Archivists 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, archivists rate their career happiness 3.2 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 49% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy archivists 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Museum conservator | 3.5 | $48k |
| Library assistant | 3.3 | $29k |
| Librarian | 3.3 | $59k |
| Archivist | 3.2 | $60k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are archivists happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do archivists find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as archivists?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are archivist’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are archivists making the best use of their abilities?
Are archivists happy with their salary?
Archivists rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.9/5. Archivists tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.
We asked archivists how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
2.9 out of 5 stars
290 archivists
12% of archivists rated their compensation 5 stars
22% of archivists rated their compensation 4 stars
26% of archivists rated their compensation 3 stars
22% of archivists rated their compensation 2 stars
18% of archivists rated their compensation 1 stars
Do archivists find their jobs meaningful?
On average, archivists rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.8/5. While most archivists aren’t very fulfilled by their work, some people may still manage to find meaning in it.
We asked archivists how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
2.8 out of 5 stars
292 archivists
12% of archivists rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
17% of archivists rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
28% of archivists rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
24% of archivists rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
19% of archivists rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as archivists?
Archivists rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.8/5. The majority of archivists find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked archivists how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.8 out of 5 stars
323 archivists
29% of archivists rated their career fit 5 stars
39% of archivists rated their career fit 4 stars
18% of archivists rated their career fit 3 stars
9% of archivists rated their career fit 2 stars
5% of archivists rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is an archivist’s work environment?
As a whole, archivists rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.5/5. A solid majority of archivists enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as an archivist.
We asked archivists how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.5 out of 5 stars
323 archivists
25% of archivists rated their work environment 5 stars
32% of archivists rated their work environment 4 stars
22% of archivists rated their work environment 3 stars
15% of archivists rated their work environment 2 stars
7% of archivists rated their work environment 1 stars
Are archivists making the best use of their abilities?
Former archivists on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 2.9/5. Archivists tend to feel that they don’t manage to use their abilities to their fullest, when compared to other careers.
We asked archivists how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
2.9 out of 5 stars
322 archivists
10% of archivists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
25% of archivists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
22% of archivists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
27% of archivists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
16% of archivists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars