Merchandisers 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, merchandisers rate their career happiness 2.9 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 21% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy merchandisers 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Property manager | 2.9 | $59k |
| Real estate appraiser | 2.9 | $55k |
| Lodging manager | 2.9 | $59k |
| Street vendor | 2.9 | $29k |
| Office manager | 2.9 | $61k |
| Merchandiser | 2.9 | $32k |
| Purchasing manager | 2.9 | $127k |
| Fundraising manager | 2.8 | $115k |
| Concierge | 2.8 | $35k |
| Supply chain manager | 2.8 | $125k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are merchandisers happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do merchandisers find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as merchandisers?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are merchandiser’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are merchandisers making the best use of their abilities?
Are merchandisers happy with their salary?
Merchandisers rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.7/5. Merchandisers tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.
We asked merchandisers how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
2.7 out of 5 stars
1153 merchandisers
8% of merchandisers rated their compensation 5 stars
17% of merchandisers rated their compensation 4 stars
28% of merchandisers rated their compensation 3 stars
27% of merchandisers rated their compensation 2 stars
20% of merchandisers rated their compensation 1 stars
Do merchandisers find their jobs meaningful?
On average, merchandisers rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.3/5. The majority of merchandisers struggle to find any sort of meaning in their work, likely resulting in less satisfaction with the career overall.
We asked merchandisers how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
2.3 out of 5 stars
1157 merchandisers
6% of merchandisers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
11% of merchandisers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
21% of merchandisers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
29% of merchandisers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
32% of merchandisers rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as merchandisers?
Merchandisers rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.7/5. The majority of merchandisers find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked merchandisers how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.7 out of 5 stars
1186 merchandisers
29% of merchandisers rated their career fit 5 stars
35% of merchandisers rated their career fit 4 stars
21% of merchandisers rated their career fit 3 stars
10% of merchandisers rated their career fit 2 stars
5% of merchandisers rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a merchandiser’s work environment?
As a whole, merchandisers rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.3/5. Most of them tend to enjoy, or at least not be actively bothered by, their work environment.
We asked merchandisers how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.3 out of 5 stars
1183 merchandisers
20% of merchandisers rated their work environment 5 stars
28% of merchandisers rated their work environment 4 stars
28% of merchandisers rated their work environment 3 stars
16% of merchandisers rated their work environment 2 stars
9% of merchandisers rated their work environment 1 stars
Are merchandisers making the best use of their abilities?
Former merchandisers on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 2.7/5. Merchandisers tend to feel that they don’t manage to use their abilities to their fullest, when compared to other careers.
We asked merchandisers how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
2.7 out of 5 stars
1190 merchandisers
11% of merchandisers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
18% of merchandisers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
24% of merchandisers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
25% of merchandisers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
21% of merchandisers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars