.1/5. Most correspondents are satisfied with how well their abilities are skills are made of use.
We asked correspondents how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.1 out of 5 stars
41 correspondents
17% of correspondents rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
22% of correspondents rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
24% of correspondents rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
24% of correspondents rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
12% of correspondents rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars