Medical secretaries 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 secretaries 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 secretaries 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 | $35k |
| Family social worker | 2.8 | $42k |
| Licensed practical nurse | 2.8 | $45k |
| Medical and clinical laboratory technologist | 2.8 | $46k |
| Pharmacy technician | 2.8 | $30k |
| Medical secretary | 2.8 | $27k |
| Neurodiagnostic technologist | 2.8 | $43k |
| Clinical nurse specialist | 2.8 | $73k |
| Healthcare social worker | 2.8 | $57k |
| Medical records 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 secretaries happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do medical secretaries find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as medical secretaries?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are medical secretary’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are medical secretaries making the best use of their abilities?
Are medical secretaries happy with their salary?
Medical secretaries rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.8/5. Medical secretaries tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.
We asked medical secretaries how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
2.8 out of 5 stars
1310 medical secretaries
10% of medical secretaries rated their compensation 5 stars
21% of medical secretaries rated their compensation 4 stars
29% of medical secretaries rated their compensation 3 stars
22% of medical secretaries rated their compensation 2 stars
18% of medical secretaries rated their compensation 1 stars
Do medical secretaries find their jobs meaningful?
On average, medical secretaries rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.5/5. The majority of medical secretaries struggle to find any sort of meaning in their work, likely resulting in less satisfaction with the career overall.
We asked medical secretaries how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
2.5 out of 5 stars
1315 medical secretaries
9% of medical secretaries rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
14% of medical secretaries rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
24% of medical secretaries rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
25% of medical secretaries rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
27% of medical secretaries rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as medical secretaries?
Medical secretaries rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.7/5. The majority of medical secretaries find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked medical secretaries how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.7 out of 5 stars
1402 medical secretaries
29% of medical secretaries rated their career fit 5 stars
34% of medical secretaries rated their career fit 4 stars
22% of medical secretaries rated their career fit 3 stars
8% of medical secretaries rated their career fit 2 stars
6% of medical secretaries rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a medical secretary’s work environment?
As a whole, medical secretaries rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.4/5. A solid majority of medical secretaries enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a medical secretary.
We asked medical secretaries how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.4 out of 5 stars
1395 medical secretaries
20% of medical secretaries rated their work environment 5 stars
30% of medical secretaries rated their work environment 4 stars
29% of medical secretaries rated their work environment 3 stars
12% of medical secretaries rated their work environment 2 stars
9% of medical secretaries rated their work environment 1 stars
Are medical secretaries making the best use of their abilities?
Former medical secretaries 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 secretary.
We asked medical secretaries how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
2.6 out of 5 stars
1401 medical secretaries
11% of medical secretaries rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
15% of medical secretaries rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
21% of medical secretaries rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
28% of medical secretaries rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
24% of medical secretaries rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars