Controllers 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, controllers 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 controllers 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Fraud analyst | 2.9 | $73k |
| Customer success manager | 2.9 | $46k |
| Fundraiser | 2.9 | $61k |
| Data analyst | 2.9 | $44k |
| Operations research analyst | 2.9 | $82k |
| Controller | 2.9 | $71k |
| Fundraising manager | 2.8 | $115k |
| Quality assurance analyst | 2.8 | $41k |
| Energy broker | 2.8 | $55k |
| Sales engineer | 2.8 | $104k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are controllers happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do controllers find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as controllers?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are controller’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are controllers making the best use of their abilities?
Are controllers happy with their salary?
Controllers rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.4/5. Few are explicitly unhappy with their salaries, with most controllers having generally positive views of their salary.
We asked controllers how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
3.4 out of 5 stars
293 controllers
14% of controllers rated their compensation 5 stars
36% of controllers rated their compensation 4 stars
29% of controllers rated their compensation 3 stars
13% of controllers rated their compensation 2 stars
8% of controllers rated their compensation 1 stars
Do controllers find their jobs meaningful?
On average, controllers rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.4/5. The majority of controllers struggle to find any sort of meaning in their work, likely resulting in less satisfaction with the career overall.
We asked controllers how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
2.4 out of 5 stars
294 controllers
7% of controllers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
12% of controllers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
25% of controllers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
29% of controllers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
27% of controllers rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as controllers?
Controllers rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.6/5. The majority of controllers find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked controllers how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.6 out of 5 stars
308 controllers
21% of controllers rated their career fit 5 stars
36% of controllers rated their career fit 4 stars
25% of controllers rated their career fit 3 stars
12% of controllers rated their career fit 2 stars
6% of controllers rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a controller’s work environment?
As a whole, controllers 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 controllers how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.3 out of 5 stars
308 controllers
17% of controllers rated their work environment 5 stars
30% of controllers rated their work environment 4 stars
29% of controllers rated their work environment 3 stars
14% of controllers rated their work environment 2 stars
11% of controllers rated their work environment 1 stars
Are controllers making the best use of their abilities?
Former controllers on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.0/5. Controllers tend to feel that they don’t manage to use their abilities to their fullest, when compared to other careers.
We asked controllers how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.0 out of 5 stars
309 controllers
14% of controllers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
18% of controllers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
31% of controllers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
26% of controllers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
12% of controllers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars