Barbie’s Career Record: How One Doll Racked Up $45.2 million and 72 Jobs

Barbie has always sparked controversial discussion over her 58 years in existence: she’s too skinny, she’s too blonde, she projects unrealistic expectations of how a woman’s body should look.

It’s easy to see why Barbie is so controversial. In a world of over 7 billion people all of different ethnicities and races, Barbie has typically been white – representing only 1.3 billion of the world’s population, and it’s well known that her body proportions are just way out for what they are for the average woman.

However, if you move beyond just how she looks (an element which has already been mixed up in recent years)– Barbie is actually truly inspiring. She represents something for young girls – and boys – that’s rarely seen in popular culture: she proves that you can be anything you want to be. You can be pretty and smart, you can be a fashion model and a scientist, or a game developer. Barbie is smashing through that glass ceiling and proving that women and, more importantly, young girls can be whatever they want to be.

With the news of a live action Barbie moving hitting Hollywood in the near future, here at Silver Swan Recruitment we’re casting a spotlight on the often overlooked variety of careers which Barbie’s had over her 58 years in the business.

To be exact, she had had a staggering 72 careers in her time, ranging from a cheerleader, waitress and hairdresser, to an astronaut, veterinarian, and even the President of the United States. In fact, over all of her jobs, Barbie will have earned an impressive $45,267,107.

Fancy following in Barbie’s career footsteps, have a look at her full list of jobs below:

List of all the jobs Barbie has had over time, including salaries

Read on below for further information on some of Barbie’s specific career highlights.

Pilot

Barbie dressed as a pilot

Even in 2019, only 5.18% of the world’s pilots are female. This means that out of over 100,000 commercial flights that take off every day, only 7,500 of these are being flown by women. That’s how poor the gender split for pilots is in today’s age, and yet Barbie was a commercial airline pilot back in 1990 – the same year that the Royal Air Force lifted its ban on women flying, and Patrice Washington became the first black woman to fly for the United Parcel Service. A good year for women pilots, it seems.

Not only this, but in 1990 the average weekly salary for a full-time working woman was $600, which amounts to $31,200. Even when this is translated into today’s salaries, the average income for an American woman is highest between the ages of 55 and 64, when it reaches $45,188 annually.

Surgeon

Barbie dressed as a surgeon

Surgeon Barbie was introduced in 1973, when the percentage of female surgeons was less than 12%. Even today, this number has only reached 30%, and the American Medical Association statistics show that women actually currently constitute only 19% of all surgeons.

In order to become a surgeon, you need a bachelor’s degree majoring in some form of science: biology, health science, chemistry, physics, kinesiology, or any other, similar field. After this, you have to enrol in medical school in order to complete a Medical Doctor or Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree, before then completing a surgical residency. Finally, you have to pursue a licensing and board certification, as all 50 states in the US require practicing surgeons to be licensed – understandably.

Astronaut

Barbie dressed as an astronaut

A surprisingly underpaid role considering the amount of skill and risk that goes into it, Barbie made her debut as an astronaut in 1965, before reprising the role in 1986. The keen eyes among you will note that this is actually before the moon landing in 1969. In 2019, only 500 people have trained as astronauts – Barbie was one of the first, just two years after Valentine Tereshkova became the first woman in space.

It takes up to two years of training to become a fully qualified astronaut, wherein candidates must learn the basics of the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station, as well as learn how to be part of a team by flying the NASA T-38 training jets.

Game Developer

Barbie dressed as a game developer

Game developing is a fairly modern career path, but it is one that is rapidly increasing in popularity as technology consistently improves and opens up new avenues of opportunity. In 2016, Game Developer was the “Career of the Year”, and Barbie showcased this to young people all over the world, proving to them that this was a career that was possible no matter your age, gender, or popularity.

Game developers are typically involved in any and all aspects of a game’s creation; from the concept and story writing, to the coding and programming, as well as audio, design, production, and visual arts. Typically, to become a game developer you need a bachelor’s degree in a computer-related field, as well as a working knowledge of programming language. Pretty hefty studying, but worth it for an average salary of $83,060.

President of the United States of America

Barbie dressed as the President

The President of the USA is, as most people know, the head of state and head of government for the United States. To date, not a single woman has ever held this position of power – except for Barbie, of course, once again breaking the glass ceiling. The president is seen as one of the world’s most powerful political figures, and they are in charge of the world’s most expensive military – which has the second largest nuclear arsenal – and they also have the responsibility of appointing federal executive, diplomatic, regulatory, and judicial officers, as well as concluding treaties with foreign powers. For all this responsibility, they get paid a whopping $569,000 in total.

Barbie’s CV

With so many careers under her belt, Barbie is sure to have an impressive looking CV.

Here at Silver Swan Recruitment, we know how difficult it can be to perfect your CV – which is one of the most important parts of getting a job, so its understandably stressful.

Your CV is one of the first things that prospective employers and recruiters will see, and so it needs to stand out among the crowd. That doesn’t mean, however, that you need to put absolutely everything you’ve ever achieved on your CV, you just need to pick out the important bits. As way of demonstration, we’ve mocked up a copy of what Barbie’s CV might look like.

Barbie's CV

As you can see, her experience all fits on one page, with small sections discussing her education, volunteer experience, key skills and, of course, her references – Ken was very happy to step up for this responsibility. It’s visually appealing, and everything an employer wants to see is there straight away – they don’t have to go hunting for it, which, to be honest, they will never do. They get so many applications, they just don’t need to.

One of the things people struggle with the most is boasting about themselves, so take a leaf out of Barbie’s book and absolutely own all of your achievements. You’ll be reaping the rewards in no time.

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