Car salespeople 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, car salespeople rate their career happiness 2.4 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 3% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy car salespeople 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Account manager | 2.7 | $47k |
| Advertising sales agent | 2.7 | $52k |
| Cost estimator | 2.7 | $65k |
| Retail manager | 2.6 | $39k |
| Sales representative | 2.5 | $62k |
| Car salesperson | 2.4 | $35k |
| Retail salesperson | 2.3 | $29k |
| Insurance sales agent | 2.3 | $50k |
| Insurance appraiser | 2.1 | $63k |
| Telemarketer | 1.8 | $29k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are car salespeople happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do car salespeople find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as car salespeople?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are car salesperson’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are car salespeople making the best use of their abilities?
Are car salespeople happy with their salary?
Car salespeople rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.8/5. Car salespeople tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.
We asked car salespeople how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
2.8 out of 5 stars
1384 car salespeople
10% of car salespeople rated their compensation 5 stars
22% of car salespeople rated their compensation 4 stars
29% of car salespeople rated their compensation 3 stars
19% of car salespeople rated their compensation 2 stars
20% of car salespeople rated their compensation 1 stars
Do car salespeople find their jobs meaningful?
On average, car salespeople rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.0/5. The majority of car salespeople struggle to find any sort of meaning in their work, likely resulting in less satisfaction with the career overall.
We asked car salespeople how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
2.0 out of 5 stars
1395 car salespeople
5% of car salespeople rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
7% of car salespeople rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
16% of car salespeople rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
26% of car salespeople rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
46% of car salespeople rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as car salespeople?
Car salespeople rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.4/5. The majority of car salespeople find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked car salespeople how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.4 out of 5 stars
1452 car salespeople
26% of car salespeople rated their career fit 5 stars
28% of car salespeople rated their career fit 4 stars
19% of car salespeople rated their career fit 3 stars
13% of car salespeople rated their career fit 2 stars
14% of car salespeople rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a car salesperson’s work environment?
As a whole, car salespeople rated their enjoyment of their work environment 2.8/5. Some car salespeople are happy with their work environment, but it does not seem to be a meaningful contributer to career satisfaction for most.
We asked car salespeople how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
2.8 out of 5 stars
1447 car salespeople
11% of car salespeople rated their work environment 5 stars
21% of car salespeople rated their work environment 4 stars
27% of car salespeople rated their work environment 3 stars
22% of car salespeople rated their work environment 2 stars
19% of car salespeople rated their work environment 1 stars
Are car salespeople making the best use of their abilities?
Former car salespeople on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 2.5/5. Most feel that their skills are being underutilized in the career, probably leading to more general dissatisfaction with being a car salesperson.
We asked car salespeople how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
2.5 out of 5 stars
1450 car salespeople
8% of car salespeople rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
13% of car salespeople rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
24% of car salespeople rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
28% of car salespeople rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
27% of car salespeople rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars