Do You Work Like a Dog? What Your Pet Says about Your Career

Some surveys are weighty and important and shed light on significant shifts in American life – like this one by PolicyLab at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia that shows the number of homeless families with children who spent time in a shelter rose by 30 percent between 2007 and 2009.

Then there’s the pet survey by employment website CareerBuilder.

In a debatable use of money, CareerBuilder polled 2,300 workers with pets. Here’s what it learned …

• Workers with dogs are more likely to report holding senior management positions like CEO and CFO.
• Workers with snakes or other reptiles are the most likely to earn six figures.
• Workers with birds are the most likely to be satisfied with their jobs.

But the survey didn’t stop there. It wanted to know: Does owning a certain pet help determine your career path? Apparently, yes …

• Dog owners are more likely to be professors, nurses, IT professionals, and entertainers.
• Cat owners are more likely to be physicians, real estate agents, science/medical lab technicians, machine operators, and personal caretakers.
• Fish owners are more likely to work in human resources, farming, fishing, and forestry.
• Bird owners are more likely to be advertising professionals, sales representatives, and construction workers.
• Snake and reptile owners are more likely to be engineers, social workers, marketing/public relations professionals, police officers – and editors and writers.

If you’re skeptical about this survey, we are, too – because no one here at Money Talks News owns a snake or a reptile.