Marketing managers 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, marketing managers rate their career happiness 3.1 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 40% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy marketing managers 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Investment fund manager | 3.2 | $125k |
| Online merchant | 3.2 | $75k |
| Search marketing strategist | 3.2 | $90k |
| Social media manager | 3.1 | $31k |
| Operations manager | 3.1 | $98k |
| Marketing manager | 3.1 | $135k |
| Advertising manager | 3.1 | $127k |
| Digital marketing specialist | 3.1 | $39k |
| Human resources manager | 3.1 | $126k |
| Project manager | 3.1 | $55k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are marketing managers happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do marketing managers find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as marketing managers?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are marketing manager’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are marketing managers making the best use of their abilities?
Are marketing managers happy with their salary?
Marketing managers rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.1/5. Few are explicitly unhappy with their salaries, with most marketing managers having generally positive views of their salary.
We asked marketing managers how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
3.1 out of 5 stars
6227 marketing managers
13% of marketing managers rated their compensation 5 stars
28% of marketing managers rated their compensation 4 stars
29% of marketing managers rated their compensation 3 stars
19% of marketing managers rated their compensation 2 stars
11% of marketing managers rated their compensation 1 stars
Do marketing managers find their jobs meaningful?
On average, marketing managers rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.7/5. While most marketing managers aren’t very fulfilled by their work, some people may still manage to find meaning in it.
We asked marketing managers how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
2.7 out of 5 stars
6261 marketing managers
10% of marketing managers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
17% of marketing managers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
26% of marketing managers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
28% of marketing managers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
20% of marketing managers rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as marketing managers?
Marketing managers rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.8/5. The majority of marketing managers find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked marketing managers how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.8 out of 5 stars
6891 marketing managers
26% of marketing managers rated their career fit 5 stars
39% of marketing managers rated their career fit 4 stars
23% of marketing managers rated their career fit 3 stars
8% of marketing managers rated their career fit 2 stars
3% of marketing managers rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a marketing manager’s work environment?
As a whole, marketing managers rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.5/5. A solid majority of marketing managers enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a marketing manager.
We asked marketing managers how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.5 out of 5 stars
6865 marketing managers
19% of marketing managers rated their work environment 5 stars
35% of marketing managers rated their work environment 4 stars
27% of marketing managers rated their work environment 3 stars
14% of marketing managers rated their work environment 2 stars
6% of marketing managers rated their work environment 1 stars
Are marketing managers making the best use of their abilities?
Former marketing managers on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.2/5. Most marketing managers are satisfied with how well their abilities are skills are made of use.
We asked marketing managers how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.2 out of 5 stars
6876 marketing managers
14% of marketing managers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
26% of marketing managers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
30% of marketing managers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
22% of marketing managers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
8% of marketing managers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars