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What your job says about you, according to Google – 27% of us are overpaid, 14% are rude and 6% are hot

A new data study has revealed precisely what people think of us, based on what we do for a living.

Based on Google autocomplete suggestions for 131 professions*, the results reveal a somewhat depressing – and sometimes funny – snapshot of how we perceive one another. The study, launched by Stormline to challenge negative job stereotyping, revealed:

• The most common assumption about people – based on their job –  is that they earn too much or are unexpectedly rich. This applied to 27% of professions in the study
• 18 professions (14%) are perceived as rude, the second most common stereotype
• 10 (8%) professions are perceived as arrogant
• Two professions were perceived as depressed (musicians and writers), two were perceived as hated (social workers and bankers), two were seen as grumpy (bus drivers and web developers) and one profession was perceived as old (flight attendants)
• Attractiveness, or more specifically being ‘hot’, was the only positive stereotype that appeared frequently in the analysis.

• The researchers, working on behalf of workwear brand Stormline, painstakingly recorded the top autocomplete results for queries about jobs that started with “why are…” and “why do…”.

  Most assumptions were about money

  Expensive	Paid so much	Earn so much	Rich
  Anaesthetists	Actors	Bankers	Bankers
  Builders	Accountants	Recruitment consultants	Property developers
  Chiropractors	Anaesthetists	Refuse collectors	Youtubers
  designers	Train drivers	Train drivers
  DJs	Tube drivers	Tube drivers
  Electricians	Dental hygienists	Accountants
  Hair stylists	Dentists	Anaesthetists
  Orthodontists	Developers
  Plasterers	DJs
  Plumbers	MPs
  Psychiatrists	Orthodontists
  Surveyors
  Therapists
  Vets

  The most common personality stereotypes were broadly negative.

• Rude	Arrogant	Annoying
  Academics	Developers	Bloggers
  Bartenders	Estate agents	Journalists
  Baristas	Electricians	Recruitment consultants
  Bouncers	Lecturers	Salespeople
  Bus drivers	Paramedics	Students
  Chefs	Physicists	Youtubers
  Debt collectors	Psychiatrists
  Dental hygienists	Surgeons
  Dentists	Academics
  Hairdressers	Bankers
  Judges
  Letting agents
  Mechanics
  Nurses
  Receptionists
  Surgeons
  Tattoo artists

Some were less negative

Hot	Left wing/liberal
Dental hygienists	Musicians
Bartenders	Academics
Baristas	Journalists
Fire fighters	Professors
Flight attendants
Musicians
Soldiers
Tattoo artists

 

Some appeared to show a degree of concern

Mean	Weird	Crazy	Grumpy	Hated	Depressed
Chefs	Engineers	Hair stylists	Bus drivers	Social workers	Musicians
Landlords	Fashion designers	Office workers	Developers	Bankers	Writers
Managers	Musicians	Therapists
Orthodontists	Writers

Overpaid

Dentists, designers, web developers, MPs, train drivers, DJs and even dental hygienists – for whom the average salary is just under £28,000**, just slightly over the UK’s average salary of £26,500*** – are perceived as overpaid or expensive, according to the data.

Important

36 of the professions were of questionable importance.

Enough people have historically Googled ‘Why are *profession*’ for Google to offer it as an autocomplete suggestion. This applies to accountants, anaesthetists, baristas, beekeepers, bloggers, engineers, paralegals, project managers, researchers teachers and teaching assistants.

Rude and arrogant

18 of the jobs were stereotyped as rude and 10 were deemed to be arrogant – and it isn’t just those in prestigious roles – like bankers, academics and scientists – that we consider arrogant. Google suggested ‘arrogant’ for electricians, developers and even paramedics when typing in ‘Why are…’

Hot

Attractiveness, or more specifically being ‘hot’ was the only positive stereotype that appeared frequently. Good news for tattoo artists, musicians, firefighters, dental hygienists, bartenders and soldiers – all of whom are considered hot by Google.

Regan McMillan, Director of Stormline, who supply unisex wet weather gear to a range of industries, including engineering, forestry and fishing, explained the inspiration for the study:

"We did this research to see if perceptions of jobs could be making them unattractive to otherwise ideal candidates.

“The industries we work with all suffer from stereotyping and those stereotypes can put talented people off pursuing great careers in industries that need them.

“According to this study, engineers are boring and weird, farmers are poor and people in forestry have beards and wear check shirts.”

“Some of the stereotypes were funny, but if people truly think you need to be female to be a receptionist, or that lumberjacks really all have beards, there’s clearly an issue with inaccurate stereotyping and some of it is gender-driven.

“Previous research we’ve conducted has shown that 1 in 5 women would expect to be patronised if they worked in a male-dominated industry like engineering, where women represent just 7% of the workforce. This is just one of a number of invisible barriers to entry.

“With this research, we wanted to show just how ridiculous some of these stereotypes are.”

Cast Study – Genevieve Kurilec, commercial fishing captain

Genevieve Kurilec is a commercial fishing captain, she believes the more people in stereotype-busting roles, the better:

“In my experience women tend to be more safety conscious and detail oriented, which makes us an excellent asset to any crew working in a dangerous occupation.

“If you do your job, put in your time and take care of your vessel you will earn the respect of your fellow fishermen, gender notwithstanding.”