Advertising managers 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, advertising managers rate their career happiness 3.1 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 39% of careers.

To put this into perspective, we compared how happy advertising managers 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
Online merchant
3.2
$75k
Search marketing strategist
3.2
$90k
Social media manager
3.1
$31k
Operations manager
3.1
$98k
Marketing manager
3.1
$135k
Advertising manager
3.1
$127k
Digital marketing specialist
3.1
$39k
Human resources manager
3.1
$126k
Project manager
3.1
$55k
Real estate agent
3.0
$48k

So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:

  • Salary: Are advertising managers happy with their salary?
  • Meaning: Do advertising managers find their jobs meaningful?
  • Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as advertising managers?
  • Work environment: How enjoyable are advertising manager’s work environments?
  • Skills utilization: Are advertising managers making the best use of their abilities?

Are advertising managers happy with their salary?

Advertising managers rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.0/5. Few are explicitly unhappy with their salaries, with most advertising managers having generally positive views of their salary.

We asked advertising managers how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:

3.0 out of 5 stars

1135 advertising managers

5 Star
13%

13% of advertising managers rated their compensation 5 stars

4 Star
26%

26% of advertising managers rated their compensation 4 stars

3 Star
28%

28% of advertising managers rated their compensation 3 stars

2 Star
21%

21% of advertising managers rated their compensation 2 stars

1 Star
13%

13% of advertising managers rated their compensation 1 stars

Do advertising managers find their jobs meaningful?

On average, advertising managers rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.6/5. The majority of advertising managers struggle to find any sort of meaning in their work, likely resulting in less satisfaction with the career overall.

We asked advertising managers how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:

2.6 out of 5 stars

1141 advertising managers

5 Star
10%

10% of advertising managers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars

4 Star
15%

15% of advertising managers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars

3 Star
24%

24% of advertising managers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars

2 Star
28%

28% of advertising managers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars

1 Star
24%

24% of advertising managers rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars

How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as advertising managers?

Advertising managers rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.8/5. The majority of advertising managers find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.

We asked advertising managers how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:

3.8 out of 5 stars

1253 advertising managers

5 Star
27%

27% of advertising managers rated their career fit 5 stars

4 Star
39%

39% of advertising managers rated their career fit 4 stars

3 Star
23%

23% of advertising managers rated their career fit 3 stars

2 Star
9%

9% of advertising managers rated their career fit 2 stars

1 Star
3%

3% of advertising managers rated their career fit 1 stars

How enjoyable is an advertising manager’s work environment?

As a whole, advertising managers rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.5/5. A solid majority of advertising managers enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as an advertising manager.

We asked advertising managers how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:

3.5 out of 5 stars

1243 advertising managers

5 Star
20%

20% of advertising managers rated their work environment 5 stars

4 Star
36%

36% of advertising managers rated their work environment 4 stars

3 Star
26%

26% of advertising managers rated their work environment 3 stars

2 Star
12%

12% of advertising managers rated their work environment 2 stars

1 Star
5%

5% of advertising managers rated their work environment 1 stars

Are advertising managers making the best use of their abilities?

Former advertising managers on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.1/5. Most advertising managers are satisfied with how well their abilities are skills are made of use.

We asked advertising managers how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:

3.1 out of 5 stars

1254 advertising managers

5 Star
15%

15% of advertising managers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars

4 Star
24%

24% of advertising managers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars

3 Star
29%

29% of advertising managers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars

2 Star
23%

23% of advertising managers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars

1 Star
8%

8% of advertising managers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars