18 careers for ENFJ personalities
Everyone has their own innate characteristics and traits that make them who they are. Understanding your personality traits can help you find potential career paths that play to your natural strengths and affinities.
One way to get an idea of your personality type is to do the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) questionnaire, which sorts people into 16 different categories. Though it’s not considered truly scientific, it can give you a general idea of your character, your decision-making style, and the types of jobs that might suit your personality.
ENFJ (extraverted, intuitive, feeling and judging) is one Myers-Briggs personality type: strong extroverts who get satisfaction from pleasing and helping others. Like all MBTI personality types, there are some recommended ENFJ career matches to best use the skills of this character type.
In this article, we take a look at ENFJ personality careers, based on the personality outlined by Myers-Briggs.
ENFJ strengths at work
ENFJ stands for extraverted, intuitive, feeling and judging, i.e. the main traits of a person who matches this personality type. They are excellent communicators with strong interpersonal skills and the ability to build relationships and foster collaboration. As an ENFJ, you’re a natural leader with the ability to motivate and inspire. You have a passion for helping others succeed and reaching their full potential.
Potential challenges ENFJs may face at work
There are many strengths of an ENFJ, but there are also challenges. An ENFJ may find it difficult to take criticism, set boundaries, and say no to others. Those people-pleasing tendencies that drive your ambition can also leave you open to burnout. It’s important to be aware of these potential pitfalls and pay attention to establishing boundaries at work.
Best ENFJ jobs
The best jobs for ENFJ people tend to be those that involve helping or entertaining others. This is why ENFJ careers like teacher, nurse and actor, are said to be good fits. Finding your ideal ENFJ career can bring you a lot of fulfilment. Here are a few examples on ENFJ careers.
Psychologist
Average salary: $105,000
Psychologists help people with their mental health. Strong people skills help ENFJ psychologists connect with clients and empathise with their emotional state. To become a psychologist, you'll need a related degree, like a bachelor in psychology.
Teacher
Approx. salary range: $75-100,000
ENFJ personality types are sometimes nicknamed ‘teachers’ due to their passion for helping and guiding others. ENFJ teachers use their interpersonal and motivational skills to educate and their warm disposition to connect with students, support them and inspire them to learn. To become a teacher, you need to complete a bachelor of education or do a bachelor’s degree followed by a graduate diploma in education.
Sales manager
Average salary: $110,000
ENFJ personality types make good sales managers because it's a role that well-suited to their extroversion, leadership traits, passion and team-building abilities. As a sales manager, confidence and extroversion are essential, as is the art of persuasion, to build relationships to drive sales. You don’t need any formal qualifications to become a salesperson and can often get on-the-job training through an entry-level role.
Reporter
Average salary: $70-80,000
Reporters and journalists investigate newsworthy stories and events, publishing articles on different topics through various media channels. ENFJ personalities thrive in this role as they can use their interpersonal skills to build rapport with people, their insight to identify story angles, and their energy to do fieldwork and frontline reporting. Reporters will typically need a bachelor of communications or journalism to get started, but there may be pathways through internships with news publications.
Human resources manager
Approx. salary range: $120-130,000
ENFJs love guiding people, so becoming a human resources manager, or HR manager, can be a good fit for this personality type. HR managers are in charge of recruiting staff, onboarding, taking care of employee admin and sometimes team-building and morale-boosting initiatives. ENFJ people are extroverted, which is essential when meeting and interacting with lots of people. There aren’t any strict formal qualifications to get started on an ENFJ career in HR, but it can help to complete a certificate or diploma in human resources management.
Public relations manager
Average salary: $110,000
Public relations manager is a people-focused role, helping clients maintain a positive public image and build brand trust and loyalty. This includes using an ENFJ's good judgement in creating PR and media opportunities, and using people skills to forge industry relationships and network connections, which are essential to increasing exposure for a brand. To get started in a PR role, you may need a bachelor of communications, public relations or similar.
Social worker
Average salary: from $85,000
Social workers need a high degree of empathy, interpersonal skills and intuition to help people in need. The role of a social worker may include providing day-to-day living support to people with disabilities or the elderly, providing emotional support, or helping vulnerable people access the appropriate government programs. ENFJ personality types can be drawn to this type of job as it centres on helping others. Getting a bachelor of social work is typically the first step.
Fundraiser
Approx. salary range: $75-110,000 as a manager
Fundraisers can work independently or for companies, institutions or organisations, creating events and campaigns to raise funds for various causes. ENFJs have the strong people skills required to network and promote a cause, and the empathy required to connect with and influence people. There is no specific qualification for fundraising, but a degree in event management and media and communications can help you learn valuable skills needed to fundraise effectively.
Counsellor
Average salary: $80-95,000
Counsellors are mental-health professionals that help people through difficult times, typically focusing on a specific area, such as youth counselling or marriage counselling. This role requires strong people skills and a naturally empathic nature, which makes it a good ENFJ career. Studying counselling will help give you the training and qualifications you need to step into this type of role.
Actor
Average salary: varies
A career as an actor requires extroversion, passion and charisma – all personality traits of ENFJs. Intuition helps an actor relate to others and take on different personas, while their creative energy drives them to succeed. While acting is not a career you need a qualification for, formal acting training at a reputable college, and studying arts and media can help you pick up skills and make important connections.
Nurse
Average salary: $90,000
Nurses provide medical care and support to patients across a vast spectrum of needs. Interpersonal skills, intuition, a passion for helping others, good judgement, energy and extraversion are all required for this ENFJ career.
Events manager
Average salary: $85,000
Events managers organise all sorts of functions, including weddings, corporate parties, concerts and conferences. Aside from being highly organised, events managers must have a passion for helping clients, as well as excellent judgement to hire and manage vendors and suppliers, and an extraverted nature for interacting with many different types of people. While there are no standard qualifications to become an events manager, studying a degree or diploma will help give you the skills you need.
Interior designer
Average salary: $90,000
Interior design is one of the most popular ENFJ jobs. An interior designer makes indoor spaces functional, safe and aesthetically pleasing, whether for homes, offices, businesses or even public spaces. They get to exercise their technical abilities alongside their creativity and intuition, and can put their ENFJ leadership skills to use managing projects and working with different collaborators. Interior designers need a design degree or diploma, plus on-the-job training and a creative portfolio.
Editor
Average salary: $90,000
Editors work with writers and authors to create written content that meets specific guidelines. They comment on the big picture, such as overall content and storytelling, and also make corrections to text to prepare a written work for publishing (whether online or in print). ENFJ personalities have strong communication skills, which are essential to being an editor and conveying a desired message, they have interpersonal skills for collaborating with writers and designers, and have good intuition to advise on story angles. A degree in the arts, journalism or communications can help you turn your ENFJ skills into an editing career.
Advertising manager
Average salary: $90,000
Advertising managers create promotional campaigns and marketing initiatives. Leadership skills, teamwork, extraversion, passion and charisma are all ENFJ traits that are essential to being a successful ad manager. To work in advertising, you’ll need a marketing or business degree.
Dietitian
Average salary: $90,000
Dieticians work in a specialised area of healthcare, focusing on the connection between nutrition and health. They help people reduce the risk of illness, live a healthier lifestyle, and manage symptoms of chronic illnesses through changes to their diet. Interpersonal skills, a desire to help others, and a love of providing advice connect this job to the classic ENFJ personality.
Personal trainer
Average salary: $88,000
Personal trainers work with people to help improve their fitness levels and overall wellbeing by creating exercise programs to address their specific needs. You’ll need good people skills to help influence and motivate clients and the ability to motivate and inspire, to encourage clients to meet their goals. Personal trainers need a nationally recognised qualification in fitness or sport science and on-the-job training.
Business consultant
Average salary: $105,000
Consultants work across all industries and in businesses of all sizes. If you have significant experience skills or expertise in a field, you can consult businesses on how they could be performing more effectively. Being a consultant requires the innate ENFJ traits of interpersonal skills and charisma, passion for helping others, collaborative abilities, and excellent communication. There are no specific qualifications to be a consultant, but an bachelor’s degree is essential, with an MBA desirable.
As an ENFJ, your natural traits and personality can help you succeed in certain careers. When choosing which career is right for you, it’s important to consider not only your personality, but your interests, skills, and professional goals. Whatever career path you choose, one that plays to your natural strengths may be the least stressful and most fulfilling. For ENFJ personalities, that may mean finding a job that lets you use your out-going personality, strong communication skills, and passion for helping and guiding others.
FAQs
I’m an ENFJ, but I'm not sure what kind of work environment would be the best fit for me. What factors should I consider?
The best work environment for an ENFJ will allow you to use your strengths, like excellent communication and interpersonal skills, passion for helping others, and good judgement and intuition. All personality types can benefit from a work environment that is supportive and provides clear and reasonable job expectations.
What jobs should I avoid as an ENFJ in the workplace?
Some common ENFJ careers to avoid include police officer, attorney, security guard, web developer and accountant. This is because ENFJ types are said to find it hard setting boundaries, may take criticism personally, and tend to gravitate to more creative and collaborative careers.
Are there successful ENFJs in unexpected fields?
Yes, ENFJs can be successful in any field, as everyone has a unique expression of their personality type. As ENFJs tend to be driven and extroverted, they can be successful across a wide range of careers and industries.
Are there careers for ENFJs that don’t involve a lot of presentations?
Some careers for ENFJs that don’t involve a lot of presentations include psychologist, nurse and social worker.
What kind of leadership style would suit me best?
ENFJs are natural leaders best suited to an action-oriented leadership style. They are able to see the big picture, and are good at inspiring their team members to achieve a common goal.
Are there volunteer opportunities or internships that would be a good fit for an ENFJ?
ENFJs are said to be passionate about helping others, so any volunteering opportunity to do with supporting people would be a good fit for ENFJs. Internships in advertising, publishing (as a reporter, journalist or editor) and interior design can also suit the ENFJ personality.
I scored as an ENFJ on the MBTI test, but some descriptions don’t quite resonate with me. Could I be another personality type?
An MBTI test will match you to your most dominant traits, and should not be taken as scientific fact. You may still find you have traits from other personality types while still mainly fitting into the ENFJ category.
How can I effectively showcase my strengths and personality during interviews as an ENFJ?
As an ENFJ, you’re likely a strong communicator and good at building rapport quickly, which is always an advantage in an interview. You can highlight your strengths and skills by sharing examples of your achievements in leadership or collaboration (or any trait) by using the STAR method.
