South: Professionals place job satisfaction above salary
Twice as many professionals believe that enjoying their jobs (83.6%) is a better measure of career success, than having a high salary (42.4%). Despite this, over one in four (28.4%) believe that their career success is defined by how others see their achievements. That’s according to the latest research from CV-Library, the UK’s leading independent job board.
The survey asked professionals how they felt about their career and whether they thought they were on the road to success. While 79% said that career success is important to them, the majority (64.1%) of UK workers felt that they hadn’t achieved career success yet.
Workers were asked to share how they measure career success, the top five responses include:
- Enjoying what you do – 83.6%
- Being proud of what you’ve achieved – 73.8%
- Doing a job that makes a real difference to people’s lives – 57.1%
- Working for a company you love – 54.2%
- Earning a high salary – 42.4%
Lee Biggins, founder and managing director of Hampshire-based CV-Library, commented: “It’s positive to see that workers rate job satisfaction as the top measure of career success. This suggests that they’re putting their happiness first. It’s also evident that the company they work for plays a big role in how they view their success. As an employer, this proves that you need to prioritise employee engagement in your workplace.
“That said, it’s concerning to learn that one in four professionals define their career success by how others view them, not themselves. Employers need to promote a culture where all achievements are celebrated, helping workers feel proud of their individual successes.”
Professionals were also asked at what age they believe you should have achieved career success. A quarter (23.6%) believe that you should have achieved career success by the age of 40.
However, 46.2% of under 18s and 37% of 18-24 year olds said that you should have achieved career success by the time you’re 25. That’s compared to just 2.6% and 5.6% of those aged under 24 choosing the age of 40, respectively.
Biggins added: “When starting out in their careers, it’s evident that younger professionals are keen to find success early on. As their biggest measure of success is enjoying what they do, this is more achievable than hoping to have a through the roof salary at such as young age.
“It’s great to see that the next generation are ambitious and have high hopes for their careers. Employers need to ensure that the opportunities are there for workers to have career development; offering internal promotions, salary reviews and regular catch-ups with their teams.”
