Career website careercast.com recently published a survey on a comprehensive ranking of 200 jobs in the U.S. The survey includes 5 factors for the ranking: work environment, physical demand, income, stress, and outlook.
The findings are very interesting. Apparently, the best jobs all involve science. The top 3 are mathematician, actuary, and statistician.
For individuals working with the law, paralegal assistants and bookkeepers are apparently the top jobs, ranking #17 and #39 respectively, while attorneys rank a dismal #82, mostly because of high level of stress. A federal judge in the U.S. evidently holds a better job than I, ranking #69.
But the plight of lawyers doesn’t look so bad when you compare us with our counterparts in medicine. Medical secretaries rank #29, while general practice physicians, registered nurses, and surgeons rank #141, #142, and #156 out of 200 respectively. Janitors rank #140, one spot ahead of physicians. So much for medical school!
The most stressful job in the U.S. according to the survey belongs to firefighters (#181) , while attorneys are not far behind in the top 20.
However, high stress rankings by no means translate into low job satisfactions, as firefighters rank #3 in this category, right behind clergy and physical therapists.
I’m not surprised that the survey suggests lawyers don’t have the best jobs – perhaps it never will be. The stresses of being a lawyer are all major stressors in life: tight deadlines, meeting with the public (clients), working in the public eye (in court), win-or-lose situations, competitiveness, advocacy in matters important to the client, and requirements such as working with details, precision, initiative, and stamina (when working on big cases).
I think I’ll go home chill now.
