Food show addicts know that a staple character of such programs is the prima donna chef with the giant ego. Apparently, it's typecasting, based on reality.
PayScale Inc., the Seattle-based compensation data and software company, spent two years studying nearly 400,000 U.S. adult workers to get a better fix on the role that ego plays in career success. When the study — "America's Biggest Ego Workers" — looked at occupation, age and self-reported worker confidence, the avatar created by the data looked like a baby boomer head chef. And the more egotistical the individual was, the higher the pay they took home.
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"Beyond simply being curious as to which workers are the most confident in their professional ability — which we tied to ego — we also wanted to see whether there was a tie to salary and confidence," says Sean Leslie, senior content strategist at PayScale. "And in general, it turns out there is."
Turns out lots of American workers think quite highly of themselves. A key question asked of respondents was, "Are you the top performer at your company for jobs similar to yours?" More than 4 in 10 say they are, with virtually no difference between men and women.
Money, however, is a differentiator. When it came to the folks making the big bucks, more than $200,000 a year, the number jumped to 56 percent. Just 37 percent of workers making under $25,000 a year claimed to be the top performer at their company.
"This might indicate that a higher salary breeds confidence, or it might indicate that more confident workers can negotiate and command a higher salary," says Leslie. "It pays to be confident."
Related: 2016′s top 10 best jobs
The PayScale list of the 10 most egocentric jobs, as ranked by reported self-confidence, includes occupations that might be considered surprising. The Top 10 are:
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Private household cooks.
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CEOs.
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Art directors.
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Airfield operations specialists.
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Floral designers.
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Plant/system operators.
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Chefs and head cooks.
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Bartenders.
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Farmers/ranchers.
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Sound engineering techs.
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Other highlights from the report include:
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"Private household cooks," and "chefs and head cooks" appeared at No. 2 and No. 8 on the list, respectively, making "cooks" the only occupation to appear twice in the top 10.
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Only 39 percent of anesthesiologists strongly agree they are the top performer at their company for jobs similar to theirs, but their occupation has the highest median salary at $241,300 annually.
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Only 15 percent of graduate teaching assistants strongly agree they are the top performer at their organization for jobs similar to theirs, the lowest of any job title surveyed. Graduate teaching assistant is also the lowest paid job title on the list, earning a median salary of $15,600 annually.
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48 percent of baby boomers report being the top performer at their company for jobs similar to theirs, the highest of any generation surveyed, while 40 percent of millennials report being the top performer at their company for jobs similar to theirs, the lowest of any generation surveyed.
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Dan Cook
Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.
