ENFP personalities are one of the 16 personality types from the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and are known for being fun, open and enthusiastic. Their career strengths are different to those of others personalities. This means there are some jobs and careers they are well suited for and others that they may find challenging and less enjoyable.
Everyone needs careers advice that’s specific to their own personality and situation rather than generic guidance and as a career coach, and an ENFP myself, I know the advice below is spot on!
1. Start with your heart
As opposed to diving straight in and examining your skills and qualifications, try first considering what you want to do. People with this personality need to enjoy their careers as for them work isn’t just somewhere they go or something they do. For them it is often an expression of who they are. This means that it needs to be meaningful and fulfilling.
So the first piece of careers advice I would give is ‘Start With Your Heart’. This isn’t the same as saying just follow your heart as there are certainly other factors to be taken into consideration, but first of all look inside and decide what you really want to do.
2. Career strengths – build on them
You might think it sounds obvious to build a career based on your strengths, but sadly it’s all too easy to follow a path better suited to someone else. This is usually because you aren’t aware of your strengths or possibly you’ve received inappropriate advice.
The career strengths people with this personality often have include great people skills, creativity, adaptability and the flexibility to turn your hand to many things if you want to.
There are many areas where you can use these including teaching, social work, counseling, psychology, marketing, design, event management and many creative areas.
3. Got weaker areas?
In the same way that they often have signature career strengths, there are usually areas they find more challenging. This often seems to include follow-through, the need for flexibility, attention to detail and impersonal environments or those they perceive to be critical.
It makes sense to avoid career paths which don’t need your strengths but instead demand skills in an area you are less talented in. This can include auditing, accounting, computer programming and other detail-oriented IT work, manufacturing, cold calling and admin work.
This doesn’t mean you need to look for work that doesn’t include any of these things as most jobs will have elements you are not as keen on, but you may find it easier to flourish in a role that doesn’t focus on one or more of your weaker areas.
4. Finding the right career – more than personality
Although your personality is undoubtedly important and can be a helpful guide when finding the right career, it shouldn’t be the only thing you consider.
Other factors to consider include: skills and skill level, qualifications, interest areas, which jobs and careers paths are available and growing in the area where you are looking.
5. Job hopping or undecided? Build variety into your career path
These folks love variety and have many interests, as do people with a scanner personality. This can result in a low boredom threshold and if their current job doesn’t offer them variety or challenge they may end up job hopping.
To avoid the many disadvantages of job hopping, try building variety and change into a job or career path. Ways to do this include working in environments with a lot of change, doing project-based work, having 2 different part-time jobs or working for a small company where you get to do many different roles.
If you’re an ENFP and have been following generic careers advice and found yourself miserable in your job, that may have been where you’ve been going wrong. There’s nothing wrong with you, you’ve just been following the wrong advice. Perhaps now you need to look at careers advice tailored to you.