ENFP Careers: What This Personality Type Excels In

Are you looking for careers for ENFP personality types? When you are starting your career, understanding the strengths of your personality type is a good start. The same stands if you are thinking about changing career paths. One of the popular personality tests used by employers and careers advisors is the Myers-Brigg Type Indicator (MBTI). This questionnaire looks at how you behave. And, how you prefer to make decisions and interact and communicate with others. The Myers-Briggs test identifies 16 personality types. Knowing your own type indicator can help with making career choices.

What is ENFP Personality

What does ENFP stand for? The letters in each of the 16 MBTI personality test types relate to the four types of behaviors and traits you score highest in. An ENFP personality is one that scores highly in Extraversion, Intuition, Feeling, and Perception. It is a relatively common type among the wider population, and there tends to be a slightly higher percentage of female ENFPs than male ENFPs.

  • Extraversion: ENFP people are motivated and energized the most when they are around other people. People with this extraverted personality trait are usually outgoing. They love interacting within group situations and getting to know a wide range of other people.
  • Intuition: The intuitive personality trait in an ENFP presents as being able to see and reflect on possibilities and look to the future. They have an understanding of the bigger picture. They see how everything else fits within a system and where to adjust if needed using critical thinking skills to reflect and evaluate.
  • Feeling: ENFP people value the social impact and implications of any decision. They will tend to go with and place a lot of value on personal or “gut” feelings when making decisions. They will usually always consider other people’s points of view.
  • Perception: ENFP people are very open to possibilities and new information. This personality type is flexible and if they feel they need to, they will consider and explore different options.

ENFP Personality Traits

Some of the personality traits and strengths and weaknesses of ENFP personality types are:

  • Communicative: ENFPs are true “people people”. They are not usually introverted at all and are very open communicators. They enjoy interacting and sharing information with other people and networking. ENFPs have an extraverted intuition. They are strong on social perceptiveness and usually very empathetic to the concerns and needs of others.
  • Passion: ENFPs will follow something with a passion, whether as a hobby or a career. They are often attracted to social causes where they see they can help make change for the better of humanity.
  • Enthusiasm: ENFPs like to dive in wholeheartedly into work and play activities and explore new things. They are usually energetic and motivated and like to encourage others to be so as well.
  • Curiosity: ENFPs are often curious about what makes things tick, especially people. They like diversity and may look for a range of activities and relationships that given them a broad experience of all that life has to offer. If something is too mundane, they may get bored.
  • Creativity: ENFPs are often very creative and drawn to music, art, fashion, theatre, creative writing, and so forth. They will take a creative approach to problem solving. Different situations and possibilities inspire them.
  • Individualistic: Although very social people, they usually prefer to see themselves, and others, as unique individuals. They need to feel a sense of personal freedom in whatever they do, including how they choose to express themselves.
  • Flexibility: ENFPs are flexible and will adapt to different situations easily. If something becomes too routine, they may become bored – change is good for these folk! They can also be very spontaneous and be the first to put their hand up for something new or different.
  • Relationships: ENFPs are very relationship driven in both their personal and professional lives. They place great value on the importance of healthy and happy relationships. They will usually be warm, supportive, and encouraging with others.

ENFP Careers

ENFP personality types often excel in careers where they can be creative, interact with other people, and find solutions to life’s issues. If attending university, an initial associate’s degree can be a good option while they learn what is on offer. Bachelor’s degrees and master’s degrees in the social sciences, arts, and humanities may then appeal to this personality type. They tend to do well in human resource positions, sales and marketing, service roles, and as allied health practitioners. These types of jobs give the ENFP personality the opportunity combine their strengths. Within this type of work, they can engage with other people to come up proactive solutions.

ENFP Jobs & Career List

An ENFP personality type may explore different career paths throughout their life. Their people skills are well suited to many occupations and entrepreneurial type activities.

Some types of careers that are great for ENFPs include:

  • Teachers: With their easy and open communication styles, ENFPs are natural teachers. They do well in the education system and in workplaces teaching others in learning and development jobs. They usually have a natural ability to engage and motivate others to learn.
  • Social Scientists: ENFP personality types make great researchers and social scientists. Fields such as sociology, social anthropology, town planning, conservation, and architecture give them the opportunity to work with and for “the people”, look to the future, and communicate their findings.
  • Allied Health: An ENFP personality can be well suited to working in health and social services. With their desire to find out what is going on for people and help them achieve their goals roles such psychologists, counselors, social work, occupational health and safety, massage and physical therapy therapists, speech-language pathologists, and veterinary care may suit.
  • Service Roles: The ENFPs networking skills come to the fore in many types of service roles. They often enjoy working in jobs in retail, childcare, fitness and exercise trainers, cosmetology and hairdressing, and hospitality.
  • Entertainment: The expressive and creative streak in the ENFP personality makes them ideal for careers in the performing arts. Famous ENFPs have pursued acting, singing, or dancing careers where they can showcase their talents to other people.
  • Designers: The artistic side of the ENFP personality type suits careers as artists and designers of most kinds. For example, graphic and multimedia design, floral design, interior design, and so forth.
  • Communication: The ENFP personality has a natural ability to communicate and coordinate. This suits occupations such as public relations, marketing, sales, human resources, and customer service. They often become entrepreneurs.

ENFP Careers to Avoid

We all bring many personality traits to different careers and occupations. Even so, there are some careers ENFP personality types are usually best to avoid. It is best to avoid positions that involve a lot of mundane repetition or working within rigid structures. ENFP people like to push boundaries a little and have the freedom to explore. Having a job just for the sake of having a job will not lead to much job satisfaction. They like to feel that they are contributing and adding value. They probably will not do well in occupations such as engineering, routine administration, or within the military.

Final Thoughts

For any MBTI personality type, finding a role where you can utilize your natural strengths is going to be fulfilling. ENFP careers tend to be people focused. Even in a job that involves more paperwork than people the ENFP person will always be the sharing the ideas and communicating with the rest of the team. ENFP people need the flexibility and freedom to think outside the box to come up with innovative solutions for the best for everyone.

author avatar
Angel Rivera
I am a Bilingual (Spanish) Psychiatrist with a mixture of strong clinical skills including Emergency Psychiatry, Consultation Liaison, Forensic Psychiatry, Telepsychiatry and Geriatric Psychiatry training in treatment of the elderly. I have training in EMR records thus very comfortable in working with computers. I served the difficult to treat patients in challenging environments in outpatient and inpatient settings
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