Why Your ENFP Personality Type Affects Your Career Choices

The Myers-Briggs personality test can help you learn more about who you are as a person and what kind of job might be the best choice for you. While our Myers-Briggs personality type is not set in stone and people can certainly change throughout their lives, if you are feeling unsatisfied in your current career, it might just be because it’s not a great fit for your personality. Whether you are introverted or extroverted, creative or logical, or tend to think or feel more when it comes to how you view things can certainly have an impact on how well you perform at your job and how you feel about your career overall. 

What is the ENFP Personality Type?

ENFPs are known for being people-centred and creative types who focus on possibilities. They tend to be very enthusiastic about new ideas and activities and come across as warm, passionate, and energetic individuals. They are more extroverted than introverted and tend to use humour, wit, and language mastery to communicate expressively and come up with interesting and engaging stories. They are usually the imaginative people in your life who are always coming up with original ideas and tend to be very artistic. Art tends to be a passion for them in some way or another since it provides them with a way to get a better understanding of human experience and allows them to express their unique and inventive ideas. 

Each of the four letters of the ENFP personality type represents a key personality trait. ENFPs are Extroverted, which means that they tend to be more energised through spending time with others, and they are Intuitive, meaning that they focus on concepts and ideas more often than they think about details and facts. They will mainly make decisions based on Feelings and values, and are more Perceiving, preferring to be flexible and spontaneous rather than planning too far ahead. Due to their passion and enthusiasm for helping other people realise their dreams, this personality type is often nicknamed the ‘Champion’. 

ENFP Jobs – Best Careers for ENFP:

Choosing a career as an ENFP means thinking about your main motivations and values. This personality type tends to be curious about others and often wants to find the deeper meaning both in ideas and people. They often seek emotional intensity and want an authentic experience. If you are an ENFP, you might thrive more in a job where you get to make genuine and authentic connections with others while being creative at the same time, such as teaching or creative mentorship. This personality type is usually bored by details and repetition, so this kind of job is best avoided. They are often attracted to novelty and like to have a wide range of interests in many different things. They place a lot of priority on their individuality and believe that happiness should be their main priority in life for both themselves and others. They are usually better in jobs that allow them a lot of personal freedom and self-expression, which is why many ENFP personality types will often start their own creative businesses or similar. 

ENFP-T Careers:

Somebody with an ENFP-T personality type has the ENFP personality with a Turbulent (T) identity. They often possess a range of personality traits including enthusiasm, emotional, energetic, growth-oriented, perfectionism and self-criticism, creativity, humility, easily stressed, anxious, value-driven, low confidence, highly sensitive, perceptive, and caring for others. Having the turbulent identifier with your personality type means that your neuroticism score is high, which is not always a bad thing. It often means that the person with this personality type is more likely to be anxious and worried about things that can go wrong, which is usually due to concern for protecting oneself and others. In many careers, it’s important to be prepared for something to go wrong and having this identifier can make it easier for the ENFP to think quickly on their feet and make the best decisions under stress since they have already spent some time considering what they would do in the worst-case scenario. However, it’s important to keep on top of these traits, either with therapy or other coping mechanisms, as without management they can easily become a problem in any job. 

What are the Best Jobs for ENFP People?

When at work, somebody with an ENFP personality will usually be more concerned about being creative to express themselves and help others. They will often want to explore all of the possibilities that are available for both themselves and other people and tend to have a lot of imagination and vision when approaching their work. Ideally, an ENFP will want to work in an environment where they can take on people-centred or creative problems that call for original solutions. 

Believing in humanitarian causes can often be the main motivators for the ENFP when finding work, and many will want to find a career that is aligned with their values. Career paths where the ENFP can help other people develop as individuals either personally or professionally are often a good choice. In addition, a career that allows the ENFP to pursue artistic expression or personal growth is usually an important factor. 

On the flip side, ENFP personality types are not usually drawn to routine or repetitive work. They prefer to be interested by a wide range of different challenges and tasks. Freedom and autonomy are often more important for people with these personality traits, and they tend to prefer work where they can set their own schedule and where they are not constantly dealing with restrictions, regulations, or mundane details. They tend to prefer work where they can relate to other people and be as imaginative as possible in a supportive and unstructured way. 

For the ENFP, their ideal working environment will be relaxed, creative, and friendly. It will be a workplace that allows them to satisfy their curiosity, follow their imagination and inspiration, and come up with original solutions that benefit others. 

Which Jobs for ENFP Personality are Best Suited?

ENFP people tend to be likeable, positive, and energetic. They are usually good with people and able to build strong personal relationships, putting them in a unique position to build a career in a position that is sociable and people-oriented. For example, ENFPs tend to be drawn to careers in sales since they are engaging and approachable. In addition, the lack of structure in many sales careers, along with the fact that they offer different experiences and tasks will also be appealing. 

ENFPs might also like to work in public relations since this career choice allows them to focus on building relationships with others while channelling their creative side. In a similar way, many ENFPs are also drawn to customer service roles as these career choices allow them to interact and work closely with others and have an impact on other people. 

Since ENFPs tend to be a little eccentric and very creative, they will often do well in creative careers such as art, photography, videography, web design, programming, graphic design, and writing, which give the ENFP the chance to express their individual uniqueness. Finally, the ENFP may also make an excellent business owner since they are usually able to take risks and are great at networking and building personal relationships with others. In addition, they usually have a very positive and upbeat attitude that helps them get through the tough times in business and come up with creative ideas to solve any problems that they face. 

Worst Careers for ENFPs:

On the other hand, if you are an ENFP then it’s worth noting which careers might be best avoided. Since people with this personality type tend to be more flexible and spontaneous, they are usually not very good in a career that has a high focus on routine. For example, a career in finance might feel underwhelming and draining to an ENFP since it tends to involve lots of mundane and repetitive tasks and does not offer a lot of opportunities to be creative and come up with original ideas, which is not usually a good fit for the creative nature of the ENFP. 

In addition, ENFPs don’t tend to be the greatest when it comes to attention to detail. They tend to prefer and find it much easier to look at the bigger picture when they are working with others, which can make them a valuable member of the team in many different career choices. However, certain careers where attention to detail is absolutely crucial such as cybersecurity, mathematics or engineering might not be a great fit for the ENFP. In addition, working in an environment that does not give the ENFP much chance to be energetic, sociable, or dynamic might be a stressful option for them. 

ENFP career types have a lot of strong and positive attributes that make them well-suited to a range of careers. Due to their unique set of personality traits, they will often thrive best in careers where they can be creative and build relationships with others.