INFJ “Catalysts For Positive Change”
As an INFJ, career satisfaction means doing work that:
1. Let you consider and create new ideas and/or approaches to a variety of problems, mostly those that help others to grow and develop.
2. Lets you produce a product or service that you believe in and are proud of.
3. Recognize your authorship and ownership and your unique contributions.
4. Let you express yourself and see the results of your vision.
5. Lets you implement your ideas for the good of people or in the service of others; lets you work with others on a one-to-one basis.
6. Is done in a friendly and tension-free environment where your ideas are seriously considered and where you are psychologically supported for your efforts.
7. Can be done independently but with the opportunity to share frequently with others in an environment that is friendly and free of interpersonal conflict.
8. Lets you organize your own time and work environment and exert significant control over both the process and product.
9. Gives you adequate time to formulate and process your ideas so they are thoroughly prepared.
10. Is in harmony with your personal values and beliefs and lets you maintain a high degree of personal and professional integrity.
Work-related strengths and weaknesses of INFJs include:
Strengths:
1. Good at thinking up alternative and creative approaches to problems.
2. Able to understand complex concepts.
3. Promote harmony among others.
4. Persuasive leaders and committed to what they believe in.
5. Like to help others develop.
Weaknesses:
1. Can be inflexible and single-minded.
2. Can be impractical about the viability of ideas.
3. Can be a perfectionist and too independent for corporate culture.
4. May communicate in ways too complex for others to understand.
Pathways To Success In The Job Search Process-As an INFJ, your most effective strategies will build on your abilities to:
· Think through and formulate an innovative, organized job search plan. Use you creativity to plot out a campaign in a new and different way-setting you apart from other candidates to potential employers. Use your organizational skills to stay on top of the project, make a plan, be on time, remember to send a note after the interview, follow up with prospective employers, etc.
· Network on a limited basis. Enlist the help of people with whom you have developed relationships over the years and who know you well to identify people to contact about career opportunities. During each interview, ask for additional recommendations of other people for you to see to more fully research the field or a particular job.
· Establish rapport with interviewers and potential employers. Use your extraordinary ability to “read” people’s needs and motivations. Let employers sense your natural warmth and enthusiasm, and demonstrate your ability to listen and communicate articulately.
· Consider options thoughtfully, without rushing to judgment. Capitalize on your propensity for thinking things through in a careful way. Decide to give yourself a few minutes to keep open options you might have eliminated at first thought.
· Create a position that will meet your specific needs. Use your vision to anticipate trends, where people with your talents will be needed in the future, etc. Demonstrate that talent to prospective employers by letting them know how you will help them achieve goals or solve problems.
· Find creative solutions to obstacles that arise. Approach temporary setbacks as problems to be solved rather than rebuffs or insurmountable obstacles. Use your natural ability to look ahead, focus on the next opportunity, or recover from a disappointment.
Possible Pitfalls:
· Concentrate on the facts and details of the situation, not just the more interesting big picture. This requires a conscious effort to tune in to what is actually before you-to read what is on the lines, not just what is “between” them. Make notes ahead of time to be sure you ask the practical questions about what a job is really like, including hours, duties, salary, benefits, reporting structure, etc.
· Try to establish realistic expectations about the job search process and the potential outcome. Engage in “reality testing” to make sure you are being realistic about the market, your skills, and the amount of time a search will take. Ask a friend to help you by playing devil’s advocate with your plan. Try to set more realistic goals to avoid the tendency to become overly perfectionist and then experience the disappointment that comes from not accomplishing all you hoped.
· Try to avoid making decisions based solely on your personal feelings rather than on more objective data. Remember that you naturally see things from a personal perspective and need to consciously engage your logical thinking skills. Don’t confuse rapport established during an interview with personal friendship. Keep yourself a bit detached from the situation, deciding not to make a permanent connection until you know a lot more.
· When discussing your skills and abilities, focus on how you can meet the prospective employer’s needs, rather than your own. Show the prospective employer you have done your research by incorporating information about the company’s current challenges and then demonstrate how you might help meet them by recalling your past experiences and accomplishments. Express the willingness to take some necessary risks to take on a new challenge and prove yourself. Take an extra few seconds to consider another way, especially after you think you have made up your mind.
· Avoid spending too much time considering possibilities and not enough time acting on them. Develop a reasonable list of options to pursue and a timetable in which to research them. Hold yourself accountable for meeting an established quota of letters written, phone calls made, or interviews completed within a particular time frame. Try to be flexible in setting job criteria and throughout the negotiation process, remembering that sometimes unexpected benefits appear when you stay open to another point of view.
Ken Meyer
Myers Briggs Master Practitioner and Retired Senior Career Coach at Eastern Michigan University
