ENFP is touted to be one of the rare personality types, and according to statistics, makes up for a very small percentage of human population. CareerStint explores 6 best careers for ENFP personality types.
ENFPs’ ability to empower others is one of their most impressive contributions to the workplace.
― Otto Kroeger, Co-author, Type Talk at Work
According to psychologists, ENFP is one of the most unconventional personality types. Their characteristics are a fascinating mixture that encompass the inclusive and the outgoing behavior at the same time. Considering their characteristics, there are certain interesting career choices for the ENFP personality type. Thorough research has led to the belief that such personalities give their best in the creative and analysis fields. However, that does not mean that they cannot experiment with other careers. Their unique mannerisms help them perform well in many fields. The paragraphs below will give you an insight into some of the best careers for ENFP personality types.
Background
- The full form of ENFP is ‘Extraversion’, ‘Intuition’, ‘Feeling’, and ‘Perceiving’.
- According to experts, people with this personality have traits that can be encompassed within the above categories.
- Actually, ENFP is an acronym used in MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator), developed by Isabel Briggs Myers and Katharine Cook Briggs, for defining one of the sixteen types of personalities.
- Renowned psychiatrist, Carl Jung, has assessed this theory in his book, ‘Psychological Types’.
- This behavior includes characteristics like dedication, creativity, passion, etc.
- The point of extraversion can be attributed to the creative nature.
- Intuition indicates that such people do have alternative schools of thought, which means that they are best-suited in an environment where certain ends are left loose.
- Feeling represents following your heart. This means that such people give more preference to emotion than logic, though not necessarily.
- The perceiving factor attributes to being open for change.
Common Traits
- This personality type involves plenty of unique features.
- Such people are enthusiastic, charming, and communicative.
- They take an intense interest in the society, and are gentle, caring, and sympathetic.
- They can be charismatic, warm, and a lot of fun.
- They are highly interactive, open-minded and outgoing.
- Yet, at times, they are inclusive, witty, and engaging.
- Their career choices can be determined based on the different themes developed by John Holland. These include ‘Realistic’, ‘Investigative’, ‘Artistic’, ‘Social’, ‘Enterprising’, and ‘Conventional’.
- The ones who fall into the ‘Realistic’ theme enjoy working with machines and the like, while the ones under ‘Investigative’ enjoy analysis and have other academic interests.
- Under ‘Artistic’, people would be highly creative and innovative, while falling under ‘Social’ helps them contribute to the society, thus highlighting their caring nature.
- Being ‘Conventional’ or ‘Enterprising’ makes them go in for advertising, marketing, sales, etc., and administrative and ministry work, respectively.
- All in all, ENFPs are social, charming, warm, affectionate, and highly intelligent.
Careers Best-Suited for ENFP Personality Types
Some of the best jobs for such people are in the fields of creativity, sociology, and public relations. 6 good choices are given below.
Social Worker
- Being a social worker comes naturally to an ENFP due to his social and caring nature.
- They love to contribute to the society and can benefit the community in the best way possible.
- This is one of the best jobs suited for them due to their nature of enjoying working with other people and exchanging ideas with them.
- The ‘extraversion’ and ‘feeling’ points work strongly here.
Journalist
- As already mentioned, these people are very creative.
- The field of journalism gives them a chance to explore their creative skills in depth.
- Not only that, this field also involves a people-to-people connection, a certain combination of emotion and zeal to be wonderful at your work, both of which can stem only if you love what you are doing.
- The ‘feeling’ attribute comes into picture here, and this job too can come under the social as well as artistic domain.
Doctor
- What can be a better career than a health care professional for an ENFP who is passionate about his work, loves people, and intends to serve the society? This is one of the best careers for an ENFP.
- Servicing the health care industry comes under the domain of ‘investigative’.
- Such people enjoy working with theories and facts, and are more intellectually oriented.
- Though they are in fewer numbers in this field, the ones who are there definitely make a mark for being one of the best in the industry.
- This domain also involves heavy data and fact analysis, which is essential for this field.
Artist
- This isn’t exactly a surprise; after all artists bring their imagination to life.
- An ENFP of this type belongs to the ‘Artistic’ domain and is highly creative with his ideas.
- Artists are any way known to be very passionate and dedicated towards their work, and this behavior stems from the basic traits of an ENFP, of being passionate towards work and following their heart.
- This domain can include a myriad of careers, like novelist, blogger, playwright, screen writer, etc.
Researcher
- The ‘analyst’ in an ENFP will be wide awake while he is into research.
- The domains of ‘Investigative’ as well as ‘Enterprising’ come into play here.
- Research involves heavy interest in data, analytics, infographics, and the like.
- This job may seem monotonous, but the subject of research can make it fascinating.
- The ones who are senior researchers, scientists, managers, etc., are shrewd and diplomatic and fall under the ‘Enterprising’ domain.
Psychologist
- This again, comes under the ‘Investigative’ domain.
- It also incorporates the ‘Social’ domain due to its interaction with people.
- Being a psychologist/counselor, etc., requires that you get deeply involved in the problems of people, yet have an analytical approach towards solving the problems.
- The traits of being affectionate and helpful are brought to light here.
- Also, the ‘feeling’ and ‘intuition’ domains work towards this cause.
- This is one of the most rewarding careers for an ENFP.
- It gives them work satisfaction, happiness, and is financially sound too.
Other Careers
- Enumerating Holland’s ‘RIASEC’ rule again, there are a few other careers that an ENFP can undertake.
- As already mentioned, people under ‘Realistic’ tend to prefer working with machines.
- Under no circumstance should this be misinterpreted, because we already know that ENFPs do not like going in-depth regarding technical know-how.
- This indicates that people under the Realistic category do like working with machines, but only in the creative phase, i.e., they like to go in for machine design or instrumentation.
- People under the Investigative domain have a choice of research or data analysts.
- Under the Artistic domain, people have a wide variety of choices, including careers in writing, fine arts, theater, music, etc.
- The Social category encompasses jobs like those of an environmentalist or working for human rights.
- The Enterprising domain includes careers like market research and sales management.
- A person under the Conventional category can go in for careers like being a politician or a diplomat.
People with ENFP are charming and passionate, yet, they can sometimes be shrewd and diplomatic. Where their career choices are concerned, they prefer following their interest and their passion. They enjoy the pleasures their work gives them, and unlike considering it a chore, they consider it a gift. They are truly free spirits, with an infectious emotional connection and contagious enthusiasm. If you feel you belong to this personality type, do consider going through the career choices as listed above and make a wise decision. You must also be aware of which careers to avoid. Good luck!