i've always found that the money followed my passion... as an enfp, if i'm not passionate about my work, then i lose interest pretty quickly. however, when i do have that level of engagement, i produce at 300% of the efficiency of everyone else & the promotions & money have always followed.

i've read that enfps don't tend to separate work & life so much... which means that you have to be doing something that excites you. i've got a good friend at work who's very IxxJ, and he laughs at how much i care about work things... and i laugh at how easily he can switch off from work & just not care, yet still do a good job.

and don't hear me as saying you should only work for "idealistic" places like social work /schools /charities - those places definitely don't pay well..! find a proper office job (the variety of which is too great to describe), which involves working with lots of people (i've found large companies work for me a lot better, due to sheer quantity of people to interact with, and opportunities to change roles before things get too routine :)), and get passionate about whatever it is they ask you to do - whether that's filing, making coffees, filling in dull spreadsheets... i've seen it time & again - the young people who despise the grunt-work because they have "higher ambitions" are not great employees. accept that in a new job, you will get more than your fair share of the less fun stuff. do it good-naturedly, while also showing you're capable of more. that's the attitude other people like to be around, and that will get you the money.

at least, that's worked for this enfp :)

Great Question! Sales is where people make the most money. I have worked in the medical device industry for several years and aside from CEO's and company executives, it is the sales folks that rake it in. But, you have to love it!

I am a veterinarian by education and I have worked in several different roles in the last 15 years. After about 1.5 years of doing one thing, I am usually ready to get on to the next. I have been fortunate to have built a great career in both the veterinary and medical device worlds which has created a tremendous network of possibilities which I need to have in order to continue to build my career.

I am not saying to do what I did, but it is an example of how our lack of desire to stay in one place for very long can be an asset to us in career building.

Promising and stable careers are out there - ie plumbing, Funeral Directing, accounting etc. Just remember that the last thing that ENFP's (really) want is stable. Sometimes, we don't even want the money! That is, until we don't have it.

Stability is a tough thing for us. In my own case, it has been a choice I had to make and deliberately follow through on. Other types arrange their lives based on the need to feel stable. We ENFP's aren't wired that way. We are wired for the thrill! So if stability is what you want, then you will have to choose it and follow through on it. This has been a tough thing for me in those times when I want to go off and work in New Zealand for a couple of years or start a cattle ranch in North Dakota.

The best advice I can give from my own experience is foremost, DO NOT BORROW MONEY, and then find something that makes your eyes open wider and your heart start beating faster. Pay attention when it happens, because we are also good at talking ourselves into things!

Take Care,

TZ

Good Morning,

I forgot to add one thing. If money is important, make sure and do your research to find out what different careers typically pay. If you want to make $200k/year, then it is important to target the market segment where that is a possibility.
If money is not that important, then you have alot more flexibility and jobs to choose from.

Funny theme among the ENFP career posts: Seems like we all want to make the big bucks, but aren't much happier when we do. I suppose it is like any other job for most of us - the joy is really in the hunt and the possibilities of the next job! It can be a fun and frustrating mindspace!

Thanks,

TZ

Wow, lots of good advice! I'll be returning here soon...

Since you are still in college, my #1 piece of advice is to:

a) be honest with yourself about what you love most, and then
b) get an internship or other marketable experience with it.

As a previous replier said, we ENFPs have big dreams--sometimes involving big cash--but only what we really love seems to "stick" in the long run.

In college, I too wanted to leave it all and travel around the world. I stayed and got my degree--which is good--but did not maximize my time there or embark on a concrete career path, and am now dealing with the consequences. So take it from an ENFP who wishes she had done things differently: don't get hung up on deciding what to do. Just pick that one thing you know you'll never get tired of--and you probably know deep down what it is--and pursue it like there's no tomorrow. If you are a true ENFP, you won't be able to do something just for the money anyway, because you will get bored and leave it. So it is best to focus on something you can honestly commit to (and let the money flow naturally).

Before you leave college, gain marketable experience in your future career. It is one of the best things you can possibly do for yourself, and it will give you freedom to change lanes later if you so desire (an ENFP favorite activity :). I did not do the above, and now I am so busy trying to make money--to create my freedom--that I don't have much time for anything else. If I had just committed to something, anything, life would be easier now. The ENFP fatal flaw is non-commitment, but our greatest strength is excitement and passion--so follow yours!

Hope this helps, and good luck.

Again, do what you love. Get good at it and after 2 years of working for someone else and learning, start a business with that.

Don't get sucked in to doing a career for prestige or money, because as an ENFP your enthusiasm will wane quickly. Sometimes, short term jobs are ok - I've lasted 3-4 months doing something I didn't like as a summer job - but as a long term career you can't make yourself like something for the money.

I went to law school for prestige, emotional/social affirmation (hey parents and people I haven't seen in years, I AM smart!), and the money. Once out in the world, I've found that law practice is not easy for an ENFP. It is repetitive, technical, logic/"Thinking" focused, very precise and detail-oriented, and largely based on conflict, harassment, bullying and [witness] lying. Then, there are downsides. Now I owe a TON of money for school and from starting my practice and I'm pinned in, which is also a stress for an ENFP. With the downturn, clients have ditched paying their bills. It's funny someone mentioned New Zealand above - I lived there for a while in the late 90's and dream every day about going back for a couple of years, if only to press the Reset button on my life again. Of course I don't like to repeat experiences as an ENFP so sometimes I consider Australia. Switzerland would rock but visas are tough to get from what I hear.

Frankly, I see "attorney" on all these ENFP job lists and I wonder what kind of attorney they are thinking would be good as an ENFP, because I don't see it - the only position that even kind of fits our strengths is the sales/"rainmaker" type partner position who brings in business and doesn't sit and draft things, but guess what - that's after a lot of freaking slog and years of doing painful things.

I've been through half a dozen careers and now I'm going back to school to be a travel nurse. When I was younger I hated the idea of nursing because I thought- why be a nurse if you can be a doctor? Let's face it, I can never handle that much schooling all in a row. Then I got sick, went to the "best" specialist doctors in several states and none of them helped. Eventually a nurse practitioner figured out how to make me better. The doctors' focus was on curing an incurable condition. The nurses were much more interested in restoring my quality of life and listening to me and actually doing research when they didn't know the answer to something rather than pretending they were God. I gained a lot of respect for nurses.

Then I found out what a great career choice nursing is. In a few weeks you can be a CNA, which is basically professional ass wiping unless you can get on to a hospital. A hospital is great, you get exposed to new people and just enough chaos to keep you engaged but not so much that you're chronically stressed out either. Hospitals have great benefits and while the pay isn't extraordinary, it is better than most college campus jobs and most places are so short of nurses they will happily pay for your college.

One tip though- do NOT work as a CNA at a nursing home that offers CNA classes right at the facility. The ones that do that only do so because they have chronic staffing problems. If they could keep their people they wouldn't need to. Usually the problem is that they are so short staffed that none of their residents gets the proper amount of care. You'll think they need you there and you'll try but something awful will happen every day and you'll go home crying, you'll tell the heartbreaking stories to the people you love and they'll all be crying too and insist that you quit. Others just treat the staff so poorly that no one will put up with that kind of abuse and people leave. Don't make the mistake of working for a facility like that as it will be so emotional you'll hate it. Pay for the class and get on at a hospital, even if only part time at first.

One thing I've learned so far about nursing school- it is the least annoying schooling I've had, because it's all very practical. I don't get frustrated that I'm wasting my time and that it's all BS because I actually need to know this stuff to do my job well. Someone should have told me about this before!

If you go to a community college you can be an LPN in a year (or maybe two, if your college makes you take prerequisites first) with an LPN you can make $30K in rural areas and $50K+ in cities. So you keep working at your hospital and keep going to school and in another few terms you're an RN, which is an additional 10-20K as a beginner.

You can be a nurse in almost every area of healthcare. I'm leaning towards working in a NICU right now (premature babies). Lots of technology, respect from doctors, very few patients, you get close to the families and I don't mind death. Some aspects (med-surg) of hospital nursing seem extremely boring to me. But there is a million specialties, and if you get bored you can transfer. When you're starting, try and work at a magnate hospital. That means they treat the nurses really well. You need a place like that when you're just starting a difficult job.

Some hospitals have a "weekend option." That means you get 90% of the pay and 100% of the benefits for 60% of the hours. In return you have to work two 12 hour shifts sometime between friday, saturday, and sunday. If you decide you love nursing school and want to keep on for more it's a great way to make a living while in school.

With one year of experience as an RN, you can be a travel nurse. That means getting paid more than $100K plus a furnished apartment all over the country. They pay for your travel expenses, and you'll spend 3-4 months in each location. Some companies even rent you a car and pay for more college. In many places you work 3 or 4 12 hour shifts a week, which leaves you with 3 or 4 days off a week! At that point you can take classes online to finish your BSN. If you get bored with visiting Alaska, Hawaii, and living in cities you would otherwise struggle to afford (Manhattan, San Francisco, Boston, Miami), then you can afford to take a few months off and travel. Maybe be a nurse for one of those adventure travel companies who take medical professionals with them.

Some travel nursing companies are now taking nurses overseas. There is a shortage of nurses around the world and you can work in London, Dublin, and different places in Australia and New Zealand pretty easily as nursing is considered a needed profession so it is quite easy to get work visas. If you have the self-discipline to become fluent in other languages I've heard it's quite easy in France and Spain as well.

You can spend your vacations on medical missions trips or with similar charities like doctors without borders. When you get bored with all that you can settle down in wherever you decided was your favorite place because most travel nurses get offered jobs in most of the places they work. You can complete grad school online and then teach nursing wherever you want. There is a desperate need for nursing instructors. If you get really high-minded, go to an ivy-league grad school like Yale.

If you're sick of school and have kids, work at their elementary as the school nurse. Work at their summer camp. Work as a nurse in a private college health clinic and give your kids free tuition at something like 99 private colleges in the USA. If you've never settled that much and need still more adventure, the UN and the Peace Corps always need nurses too. Run a health clinic in a developing nation while living like a queen on all of the money you sacked away while travel nursing.

Or oficially retire and invest your savings on a new business scheme.

I just discovered this personality typing and it's crazy. I am still a little blow away by it all. I am a college grad from a top 25 public institution and going through the same thing as a lot of you. Trying to figure out what I want to do in this life. To the OP, if you have the freedom checkout the Peace Core, Teach for America, or a similar program. With the Peace Core you are able to travel, live the crazy, different, meaningful adventurous lifestyle all ENFPs crave. I also found teaching English in Asia to be a fascinating job prospect. They pay for your travel, and living expenses as well as a salary of 30k US Dollars. It is a 1 year commitment and many people who do this for a couple of years end of with rewarding international business jobs. Personally I am currently looking into medicine. I am going back to school to take my medical/science pre reqs. I am not sure on what medical path I will take but I know that it will be extremely rewarding for all of the time and effort I will put into it.

ENFP dont really need money, naturally we value the experience much more so than the objects or things. If I was not in a stable relationship and didnt have a 100lb puppy I would probably be spending 4 months in Costa Rica surfing, a year in Asia teaching, a couple months back packing through Europe, sleeping at a hostel in Sydney. The whole time using my ENFP charm to meet people, acquire jobs and inspire those that cross my path.

Hi Katie,

I'm a network marketer for a NYSE listed company based in Utah, Nu Skin Enterprises. I use to tell my sister, I think I was born for this type of career! :) Take a closer look at this industry and the EQ needed to succeed.

It matches what ENFP's love to do, I think.

I love traveling, communicating, coaching, sharing good things and most of all creating residual global income. I used to be an Engineering Manager for Motorola, been there for >13years before I left it 2 years ago. Been enjoying the business for almost 8 years and excited by the potential growth in the future.

My blog:
areyousearching.blogspot.com/200...html

With respect,
WillingTan

Attract it!

well i'm so glad to be reading about other people like me. i can never make up my mind about where i want to be, what i want to do as a career and alot of other things. i'm a lawyer by training and i must say, i'm quite disliking it, even though i make 100k+. i'm looking for something that makes me happy and as the other posts have mentioned, the money will come.

has anyone tried real estate? i do like real estate and the idea of meeting new people all the time, plus i think i might be good at understanding what people want...hmmm...