INFP Careers, Jobs, & Majors

by Dr. A.J. Drenth.

INFPs do not want just any job or career. They want to do something they love, something they are passionate about. They want to use their creative gifts and abilities in ways that bring personal fulfillment and contribute to the greater good; settling for a mediocre or mundane career seems unacceptable to this personality type. Money is rarely a strong motivator for INFPs, who generally care little about material comforts or possessions. They’d rather be doing what they love and living in a shack than get rich performing unsatisfying work.

The quest for a suitable career cannot be divorced from INFPs’ search for identity. Before settling on a career path, INFPs want to know who they are and where they fit into the fabric of society. They want a career that capitalizes on their unique abilities, coincides with their values, and ignites their drives and passions. Because most jobs fail to consistently inspire them, INFPs often end up feeling restless and dissatisfied. Even those with a college degree may struggle to find long-term career satisfaction.

One of INFPs’ foremost struggles is finding the right blend of autonomy and interpersonal engagement in their work. While their dominant Feeling function confers a people-orientation, its introverted direction makes INFPs more introspective and idiosyncratic than Extraverted Feeling types. Male INFPs, in particular, tend to be rugged individualists and may have difficulty functioning within the confines of organizational rules and structures.

INFPs’ values are highly personal and individualistic. Their reliance on Introverted Feeling (Fi) can make it difficult for them to work for organizations whose values diverge markedly from their own. INFPs are also quite sensitive to what they see as meaningless or mundane aspects of a given job. When a task does not feel meaningful or valuable, INFPs can be quick to lose motivation and underperform. They may even act in passive-aggressive ways, such as fudging a part of their work they don’t value. While some INFPs may downplay their discontentment for the sake of maintaining an income, others may end up sabotaging their employment on account of their reluctance to partake in what they see as meaningless work (This, again, seems more likely among male INFPs.).

While INFPs have a slight edge over INTPs in finding satisfaction within traditional career paths, both types are interested in pursuing their own interests wherever they lead. If their interests happen to coincide with the features of an existing career path, INFPs should consider themselves fortunate. If not, they are faced with the tall task of pursuing their interests on a largely independent basis. This may lead some INFPs to assume the role of “starving artist” or entrepreneur.

INFP college students may experience similar difficulties in identifying a major which fits their skills, interests, and abilities. Part of this stems from the broad-ranging and dynamic nature of INFPs’ interests. Like INTPs, they can grow restless and impatient when performing the same job or studying the same subject extensively. This relates largely to their auxiliary function, Extraverted Intuition (Ne). Whereas Introverted Intuition (Ni) can be associated with a desire to go ever deeper into a given subject, Ne tends to be more expansive and dilettantish. Fortunately, as Introverts, INFPs can gradually narrow their interests once they feel they have sufficiently explored all their options. In other words, it is possible for INFPs to settle into a niche area of specialization. The problem is this can take quite a few years, even well into their thirties, for their niche interest to emerge with sufficient clarity. Hence, selecting the “right” college major right out of high school can be a dubious enterprise for INFPs.

INP career-seekers may feel stunted by any number of perceived barriers. They may be afraid of taking risks or feel they don’t themselves or their skills/interests well enough. Some may look at their track record of unfinished projects and wonder if they will ever find what they are seeking. It is important for INFPs to recognize that this is all very normal. The fact is that they need to experiment and experience life in order to find themselves. They differ from INJs in this respect, who feel they can know what they like or what they might be good at without needing to trial it first. INFPs need to realize that all their “dead-ends” are not in vain. All of their experiences and lessons learned can be internalized and integrated as part of their career development. Moreover, despite the apparent challenges of finding their career niche, INFPs typically have a reasonable number of good career options, which we will discuss later in this post.

The Role of the Inferior Function in INFP Careers

There seems to be a fair amount of irrationality at play in the sorts of careers and relationships individuals select for themselves. Individuals commonly fall for their typological opposites and choose careers that are poorly suited for their personality type. The reason for this apparent irrationality, as I’ve explained in previous posts, is that such decisions are being hijacked by the often overlooked, yet extremely potent, inferior function. Because the psyche desires balance and wholeness, the inferior can have an equally strong pull as the dominant when it comes to decision-making. This may lead Feeling types, for instance, to be drawn to careers better suited for Thinking types, and vice-versa.INFPs are susceptible to the mischievous influence of their inferior function, Extraverted Thinking (Te), in their career decision-making. They are disposed to choosing careers founded on the wishes and desires of their Si and Te rather than those of the top two functions, Fi & Ne. In doing so, they may find themselves in careers typically populated by TJs.

Si and Te are both “left-brained” functions. They rally for order, control, routine, and predictability. Despite INFPs’ tendency to consciously reject Te systems, they are unconsciously drawn to facts, systems, and standardized ways of operating. More generally, their inferior Te can be seen as questing for “objective” truth. This explains why INFPs might select careers that are ideally suited for Thinking types (e.g., computer science, mathematics, finance, the “hard” sciences, engineering, etc.). Although INFPs may perform competently in such fields, most will end up dissatisfied because the work either fails to capitalize on their true strengths or forces them to rely too heavily on their inferior function.

The struggle between the dominant and inferior functions with regard to career decision-making involves a battle between conscious and less conscious values. The inferior beckons INFPs to take up left-brained pursuits (i.e., objective systematizing), while their top two functions are clearly more right-brained (i.e., concerned with empathy, the arts and humanities, etc.). So which of these should INFPs heed when making career decisions?

By definition, the top two functions of a given type are better developed than the lower two. If this were not the case, the individual should be typed an STJ rather than an INFP. Consequently, it is not only in the individual’s best interest, but also society’s best interest, that each type chooses work that capitalizes on the strengths and values of their top two functions. So despite any temptation INFPs might experience to pursue Thinking-related careers, jobs, or majors, they are better off selecting Feeling-related endeavors. Rather than “jumping their (functional) stack” and focusing directly on their Te desires, they can work toward objective truth (Te) in a more natural and fulfilling way, proceeding from the top of the stack down (Fi-Ne-Si-Te). In guarding against the potentially adverse effects of their inferior function in their careers, INFPs should consider the degree to which their career choice is being dictated by their Si/Te and whether their choice is likely to lead to long-term satisfaction.