Best Careers for ESTJ Personalities

The Myers-Briggs ESTJ personality type is a hardworking and traditional person. They are often willing to lead and enjoy organising projects and teams. This personality type likes getting things done, abides by the rules, is orderly and conscientious, and is often found completing projects in a methodical and systematic way.

The ESTJ Personality:

ESTJ stands for extraverted, sensing, thinking, and judging. This personality type will find their energy from spending time with others and focuses on the facts and details rather than concepts and ideas. They make decisions based on reason and logic and tend to prefer being planned and organised rather than spontaneous.

The ESTJ is the consummate organiser. They are often people who want to bring a sense of structure and organisation to their surroundings. They place a high value on predictability and will often prefer for things to go ahead in a logical order. The ESTJ will often take the initiative when it comes to establishing guidelines and processes if they see a lack of order. They are happiest when everybody knows what is expected. Due to their tendency to take charge and make sure that things are done right, this personality type is sometimes referred to as ‘the supervisor’.

The ESTJ is factual, conventional, and typically very grounded in reality. They tend to look into the past for proof when it comes to figuring out what is likely to work in the future based on what has worked well before. They tend to trust their own personal experience and will value evidence over conjecture. They are always looking for standards to meet and rules to follow and tend to be concerned with keeping others in line and maintaining the social order.

This personality type will also excel at setting goals and often takes on a project manager role both at home and in the workplace. Their main goal is often to achieve the most efficient productivity and they believe that this is accomplished best when both people and systems are organised as well as possible.

Best Careers for ESTJ:

At work, the ESTJ will thrive best when they are put in a role that expects them to organise things. They are often highly skilled at organising people, operations, and projects. They prefer a role where they can be in charge, which means that many ESTJ personalities will often seek out management positions since they prefer to be in a role where they are able to make decisions and enforce procedures and policies.

At work, the ESTJ will quickly develop a reputation for being somebody who can be trusted to deliver work on time and as requested. They are some of the most reliable people in the workplace and get a lot of satisfaction from simply bringing a project to completion. However, it’s important for the ESTJ to be careful that they are not too eager to take on too much responsibility in the workplace, as they can quickly become overworked due to this trait.

Ideally, the best work environment for the ESTJ is somewhere that is highly structured. There should be a clear set of expectations and the authority structure should be clear and organised. The ideal role for this personality type is one that allows them to use their high organisational skills within a set of standardised procedures.

Best Jobs for ESTJ:

The ideal job for the ESTJ should have an element of management or leadership. This personality type feels strongly about guiding others and is hardworking and dedicated. They are skilled at leading by example, which makes them highly sought after in a range of different industries and workplace settings. Some of the most ideal career paths for the ESTJ to consider include:

·      Coach:

Many ESTJ personality types find that their leadership skills are best-suited to a career in coaching, especially if they are a naturally energetic person. You will often find many ESTJ personalities playing sports during their younger years and going on to become team captains. This personality type has a natural ability to build teamwork skills and become a successful coach due to their love of organisation and guiding others.

·      Judge:

For those with an ESTJ personality type who are interested in law, becoming a judge may be an ideal career path to follow. Although this career path requires extensive experience working in the judicial system, it is a very rewarding and appealing one for ESTJ individuals, who will enjoy a role that allows them to create more order in society and guide others. Since the ESTJ person is often somebody who has an innate dislike for disorder and dishonesty, a role as a judge gives them the ideal platform from which they can solve these problems in society.

·      Chief Executive Officer:

Working as a chief executive officer gives the ESTJ the chance to succeed in a role where they can use their natural tendency to create structure and order. This personality type will often make the most outstanding leaders because they are consistent, goal-oriented, and focused. In addition, the ESTJ is also a good fit for this role due to the fact that they tend to have naturally good communication and interpersonal skills, which are necessary for executive leadership.

·      Estate Agent:

For the ESTJ who is not interested in overseeing a whole team, the role of an estate agent allows them to apply their leadership and organisational skills in a different way. These professionals are able to work for themselves or as a part of a small team and tend to have more flexible schedules that the ESTJ might enjoy. This field offers plenty of challenges that will satisfy the need of the ESTJ to set and meet their personal and professional goals.

·      Financial Officer:

The ESTJ personality type has a natural preference for structure and order, which makes them an ideal fit for a career in finance. This personality type will often have a natural eye for budget management and the finer details of money, which often means that they are among the first to come up with innovative new ways to streamline and organise systems, improve efficiency, and save money. This role gives the ESTJ individual the opportunity to enjoy the order of maintaining financial documents alongside overseeing others on the team.

·      Engineer:

The ESTJ personality type often makes a great engineer due to their high focus on practical, real-world matters, along with how they approach tasks so meticulously. This personality type prefers to use concrete facts and logic when solving problems, which often leads to them excelling in the field of engineering. This role involves a heavy reliance on established scientific practices; something that will come naturally to the ESTJ.

·      Auditor:

Working as an auditor is another career path that may be appealing to the ESTJ. It requires analytical thinking and a strong attention to detail and is often likely to be rewarding work for the ESTJ, who will enjoy looking for irregularities and mistakes when combing through financial records.

ESTJ Personality Careers to Avoid:

While any personality type can do well on any career path, it’s important to consider that the structured and natural leadership nature of the ESTJ personality type might not be the best fit for many roles. Some careers will be much more challenging than others for somebody with this personality type. For the ESTJ, some of the main careers to avoid include:

·      Child Care:

Working in this industry is often unpredictable and chaotic. It will require a professional to have a lot of flexibility and patience, neither of which are often the ESTJ’s strong point. While those with an ESTJ personality type will often be individuals who are great with kids – especially in roles where they lead by example, such as coaching, and they will not usually find working with large groups of young children enjoyable.

·      Artist:

While the ESTJ personality type can certainly be a creative type of person, they are unlikely to enjoy the life of a professional artist as it will simply be too unstructured for them. Working as an actor, writer, or musician are roles that are not usually well-suited to this personality type, although some writing careers, including copywriting for businesses in a more structured environment, may be a better fit. Since these jobs are often more unpredictable than others, they will not appeal to the ESTJ’s main need for organisation.

·      Data Entry:

While the role of a data entry clerk might be suited for the ESTJ’s skills when it comes to attention to detail and organisation, the job will often lack too much personal interaction for this personality type to truly enjoy it. In addition, the position will often involve repetitive tasks with very little variety, and the ESTJ personality type will not be satisfied with the lack of options for making their own decisions and taking charge.

A personality type that values structure, order, and organisation, the ESTJ is best suited to a role where they can take charge in bringing order to the environment.