I recently came across an article from Talent Desk on Jobs for ISFJs. As an ISFJ, I am considered “The Defender” of the Myers-Briggs Personality Types. I have always felt that this type describes me very well; I am analytical, a little bit of a perfectionist, empathetic, and loyal to a fault – all qualities that define ISFJs.
They describe how you think, how you interact with others, and how you see the world.
While it might seem silly to use your Myers-Briggs type to fuel your job search, when you stop and think about it, it really makes sense. The characteristics that are associated with your Myers-Briggs type are the ones that are central to who you are as a person. They describe how you think, how you interact with others, and how you see the world. In choosing a new job, it should be especially important to make sure that the components of your day-to-day life in a given position will both align with your preferences and put your best qualities on display.
I excel when my work involves checking tiny details.
Since ISFJs are introverted and empathetic, we are expected to thrive in jobs that involve detailed work that has components that help other people. Working with others is okay, but work that involves frequent or intense social interaction is not ideal. For me, this means that I like to work in teams or collaborate closely with a couple of other people, but having to constantly interact with new people or reach out to groups of strangers would be a little overwhelming. It also means that I excel when my work involves checking tiny details, like proofreading. However, doing detail-oriented work all the time would eventually seem tedious and exhausting to me, while some ISFJs who are even more detail-oriented may be happy pursuing jobs that are almost entirely detail work. At the end of the day, it’s up to you to decide whether the suggestions based on your MBTI type apply to you or just apply to others who might be similar to you.
The top recommendations are compliance manager, personal financial advisor, tax preparer, and insurance adjuster.
With all of this in mind, I looked into several job positions that are recommended specifically for my type. I focused on the professions in business, since I am currently studying marketing and have always known I wanted to be a businesswoman. The top recommendations are compliance manager, personal financial advisor, tax preparer, and insurance adjuster.
A compliance manager is generally within a company’s legal department and is responsible for making sure that legal and ethical standards are maintained. ISFJs are supposed to succeed in this position because we can be trusted to notice inconsistencies and protect the company’s image. I think this could be a good fit for me, but I might need a little more variation day-to-day. This position also has the potential to involve frequent confrontation, which seems to not quite fit with ISFJs introverted, quiet nature.
The next job, personal financial advisor, seems to suit me best out of the four suggestions. Essentially, I would be responsible for managing clients’ assets, helping them set goals, and explaining their financial positions. If I had chosen to focus on finance instead of marketing, I think this job would be perfect for me. It’s just the right amount of social interaction and has the added benefit of knowing that I’m helping someone else to succeed. It also involves a detailed analysis of all kinds of numbers, but that’s not necessarily the main component of the job in the sense that it would be draining over time.
This sounds like exactly the level of intense detail work that would be exhausting to me.
A tax preparer, obviously, helps people prepare their taxes. They are responsible for maintaining the accuracy of the documents and for meeting strict deadlines. This sounds like exactly the level of intense detail work that would be exhausting to me. Errors in preparing taxes are simply not acceptable, and meticulously going over numbers so frequently sounds like it would give me a headache. There are some positives, though, because tax preparation is similar to financial advising in the sense that you interact with just a few people and know that you are helping them achieve something.
Finally, an insurance adjuster is responsible for evaluating insurance claims. This falls somewhere in the middle for me: it doesn’t sound perfect or particularly exciting, but I think I would enjoy it more than being a tax preparer.
Ultimately, these suggestions really helped me narrow down what kind of jobs would allow me to be happiest and most successful. Not having to constantly interact with groups of people is important to me, but not to the extent that I want to work by myself all the time. Jobs where my attention to detail will come in handy are great, but not if that’s my primary function. I’m not at all surprised by these results, but I might not have noticed them if I hadn’t sat down and thought about my personality.
So, if you’re stuck or don’t know what aspects of a job description make up your top priorities, consider looking into your Myers-Briggs type and the jobs that are associated with it. It may not lead directly to the end of your job search, but it’s definitely a great place to start.
Original Article by Alexa Nizam, EK Careers Intern
Alexa is a marketing student at The University of Texas at Austin, where she unites the creative side of marketing with a data-driven background. Her defining feature is her insatiable curiosity. She is always looking for new avenues of knowledge to explore.
