INFJ Jobs to Avoid

When looking for a career that will be a good fit with your education, training, strengths, and weaknesses, you also need to look at your personality type. As an INFJ, knowing which INFJ jobs to avoid will save you a lot of time, effort, and frustration.

INFJ is one of the 16 personality types as classified by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). It helps to identify the personality traits of a person, which can then be used to look at prospective careers of jobs that are either a good fit, or a bad fit.

Choosing a career that is still going to motivate you to get out of bed in the morning after years in the role is rare, but not impossible. It’s incredibly satisfying to have a job you love, so putting in the due diligence and considering the elements discussed here is more than worth the time.

INFJs are known as ‘The Protectors’’. The meaning of each letter is as follows:

(I) Introverted – quiet and reserved, prefer smaller circles of friends and acquaintances.

(N) – Intuitive – tends to focus on the large picture, looking at the future rather than immediate possibilities.

(F) Feelers – values personal considerations, gives weight to social implications over logic when making decisions.

(J) Judgment – tend to make decisions quickly, like predictability.

Looking at the breakdown of this personality type above you can see INFJs are quiet individuals. They take a great deal of pride in their work, often being referred to as perfectionists.

Working with a small group of like-minded people will bring out the best in them. Being given the opportunity to work without rigid rules and guidelines, like in a corporate environment, is a must if they are to realize their full potential.

Careers INFJ Should Avoid

Working in a corporate organization is one of the worst case scenarios for INFJs. They don’t fit well into the ‘rat face’, so this takes a big slice out of the career path opportunities. They can get stuck in the rat race unfortunately, finding it hard to dig their way out. Try and avoid such roles, and certainly some of the following careers:

Sales Rep

The sales world is a fast-moving and competitive one. The best salespeople have large circles of friends and acquaintances, they are great at attracting people and selling to them and thrive on the competitive nature. INFJs need to feel like they are making ongoing contributions to the lives of others, not just making a buck and moving on.

Customer Service

Customer service roles such as working in a restaurant, sitting at a help desk, and answering calls all day are not the ideal careers that match up well with the INFJ personality type. Making decisions quickly, having a varied workload, and being empathic communicators they certainly are not.

Public Speaking/Motivating

You will see from the list of famous personalities below that there are some powerful and well-known personalities that are INFJs. It’s not however a personality type that comes naturally to people who can speak in public, address large crowds, be a leader, and similar. With the right amount of dedication, determination, and practice anything is possible.

Finance

Working in finance means having a very astute eye for detail. Being intuitive, INFJs can often pass over the finer details in favor of the larger picture. This isn’t acceptable in finance where small errors can be financially costly. Avoid all forms of financial roles and those in corporate settings.

Journalist/Reporter

INFJs don’t like details, the are personal and private, so the journalistic world is going to feel very foreign to them. Interviewing people, asking personal questions, being competitive to get a scoop before someone else, all these tasks will not be easy to do.

INFJ Famous People

There always seems to be a lot of interest in famous personalities that fit different personality types. It does help to paint a picture around certain people’s careers sometimes and give you something to reference. Here are some interesting, famous INFJ personalities:

• Thomas Jefferson – U.S. President
• Agatha Christie – Crime Author
• Adolf Hitler – Chancellor of Nazi Germany
• Osama bin Laden – Leader of al-Qaeda
• Al Pacino – Actor
• Michelle Pfeiffer – Actress

Best Jobs and Career Choices for INFJs

Some of the best-suited careers and jobs for this personality type include:

• Psychologist
• Musician/Artist
• Child Care Worker
• Teacher
• Medical Professional

INFJ Career Choices in Summary

It’s important to remember that the careers deemed as suitable or unsuitable for INFJs are not set in stone. There are always some variances in individual personalities, as well as room within different roles for the person’s tasks and responsibilities.

Careers like teachers, medical professionals, and child care workers as highlighted above make excellent choices as INFJs are intuitive, personable, and great at understanding others and helping them.

I know how frustrating it can be finding the right career that inspires you to get up in the morning. By identifying your strengths, weaknesses, and personality traits you can certainly narrow down your options and know which jobs to avoid or pursue as an INFJ.