Sales representatives 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, sales representatives rate their career happiness 2.5 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 5% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy sales representatives 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue agent | 2.7 | $57k |
| Investment banker | 2.7 | $73k |
| Credit counselor | 2.6 | $48k |
| Credit analyst | 2.6 | $77k |
| Retail manager | 2.6 | $39k |
| Sales representative | 2.5 | $62k |
| Loan officer | 2.5 | $63k |
| Car salesperson | 2.4 | $35k |
| Retail salesperson | 2.3 | $29k |
| Insurance sales agent | 2.3 | $50k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are sales representatives happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do sales representatives find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as sales representatives?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are sales representative’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are sales representatives making the best use of their abilities?
Are sales representatives happy with their salary?
Sales representatives rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.9/5. Sales representatives tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.
We asked sales representatives how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
2.9 out of 5 stars
2825 sales representatives
13% of sales representatives rated their compensation 5 stars
24% of sales representatives rated their compensation 4 stars
26% of sales representatives rated their compensation 3 stars
20% of sales representatives rated their compensation 2 stars
18% of sales representatives rated their compensation 1 stars
Do sales representatives find their jobs meaningful?
On average, sales representatives rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.2/5. The majority of sales representatives struggle to find any sort of meaning in their work, likely resulting in less satisfaction with the career overall.
We asked sales representatives how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
2.2 out of 5 stars
2827 sales representatives
5% of sales representatives rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
9% of sales representatives rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
20% of sales representatives rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
29% of sales representatives rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
37% of sales representatives rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as sales representatives?
Sales representatives rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.5/5. The majority of sales representatives find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked sales representatives how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.5 out of 5 stars
3169 sales representatives
24% of sales representatives rated their career fit 5 stars
32% of sales representatives rated their career fit 4 stars
24% of sales representatives rated their career fit 3 stars
12% of sales representatives rated their career fit 2 stars
8% of sales representatives rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a sales representative’s work environment?
As a whole, sales representatives rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.2/5. Most of them tend to enjoy, or at least not be actively bothered by, their work environment.
We asked sales representatives how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.2 out of 5 stars
3158 sales representatives
15% of sales representatives rated their work environment 5 stars
28% of sales representatives rated their work environment 4 stars
28% of sales representatives rated their work environment 3 stars
19% of sales representatives rated their work environment 2 stars
11% of sales representatives rated their work environment 1 stars
Are sales representatives making the best use of their abilities?
Former sales representatives on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 2.6/5. Sales representatives tend to feel that they don’t manage to use their abilities to their fullest, when compared to other careers.
We asked sales representatives how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
2.6 out of 5 stars
3160 sales representatives
8% of sales representatives rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
16% of sales representatives rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
26% of sales representatives rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
28% of sales representatives rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
22% of sales representatives rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars