INTJ Careers

Your Type and Your Career

 

INTJ

determined
insightful
perfectionist

Understanding your preferences as an INTJ will make it easier to identify what is likely to feel ‘right’ for you at work and help you when you are planning a career change.

The best employment options for you will allow you to use your natural strengths and limit your exposure to tasks and situations that will drain you.

Here are some suggestions about what is likely to suit you in terms of personal strengths at work, preferred environment and your leadership style. There is also an indication of possible areas of weakness you should watch out for when you are assessing career change ideas.

Your strengths at work

  • Original and conceptual thinker
  • Good at organising and seeing things through
  • Sceptical and analytical
  • Set high standards
  • Take ideas through to action plans
  • Are not put off by obstacles and will work to overcome them creatively

Want to know how understanding your personality can help you choose the right career?

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  • Good at building a long range vision for yourself and your organisation
  • Can grasp complex theories and see how they can be used strategically
  • Good at broad brush planning
  • Enjoy complex problems and challenges
  • Strong belief in your own intuition
  • Set very high standards
  • Will stand up to opposition

Your preferred work environment


  • Provides opportunity for intellectual challenge and innovative thinking
  • Task-focused
  • Allows autonomy
  • Is clearly structured and efficient
  • Contains decisive people working towards long-range visions
  • Opportunities for quiet reflection
  • Includes effective and productive people
  • Lets people get on with the job
  • Encourages creativity and big picture thinking
  • Rewards are based fairly on results

Your leadership style

  • Natural leader at a strategic level
  • Driven to attain goals and expect this of others
  • Strong and forceful style
  • Ready to be tough minded when necessary
  • Develop broad vision for the team and organisation
  • Will undertake root and branch restructuring if needed
  • Value expertise and efficiency in your team
  • Will expect and trust the team to get on with the job

Weaknesses you should watch out for


  • May appear unwilling to consider alternative ideas
  • May be critical of others who do not share their vision or approach
  • Get bored with mundane routine details
  • May fail to fully follow projects through once the creative stage is complete
  • Can be overly single minded and inflexible
  • May be reluctant to acknowledge practical difficulties if your vision is challenged
  • Can be unaware of the impact of your single mindedness on others
  • May seem reserved and aloof

These points should help you identify if a job or an area of work is worth considering. But remember that there are successful people of ALL types in ALL jobs. Particular types may find certain areas of work especially satisfying and others more challenging.

Use your understanding of your own INTJ preferences to help you explore and develop your career ideas, not to limit them.

Not sure if this is you?

Then take a look at the other similar types, where only one of the preferences is different. You may find that they are a more comfortable ‘fit’.

INTP – INFJ – ISTJ – ENTJ

Interested in personality?

If you are interested in how your personality affects your career change click here to read how your approaches to job search can be influenced by the type of person you are.

About the author

Amy Thomas

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