As an ENFJ, career satisfaction means doing work that:
1. Lets you establish and maintain warm and supportive interpersonal relationships with co-workers, clients, customers, etc.
2. Lets me develop creative solutions to problems on projects that I believe in and where you can see the positive results of my efforts for other people.
3. Is done in an environment where expectations are clear, contributions are appreciated, and personal and professional growth and development are encouraged.
4. Lets you be a part of a team of other creative people you trust as well as be busy and productive.
5. Allows you time to develop creative solutions to problems and then share them with other supportive and caring people.
6. Is done in an active and challenging environment where you can juggle several projects at once.
7. Let you use your organizational and decision-making skills and have control and responsibility for your projects.
8. Gives you a variety of activities but allows you to work in a relatively orderly and well-planned manner.
9. Is done in an environment that is free from interpersonal conflicts and ongoing tension.
10. Exposes you to new ideas and lets you explore new approaches, especially those that will improve the lives of other people.
Work-related strengths and weaknesses of ENFJs include:
Strengths:
1. Promote harmony, and build cooperation.
2. Respect a variety of opinions.
3. Can be a good public speaker and facilitate group discussions.
4. Decisive and organized.
5. Natural leaders.
Weaknesses:
1. Tend to idealize people.
2. Can make decisions too quickly.
3. May have trouble dealing with conflict and sweep problems under the rug.
4. May take criticism too personally.
5. May not be attentive to factual accuracy.
Implications for the job search & pathways to success.
As an ENFJ, your most effective strategies will build on your abilities to:
· Plan and execute a creative and well-organized job search plan. Establish your criteria for a satisfying job ahead of time and adhere to the most important items on that list to be sure you stay true to what you originally determined was critical. Use your creativity to anticipate and then demonstrate the best way to sell yourself.
· Impress interviewers with your enthusiasm and self-confidence. Establish warm and friendly rapport quickly to demonstrate your ability to make others feel at ease with you. Express yourself articulately when discussing your skills, past work experiences, and reasons for interest in the position.
· Develop and use a large and active network. Conduct the majority of your research in the form of informational interviews meeting other people who have careers in fields of interest or who have jobs of specific interest to you. Call on friends, family, and past associates to let them know that you are looking for a job and ask them whom they know.
· See job possibilities that don’t already exist. Brainstorm jobs that you might enjoy, and delay making quality judgments on any until you have a lengthy list. Ask friends who know you well to help you list jobs they think you would succeed at. During interviews demonstrate your ability to see ways of matching your skills and experience to meet the needs of a potential employer.
· Follow through on all phases of the job search, especially the courtesies. Honor all commitments; be on time, or a bit early, etc. Use your great memory for personal details to remember people’s names and recall any personal information from your research or a common experience.
Possible Pitfalls:
· Try not to make decisions based only on your personal feelings. Use objective analysis to help you see the logical results of potential actions. Remember that cause and effect is not what you naturally see, so seek some assistance from a friend who does. Don’t dismiss an option because you dislike one person in the organization. Also, resist the temptation to judge a whole job or organization based on one positive interaction.
· Don’t take criticism and rejection personally. Take constructive criticism and feedback as they are intended. Relying on the support and encouragement of friends and family can help you avoid the tendency to become discouraged during the sometimes stressful career search time. When rejected for a job or interview you want, try to suspend the tendency to become self-critical. Make it a personal challenge to rise to the occasion and see it as an obstacle to be overcome.
· Concentrate on collecting all the necessary facts. Pay attention to the details and realities as well as the people you meet. Don’t ignore the less interesting tasks of your job search in favor of only making new contacts. Rather than simply accepting what you are told at face value, be prepared to ask plenty of questions to learn what the job or company is really like.
· Try to be more realistic about potential careers and other people. Look at people as they are, and recognize their limitations. Consciously guard against idealizing people or expressing unquestioning loyalty to others. Confront conflict or misunderstandings quickly and directly rather than avoiding them and allowing them to become larger or more complicated.
As an ENFJ, now that you have a grasp on the career satisfaction characteristics that resonate with your empathetic and motivational personality, your next endeavor is to find jobs and environments where your ability to lead and inspire is valued. Pursue roles that offer opportunities for mentorship, creativity, and making a positive impact. Your journey is about identifying careers where your unique blend of charisma and compassion is not just beneficial but vital to your work environment.”
Ken Meyer
Myers Briggs Master Practitioner and Retired Senior Career Coach at Eastern Michigan University
