Clinical research coordinators 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, clinical research coordinators rate their career happiness 2.8 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 20% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy clinical research coordinators 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Audiologist | 2.9 | $79k |
| Optician | 2.9 | $38k |
| Podiatrist | 2.9 | $146k |
| Cardiovascular technologist | 2.9 | $61k |
| Orthotist | 2.9 | $75k |
| Clinical research coordinator | 2.8 | $138k |
| Medical laboratory technologist | 2.8 | $46k |
| Pharmacy technician | 2.8 | $37k |
| Neurodiagnostic technologist | 2.8 | $46k |
| Nuclear medicine technologist | 2.7 | $79k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are clinical research coordinators happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do clinical research coordinators find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as clinical research coordinators?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are clinical research coordinator’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are clinical research coordinators making the best use of their abilities?
Are clinical research coordinators happy with their salary?
Clinical research coordinators rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.8/5. Clinical research coordinators tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.
We asked clinical research coordinators how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
2.8 out of 5 stars
584 clinical research coordinators
9% of clinical research coordinators rated their compensation 5 stars
22% of clinical research coordinators rated their compensation 4 stars
26% of clinical research coordinators rated their compensation 3 stars
28% of clinical research coordinators rated their compensation 2 stars
15% of clinical research coordinators rated their compensation 1 stars
Do clinical research coordinators find their jobs meaningful?
On average, clinical research coordinators rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.8/5. While most clinical research coordinators aren’t very fulfilled by their work, some people may still manage to find meaning in it.
We asked clinical research coordinators how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
2.8 out of 5 stars
587 clinical research coordinators
11% of clinical research coordinators rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
21% of clinical research coordinators rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
26% of clinical research coordinators rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
24% of clinical research coordinators rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
18% of clinical research coordinators rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as clinical research coordinators?
Clinical research coordinators rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.7/5. The majority of clinical research coordinators find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked clinical research coordinators how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.7 out of 5 stars
631 clinical research coordinators
24% of clinical research coordinators rated their career fit 5 stars
37% of clinical research coordinators rated their career fit 4 stars
24% of clinical research coordinators rated their career fit 3 stars
10% of clinical research coordinators rated their career fit 2 stars
4% of clinical research coordinators rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a clinical research coordinator’s work environment?
As a whole, clinical research coordinators rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.4/5. A solid majority of clinical research coordinators enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a clinical research coordinator.
We asked clinical research coordinators how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.4 out of 5 stars
628 clinical research coordinators
18% of clinical research coordinators rated their work environment 5 stars
34% of clinical research coordinators rated their work environment 4 stars
25% of clinical research coordinators rated their work environment 3 stars
15% of clinical research coordinators rated their work environment 2 stars
8% of clinical research coordinators rated their work environment 1 stars
Are clinical research coordinators making the best use of their abilities?
Former clinical research coordinators on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 2.9/5. Clinical research coordinators tend to feel that they don’t manage to use their abilities to their fullest, when compared to other careers.
We asked clinical research coordinators how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
2.9 out of 5 stars
629 clinical research coordinators
12% of clinical research coordinators rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
19% of clinical research coordinators rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
29% of clinical research coordinators rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
26% of clinical research coordinators rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
15% of clinical research coordinators rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars