Medical administrative assistants 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, medical administrative assistants rate their career happiness 2.8 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 15% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy medical administrative assistants 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Psychiatric technician | 2.8 | $37k |
| Family social worker | 2.8 | $49k |
| Licensed practical nurse | 2.8 | $48k |
| Medical laboratory technologist | 2.8 | $46k |
| Pharmacy technician | 2.8 | $37k |
| Medical administrative assistant | 2.8 | $37k |
| Neurodiagnostic technologist | 2.8 | $46k |
| Clinical nurse specialist | 2.8 | $78k |
| Healthcare social worker | 2.8 | $61k |
| Medical billing and coding technician | 2.7 | $40k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are medical administrative assistants happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do medical administrative assistants find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as medical administrative assistants?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are medical administrative assistant’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are medical administrative assistants making the best use of their abilities?
Are medical administrative assistants happy with their salary?
Medical administrative assistants rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.8/5. Medical administrative assistants tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.
We asked medical administrative assistants how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
2.8 out of 5 stars
1304 medical administrative assistants
10% of medical administrative assistants rated their compensation 5 stars
21% of medical administrative assistants rated their compensation 4 stars
29% of medical administrative assistants rated their compensation 3 stars
22% of medical administrative assistants rated their compensation 2 stars
18% of medical administrative assistants rated their compensation 1 stars
Do medical administrative assistants find their jobs meaningful?
On average, medical administrative assistants rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.5/5. The majority of medical administrative assistants struggle to find any sort of meaning in their work, likely resulting in less satisfaction with the career overall.
We asked medical administrative assistants how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
2.5 out of 5 stars
1309 medical administrative assistants
9% of medical administrative assistants rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
14% of medical administrative assistants rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
24% of medical administrative assistants rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
25% of medical administrative assistants rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
27% of medical administrative assistants rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as medical administrative assistants?
Medical administrative assistants rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.7/5. The majority of medical administrative assistants find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked medical administrative assistants how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.7 out of 5 stars
1396 medical administrative assistants
29% of medical administrative assistants rated their career fit 5 stars
34% of medical administrative assistants rated their career fit 4 stars
22% of medical administrative assistants rated their career fit 3 stars
8% of medical administrative assistants rated their career fit 2 stars
6% of medical administrative assistants rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a medical administrative assistant’s work environment?
As a whole, medical administrative assistants rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.4/5. A solid majority of medical administrative assistants enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a medical administrative assistant.
We asked medical administrative assistants how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.4 out of 5 stars
1389 medical administrative assistants
20% of medical administrative assistants rated their work environment 5 stars
30% of medical administrative assistants rated their work environment 4 stars
29% of medical administrative assistants rated their work environment 3 stars
12% of medical administrative assistants rated their work environment 2 stars
9% of medical administrative assistants rated their work environment 1 stars
Are medical administrative assistants making the best use of their abilities?
Former medical administrative assistants on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 2.6/5. Most feel that their skills are being underutilized in the career, probably leading to more general dissatisfaction with being a medical administrative assistant.
We asked medical administrative assistants how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
2.6 out of 5 stars
1395 medical administrative assistants
11% of medical administrative assistants rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
15% of medical administrative assistants rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
21% of medical administrative assistants rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
28% of medical administrative assistants rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
24% of medical administrative assistants rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars