The Top 10 Best Careers for INFJs

As an INFJ, have you ever felt like your career was draining all the energy and inspiration from you? Today I want to explore some key things INFJs crave in a career as well as what they naturally excel at. I hope that this article will encourage you to go after the career you’ve always wanted – even if others have said it wasn’t “safe” enough or wasn’t traditional enough.

Let’s get started!

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Estimated reading time: 8 minutes

What INFJs Want in a Career:

Before we start listing off all the careers your type tends to dominate, we want to explore the reasons why you crave those careers.

1 – Idea Freedom. As an INFJ, you want a career that will let you flex your intuition and create new opportunities, possibilities, and improvements. Feeling caged into a very limited scope of rules and procedures will suffocate you. You need a job that allows you to think outside the box and stretch your imagination.

2 – Ethical Integrity. You want to work somewhere where you really believe in the message of the company. Spending 40 hours a week of your life dedicated to a company that has no valuable impact on the world will exhaust you.

3 – Friendly Environment. If you’re tense about your work relationships you’ll have a hard time concentrating on the tasks you need to accomplish. You need an environment where people are considerate and patient. A little competition can be a good thing (I’m a competitive INFJ), but a harsh/domineering environment can stifle your best work.

4 – Privacy. Open-air office settings are the bane of the INFJ’s existence. In order to focus you need to be able to block out the rest of the world around you. Noise, commotion, and interruptions throw you off your game and it can take a while for you to get your focus back under control. This is why having a private cubicle or office is vital for your productivity (and happiness).

5 – Structure. You want to know what your goals are, what the timelines are, and have a clear idea of the specifics. If the tasks you’re given are vague or constantly-changing this will create a lot of stress for you.

INFJ Career Strengths:

Understanding your unique INFJ skills will help you to make the most of them in the workplace.

1 – Careful Thinking

You aren’t someone who rushes into decisions or judgments rapidly. Yes, you like having closure (you are a Judger, after all) but you want to consider all the perspectives carefully first. People often count on you to carefully and considerately weigh many sources of information before making a decision.

2 – Establishing Rapport

Yes, you’re an introvert. But that doesn’t mean you can’t make good connections with people. Getting in tune with other people’s feelings and needs comes naturally to you (unless you’re in a Ni-Ti loop). Because you’re naturally insightful into human needs and feelings you can create rapport with clients without feeling overbearing.

3 – Creative Problem-Solving

You naturally think outside-the-box when a problem arises. Rather than just sticking with the tried-and-true way, you consider innovative angles and look ahead so that you don’t drown in the frustration of the present difficulty. No obstacle is insurmountable when you’re allowed the time to get creative and intuitively process solutions and alternatives.

4 – Ethical Focus

You have a vision and integrity that inspires people to believe in you and your ideas. You’re usually not driven to a career that gives you cold, hard cash with no impact (like we mentioned previously). Because people know you’re focused on improving the lives of people they’re apt to get fired up by your goals and ideas.

5 – Anticipating Problems/Needs

You have a long-range vision that enables you to predict future needs or roadblocks. In the workplace, this can show up in an ability to create strategic plans, initiatives, and solutions. People learn to count on your perceptiveness and insight into future outcomes.

6 – Concentration

As an INFJ, you like to curb distractions and focus intently on one thing at a time. You’re skilled at single-mindedly pursuing your goals without dabbling in a lot of distractions or side-interests at the same time. People know that if they give you a project and a deadline, you’re going to get it done on time (barring a disaster of some kind).

10 Careers INFJs Excel At:

1 – Counselor or Psychologist

INFJs are over-represented among therapists (per the MBTI® Manual) and it’s not hard to see why. Counseling allows you to use your empathy and insight together in order to help people work through their struggles. You connect well in one-on-one situations and easily draw people’s stories out of them. Your ability to consider multiple perspectives at once can help you to have insights that help people overcome their difficulties.

2 – Teacher

INFJs tend to excel in teaching, especially gravitating towards subjects like art, music, social sciences, or drama. You get fulfillment from helping people learn in unconventional or creative ways. That said, teaching can also be a fulfilling but exhausting job for you if you don’t get enough alone time after your job is done.

3 – Entrepreneur

Entrepreneurship offers you the independence and creative freedom you’ve always craved. I know literally dozens of INFJ entrepreneurs who are happier than ever going after their true dreams. Entrepreneurship takes a lot of work and dedication, but with the ability to make your own hours and set your own course, you can make great things happen. Whether this means starting a blog, opening up a shop, or selling art online, entrepreneurship challenges you to put your best skills to work. You can find out more about INFJ entrepreneurship here.

4 – Religious Worker

INFJs are over-represented among religious workers (per the MBTI® Manual) and it’s not difficult to see why. You are naturally fascinated by the spiritual world and can be gifted at presenting these worlds to others in a patient, empathetic way. You are less likely to seem authoritative or pushy than many other types, gently guiding others to forge their own path into the spiritual sphere. Not all INFJs are spiritual, but if you are, this is an area where you could make a really positive impact.

5 –  Artist

Whether you’re painting a portrait or jotting down a poem, INFJs like you are often drawn towards artistic expression. You bring concepts, poetry, and symbolism to life in your work and can help people to glimpse something meaningful and otherworldly in your creations.

Related: Which Famous Artist Has Your Myers-Briggs® Personality Type.

6 – Writer

Being a writer enables you to express yourself in a personal way, to get your feelings, ideas, and insights out in the world. Many INFJs clear their heads through writing and find it extremely therapeutic and enlightening. Dante Alighieri is an INFJ and J.K. Rowling has also stated that she is an INFJ!

7 – Social Worker

Being a social worker enables you to be with people and help them during their toughest times. While this isn’t an “easy” career, what it lacks in ease it makes up for in meaning. Making a difference in the lives of children, people with disabilities and people with addictions is trying work but it’s also the stuff that makes your life count in the grand scheme of things. Just take time for rest, recovery, and self-care when you come home!

8 – Librarian

If a whiff of leather binding, paper, and ink, gives you a feeling of nostalgia and exhilaration, then maybe being a librarian is the job for you. As an INFJ you love the magic of the literary world and the freedom it gives you (and others) to explore new ideas, fantasies, and perspectives. It’s only natural that you’d love a 9-5 job being surrounded by hundreds of books. After all, the average INFJ reads 67 books per year!

9 – Marketer

Insight into human desires? Check. Strategic, long-range vision? Check. If you’re an INFJ and you’ve worked on your Intuitive and Feeling sides, you can develop a tremendous skill in marketing. You naturally think ahead and imagine how things will affect people. You’re also creative, which means you can come up with long-range, effective marketing efforts that will actually be compelling and one-of-a-kind.

10 – Sociologist

As an INFJ you are keenly interested in people and all the “why’s” behind their actions. A career as a sociologist would make use of all your mental strengths as you study patterns in human behavior. You would be able to analyze the activity of social, religious, political, and economic groups and understand how that impacts humanity on a larger scale. With your interest in people and the big picture and patterns, this career choice is a natural choice for many INFJs.

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What About You?

What is your career and what do you love/hate about it? Share your thoughts with other readers in the comments!

Find out more about your personality type in our eBooks, Discovering You: Unlocking the Power of Personality Type,  The INFJ – Understanding the Mystic,  The INFP – Understanding the Dreamer, and The INTJ – Understanding the Strategist. You can also connect with me via Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter!