Why did God invent lawyers? So estate agents would have someone to look down on.
Perhaps that’s a little harsh. After all, some estate agents are much worse than some lawyers. But the overarching sentiment of the joke has its basis in fact: certain occupations have to deal with worse PR and more abuse than others.
And, as Resume.io’s latest research shows, lawyers inspire more negativity than any other occupation in the US, and estate agents are the most-moaned-about professionals in the UK.
Jokes are one thing, but when folks go on Twitter to rant about one occupation or another, they’re usually talking from experience. So, Resume.io used a tool called SentiStrength to measure the negativity of tweets about the most common occupations in the US and UK to see which occupations raise the most groans and which, by virtue of having the lowest ‘negativity’ scores, we can consider to be the most loved.
The US Loves Receptionists More Than Any Other Professionals
The receptionist is a formidable figure. They occupy the lowest seat in the building, but it is a position of great responsibility and power. A good receptionist keeps a range of people happy – from anxious customers to time-sensitive CEOs. They are chosen for their people skills and efficiency since it is the receptionist’s job to create a positive impression of the organization that employs them. Perhaps that’s why receptionists are America’s most-loved professionals.
Politicians are a partisan bunch. We found that precisely half of all tweets about them are negative. Previous polls have shown that we distrust politicians even more than lawyers. Of course, politicians say a lot that isn’t true because they want to get elected – but on the other hand, they need to deliver on at least some promises if they want to keep your vote. So a 50/50 rating sounds about right.
“Probably nobody ever lost an election by bad-mouthing the legal profession,” suggested a 1992 Chicago Tribune article titled WHY MOST AMERICANS HATE LAWYERS. The unfortunate truth for America’s least-loved professionals is the perception that even when they win for you, they overcharge – and then overcharge again via unexpected fees and premiums.
Win or lose, if you’re working with a lawyer, it usually involves an unhappy turn in your life (which in turn perpetuates the idea that every lawyer is effectively an ambulance chaser). But being a lawyer can be noble and rewarding if you can hold on to your ethics and turn the other cheek to a lifetime of dusty old jokes.
Teaching Splits Opinions from State to State
Next, we used geotagged tweets to map the occupations most loved and hated in each US state. Lawyers are the least loved in 15 states, followed by journalists in 11 states. However, journalists are also the most loved in Alaska, South Dakota, and Montana. Like the lawyer, the journalist tends to be associated with ‘bad times’ and bending the truth; however, also like the lawyer, when they make the right people angry, it is better for the common good.
Teaching is another of several occupations that show up on both the least-loved and most-loved maps. To teach is one of the most rewarding yet most thankless jobs, and there is a streak of states on the east coast that tend towards ‘thankless.’ Of course, some lost souls slip into teaching for want of a better opportunity. But many inspiring and sensitive individuals heed the call to teach only to get blamed for students who are underserved by the state.
Managers get a lot of love at the state level, with six states proclaiming them the least-negativity-inducing professional. Students are the most loved in the most states (12), though, let’s face it, they’re probably tweeting about themselves.
And the chef gets a lot of love in seven states, finding that the way to a Twitter user’s heart truly is through their stomach. In fact, in Maryland, Michigan, and North Carolina, the chef gets a perfect 0% negativity score.
The UK Loves Accountants, Hates Estate Agents
Receptionists top the UK popularity chart – the same as in the US. Likewise, chefs, mechanics, and electricians make the top 10 in both countries.
A greater surprise is the popularity of the accountant in the UK, as they are among the least loved of US professionals. While the US tends to view accountants as ‘lawyers who work with numbers,’ the UK image of the accountant is more drab and harmless: the reliable mathematician in Moleman spectacles and cardigan. There is a long tradition of accountancy in the UK, and a tradition of not talking about money – whereas the US showbiz accountant lives and dies on their publicity.
Brits loathe their politicians a little more than Americans, giving them a negativity rating of 56%. Like the US, the UK leadership ping-pongs between two major parties. However, the UK is more suspicious of slick showmanship, leading to the strange situation where the current Prime Minister wins hearts with calculated displays of “artfully choreographed scruffiness.”
If the lawyer is America’s go-to punchline occupation of choice, the British prefer to make jokes about estate agents. The standards of the trade are lower in the UK, where anybody can become an estate agent – unlike in the US, where you need a license. Common gripes include costs, lack of professionalism, and a tendency for estate agents to ‘ghost’ clients when things aren’t going well.
Find the Most and Least Loved Occupations in Your City
Finally, we gathered Twitter data on a city-by-city basis for the US and UK to present each town’s most and least loved occupations. Click the flags to switch between countries, and you can search by occupation or city – revealing, for example, that NYC loves teachers and hates construction workers, while Glasgow loves journalists and is most negative towards teachers.
Whatever your ambition, it is helpful to be aware of how your occupation of choice is seen in the public eye. As our city- and state-level research shows, opinions on the same occupations vary greatly – suggesting that a few bad apples can make things worse for an industry in a given region.
Take pride in what you do, learn to identify the good that you have done, and remember two things that Ted Lasso, that most doubted of professionals, has said: “Taking on a challenge is a lot like riding a horse. If you're comfortable while you're doing it, you're probably doing it wrong.” And, “There's a bunch of crazy stuff on Twitter. Heck, someone made an account for my mustache.”
Methodology & Sources
We used sources like Indeed, MySalary, TheBalanceCareers, and CVLibrary to make a list of the most common occupations and trades, including ones that people had strong opinions about.
Tweets for each occupation were gathered using the Twitter API, georeferenced, and analyzed for sentiment using the AFINN lexicon, which classifies the sentiment of text from -5 (negative) and +5 (positive). We only looked at tweets that referenced the occupations plus "are," so it was clear they were giving an opinion on the occupations.
Tweets where the aggregate score was less than 0 were deemed negative, and each occupation was then ranked on the percentage of negative tweets in all the tweets mentioning that occupation. occupations with the highest percentage of negative tweets were deemed "least loved," while those where that % was lowest were deemed "most loved."
Data was gathered in Nov 2021.
