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Are Cooks and Chefs the Most Egotistical Workers in America?

Topics: Data & Research

Who’s the best at their job at your workplace? “Me!” shout cooks and chefs around the country.

chefs egotistical
Image Credit: ShuttrKing|KT/Flickr

PayScale’s latest report, Which American Workers Have the Biggest Egos?, shows that private-household cooks are the workers most likely to describe themselves as the best at their job in their organization. Seventy-four percent strongly agreed with the statement “I am the top performer at my company for jobs similar to mine”—more than either CEOs (72 percent) or art directors (72 percent).

Of course, it’d be easy to argue that household cooks are typically the only person with their job at their particular company. But, the fact that chefs came in at No. 7 on the list of most-confident workers seems to indicate that cook/chef is an unusually confident occupation. It was the only profession to appear twice on the top 10 list.

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Other Highlights From the Report

  • Think your doctor is full of herself? This data would indicate otherwise. Only 39 percent of MDs described themselves as the top performer at their company. That’s not exactly good news: “You would hope that all of your doctors are exceedingly confident,” said Sean Leslie, senior content strategist at PayScale, in an interview with The Chicago Tribune.
  • Pay and confidence seem to be related. Only 37 percent of workers making less than $25,000 a year described themselves as their company’s top performer, while 56 percent of those earning $200,000-plus said the same.
  • Men and women were fairly equally likely to describe themselves as being the best at their job, and 43 percent of respondents total strongly agreed that they were the top performer at their employer.

Methodology: PayScale surveyed 383,028 U.S. workers between June 19, 2014 and June 19, 2016, asking them how much they agree with the following statement: “I am the top performer at my company for jobs similar to mine,” on a scale of 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). We classified those who chose “Strongly Agree” as big ego employees, reflecting either a high level of professional confidence, an inflated sense of self … or both.

Tell Us What You Think

Which occupation would you rate as the most egotistical? Tell us about it on Twitter or leave a comment.

Jen Hubley Luckwaldt
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